\u201cThe reason for corruption is greed,\u201d SAFA interim integrity officer Alex Abercrombie told amaBhungane. \u201cMoney changes hands. It may be to win a competition, or a play-off to gain promotion to a higher league where big money is paid for participating in that higher league and where players can be sold for huge sums of money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2017, an internal SAFA investigation uncovered an alleged match fixing syndicate that was set up to help Limpopo club Magesi FC gain promotion in the ABC Motsepe League play-offs that were held in Bloemfontein from 13-19 June 2016. The club did in fact win those play-offs and was promoted to the first division where they were relegated straight back to the amateur league after just one season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The investigation was led by SAFA\u2019s then national integrity officer Mlungisi Ncame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to evidence in his report, based largely on testimony of those implicated, SAFA\u2019s head of referees at the time, Peter Sejake, \u201ccorruptly mandated\u201d fellow referee and \u201chomeboy\u201d Bafana Mosia to lead the plot to help Magesi gain promotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AmaBhungane is in possession of testimonies that allege that Mosia, through the instruction of Sejake, helped Magesi during the provincial leg of the ABC Motsepe League.<\/p>\n\n\n
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SAFA uncovered a match-fixing syndicate engineered to help Magesi FC win the 2016 ABC Motsepe League playoffs.(photo sourced from SAFA Twitter page)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The amateur league is divided into nine divisions in each of the country\u2019s nine provinces. Each of those nine divisions has a 16-team league. The winners of the nine provincial leagues advance to the play-offs where they are separated into two groups. The teams that top those groups gain promotion to the first division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plan, execution and blow-up <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the report, Mosia was first approached by Sejake about this plot at Dobsonville Stadium during a Banyana Banyana match. Sejake is alleged to have promised Mosia promotion to the FIFA panel of referees, who officiate international matches, if he carried out the mandate. He agreed and was taken to a house in Kempton Park where he was introduced to Magesi FC owner Solomon Makhubela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To help Magesi achieve their objective, Mosia is alleged to have then roped in five more officials \u2013 fellow referee Shane Chuma along with assistant referees Stevens Khumalo, Ernest Nyambi, Linos Hobwane and Peter Chauke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hobwane made news in 2017 when he was found guilty of lying under oath and providing false information in a match report. He claimed he was kicked in the ankle by an AmaZulu player during a heated moment in a DStv Premiership match against Baroka. He was banned for two years by SAFA as punishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Ncame\u2019s report, Chauke, a private investigator by profession, decided to volunteer information to the investigation \u201cbecause he realises that match-fixing is wrong and he does not want to have anything to do with it\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nyambi testified that he was approached by Mosia who promised he could get him to be a part of the referees who would officiate the play-offs. Nyambi said he was excited about this prospect as this would be the first time he would officiate in the play-offs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nyambi claimed that a week after Mosia called him, he was invited to the Serengeti Estate in Kempton Park along with Mosia, Chauke, Hobwane and Khumalo where they were introduced to Makhubela and discussed the plan to help Magesi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The house in question is under the ownership of the Masilo Makhubela Trust. Even though Sejake was not present for that meeting, Nyambi claims that Makhubela confirmed that \u201cMr Peter Sejake was his man and he would coordinate the scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two witnesses who were at that meeting testified that the four officials who were there were given R4 000 each by Makhubela. According to Nyambi, Makhubela told them it was for \u201cfuel\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chauke testified that Mosia convened meetings with the five officials every evening during the play-offs \u201cto discuss their performance and relay any instructions from Magesi FC or their agent(s)\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Magesi FC were grouped with JDR Stars from Gauteng, Northern Cape\u2019s Morester Jeg and Manco Milano of Free State. Magesi thumped Morester Jeg 4-0 in their first match. They then beat Milano 1-0 and JDR 2-1 to secure qualification to the first division. In the final, Magesi FC defeated KwaZulu-Natal side Kings United 5-3 in penalties after the match ended 1-1. The Limpopo side walked away with a R1-million cheque for winning the play-offs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mosia and his five accomplices admitted to each receiving R50 000 once the play-offs were finished and Magesi FC had made it through to the first division, though Hobwane claimed not to know why he was given his share. Makhubela handed over the money \u2013 R300 000 in total \u2013 to the referees at the house in Kempton Park where the plan was hatched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only person to outright deny any involvement in the scheme, or knowledge of it, was Sejake. He denied knowing Makhubela or his residential address, but a visitor\u2019s log book at the Serengeti Estate showed that he came there a couple of times \u2013 including in the evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All those implicated in the scheme, including Makhubela, refused to comment when amaBhungane reached out to them. Sejake said he could not talk on the matter as its sub judice, while one of the referees told amaBhungane \u201cnever call me ever again in your life\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The blow-up of this scheme came towards the end of 2016 when SAFA announced the referees who would be in the FIFA panel. SAFA promoted referees Thando Ndzandzeka and Chris Harrison into the panel that Khumalo and Chauke were already a part