Two South African football club officials who were held in a Libyan hotel for nearly three weeks due to a money dispute say they feared for their safety during the experience.

"When you see how Benghazi is - vandalised buildings, the army - you will get scared. We don’t see that often in South Africa," physio Tebogo Amos Dhlomo told journalists on Tuesday.

The two had traveled to Benghazi with Marumo Gallants football team members for a match against Al Akhdar SC in a continental cup.

After the game, they were held at the hotel due to unpaid bills, according to South African media reports.

Uncertainty surrounds the issue, however a club official is cited on the news24 website as blaming problems with electronic payment systems for forcing cash payments.

According to other accounts, the matter was settled as a result of the South African sports ministry's intervention.

Mr Dhlomo and media manager Rufus Matsena returned home on Sunday but narrated their ordeal on Tuesday at a media briefing attended by government officials.