Cape Town - The South African Football Association (SAFA) president Danny Jordaan has congratulated former Bafana Bafana defender, Siboniso Gaxa, who has graduated from Wits University with a Political Science and Social Studies degree.

Jordaan, a proponent of the philosophy of taking education as a priority and fall-back plan by football players, said Gaxa had set an example which should be emulated by others.

"In my recent interaction with ex-players and legends, I have always underscored the fact that education is the best fall-back plan at the end of one’s playing career," Jordaan said as quoted by the official SAFA website.

"I would like to see more and more players who follow in Gaxa’s footsteps," he said.

Gaxa said he was pushed to read, and study having seen most of his colleagues go broke soon after hanging up their boots.

"It breaks my heart to see what’s going on in our football. I am seeing players that had millions of Rands in their bank accounts, but now they have nothing. How did we get here?" he asked rhetorically.

"Players must read financial books, hire tutors because they get paid lots of money and they can afford that.

"When I was studying at Chiefs, others didn’t see the importance of what I was doing, and I didn’t understand why," he said.

"Our structures don’t cater for education and that has to change. After retirement players go back to the same poverty where they come from and that really breaks my heart."

The 34-year-old is studying for his second degree at the same institution.