of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mosia did not make the cut, contrary to the promise allegedly made to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mosia says in the report he confronted Sejake about the snub at the former head of referees\u2019 offices at SAFA House in the presence of Tebogo Motlanthe, who was the association\u2019s legal officer at the time and is currently their CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Motlanthe corroborated Mosia\u2019s story about the confrontation, and revealed that he once found Mosia at Sejake\u2019s house, despite Sejake saying he had never met with Mosia outside of working hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Motlanthe also revealed that as far back as 2015 he had reported his concerns about Sejake to SAFA\u2019s security officer, but was shocked when the man, who resigned from SAFA in 2016, immediately fed the information back to Sejake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Punishing the whistleblower<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n SAFA\u2019s internal investigation made several recommendations that it said should be \u201cconcluded expeditiously\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among its recommendations was that Sejake be suspended and the matter reported to the police. In 2017, he and the association parted ways following his suspension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the report recommended that decisions to suspend or prosecute \u201cmust be made known to the public in order to set an example and encourage others to report match fixing\u201d, SAFA was coy about this incident and did not divulge any details behind Sejake\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Motlanthe was sent a list of detailed questions about this investigation, his testimony, the association\u2019s action, and lack thereof. These questions included why SAFA did not divulge why they parted ways with Sejake as recommended by the report. Motlanthe, instead, passed on the questions to Abercrombie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI do not know whether he [Sejake] was fired on allegations of match fixing or whether he resigned before the hearing but whatever the facts might be, one must recognise that the employee\/employer relationship is confidential and private,\u201d Abercrombie, who was appointed to the post in 2020, told amaBhungane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When asked what SAFA did to clean the rot that was uncovered by the investigation, Abercrombie came to the association\u2019s defence. \u201cThere were disciplinary charges brought and dealt with at different levels as well as reporting the matter to the Hawks. SAFA is not implicated in the rot as you put it. One ex-employee is implicated and is now before the court where SAFA is the complainant,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report notes that the other six implicated officials were suspended and charged administratively by SAFA in April 2017. Three \u2013 Chauke, Mosia and Khumalo \u2013 pleaded guilty and Chauke and Mosia offered to cooperate with a criminal investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, inexplicably, all six, together with Sejake and Makhubela, have been criminally charged for corruption. Their case is now before the Kempton Park magistrate\u2019s court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Initially it was only the alleged ringleaders Mosia, Sejake and Makhubela who were charged as confirmed by a letter from the then deputy director of public prosecutions in Gauteng, Riegal Du Toit on 4 May 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There were unexplained postponements in the case despite the availability of co-operating witnesses and in March 2020 the magistrate ordered an investigation into the delays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In another letter dated 28 October 2020, Du Toit writes that the \u201cSenior Public Prosecutor is … authorised to exercise his own discretion to charge or add any suspect(s) in the case as he deems fit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It seems that letter opened the door for charging everyone, whether or not this was the best legal strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no explanation why the other officials, including the whistleblower Chauke, were now also charged along with the three initiators of the alleged plot. The lawyer of the five more junior officials, Mandla Tshabalala, confirmed that they were not initially charged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SAFA\u2019s report recommended that Chauke be exempted from prosecution by the association in terms of the Whistleblowing Policy of SAFA and the Protected Disclosures Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe senior prosecutor told us that they have enough evidence to prosecute all eight,\u201d SAFA\u2019s Abercrombie said. \u201cWhen the matter was being looked at again by the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority], we reached out to the referees and asked them if they wanted to be state witnesses as that\u2019s how they would really have been protected. They refused. They told us that they have their own lawyer. I didn\u2019t want to interfere on the matter so I left it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the team gets a free pass <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Though Makhubela is facing charges in court, the internal investigation had also recommended that disciplinary action be taken by SAFA against him and Magesi FC, but the association did not do this. The Limpopo club is back in the first division for the 2022\/23 season which kicked off in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, in May this year SAFA\u2019s Mopani region handed out life bans to four clubs who were involved in questionable scores in Limpopo. These bans came after reports that Matisayi FC beat Nsami Mighty Birds 59-1 and Shivulani Dangerous Tigers beat Kotoko Happy Boys 33-1 in the final round of matches in the ABC Motsepe League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advocate Tiyani Vukeya, who represented Matisayi and Nsami in their appeal, claims there was no evidence brought against the two teams that they had indeed fixed the match apart from just flagging the irregular scorelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Abercrombie, who is also a former acting judge, the standard of proof required in all integrity matters at the association \u201cshall be to the \u2018comfortable satisfaction\u2019 of the tribunal, which has been defined as being greater than the mere \u2018balance of probability\u2019 but less than the criminal standard of proof \u2018beyond reasonable doubt\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n SAFA Mopani president Vincent Ramphago refused to comment on Vukeya\u2019s allegation, citing that the matter was sub judice. But he was adamant that SAFA had to act and they could not allow people who \u201cmanufactured scores\u201d to get away with this. This matter is currently in arbitration after the clubs won on appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SAFA\u2019s different response to the Magesi FC matter shows inconsistencies in dealing with this problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When asked why SAFA did not fully follow the recommendations of its own internal investigation, Dennis Mumble, who was CEO in 2017 but left SAFA in 2018, said he did not want to comment on the specific case as he had left the organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abercrombie told amaBhungane: \u201cI do not know whether there was any evidence which implicated the club [Magesi], but the owner is before the court as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSAFA is determined to wipe out match manipulation and to that end have put in place the policies and structures to combat match manipulation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Mumble argues that corruption in the league will persist because there is no political will at SAFA to seriously tackle it and because the structural and financial challenges of the league makes it fertile ground for corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Win at all costs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200b\u200b\u201cBack in 2011 in Limpopo, some guys said to us that we know some clubs who budget for bribery,\u201d Mumble told amaBhungane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBecause for them if they have a budget of a R1-million for their club, and they budget half a million for buying officials and favours, it\u2019s an investment they make for a potential gain of millions if they get promoted. And that really is the sad reality of that league.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mumble was among those who helped set up the amateur league in 1998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He arrived at SAFA in 1997 as general manager, at a time when South African football was at a crossroads. The National Soccer League had morphed into the PSL in 1996 and it rebranded the domestic league. The same year Bafana Bafana won the Africa Cup of Nations on home soil. But there were warning signs. The Pickard Commission, whose report was released in 1997, exposed the rot that those early successes hid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The commission found that SAFA had \u201cemasculated itself” in favour of an offshore marketing company, Awesome Sports International, which gained control of SAFA\u2019s television, marketing and sponsorship rights in a contract which granted SAFA a relatively meagre income in return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That meant projects like the amateur league were underfunded from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SAFA is now fully in charge of its commercial affairs, but due to reputational damage it has suffered over the years because of numerous scandals it has struggled to get sponsors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPart of the reason why companies are not eager to buy into SAFA products is because of the reputational issue,\u201d Mumble told amaBhungane. \u201c[This] is a perception that SAFA itself is not coming to grips with\u2026 [They] fall back on this bogeyman that it\u2019s because it\u2019s a majority Black sport and that\u2019s why sponsors aren\u2019t coming on board. Those excuses are too convenient… We have to find better ways of marketing the product, by bringing on people who are able to put the product out there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ABC Motsepe League now has 144 clubs competing in it. And that\u2019s where the problem starts \u2013 having 144 poorly financed teams fighting for two places for a lucrative promotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are huge financial disparities between the ABC Motsepe League and professional football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Sgwili Gumede, a former footballer who is executive director of sports finance research company Sport Boardroom, the rough minimum value of clubs in the premier ranges between R50-million to R60-million. This is based on the clubs that have been sold in the last couple of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clubs in the premier division receive monthly grants of R2.5-million and before the start of every season they get a once-off R5.5-million preparatory grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Gumede, a rough estimate of a club in the first division ranges between R10-million and R15-million. In this division clubs get R750 000 monthly grants and a once-off R1.5-million before the start of every season.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n A well-established ABC Motsepe League club that regularly does well in its provincial games and can fight in the play-offs is valued at around R1-million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here there are no grants, but clubs are paid a meagre travel allowance of R30 000 per season in two instalments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of the R9-million that the Motsepe Foundation pays towards the amateur league in each season, R1.25-million is set aside for the winner\u2019s cheque, with the runners up getting R600 000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The top eight teams in each province also receive payments that range from R50 000 for the winners and R15 000 to the eighth-placed team in provincial leagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat happens is that when someone looks at it purely from an economic perspective, if I get promoted from the second division [ABC Motsepe League] to the first division, I would literally increase the value of my team by around R14-million,\u201d Mumble said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat happens is that people will fall over themselves to make sure that they end up in good positions to be promoted. And so the whole environment lends itself to people looking for shortcuts\u2026 From a purely economic standpoint, unless there are better incentives in the second division \u2013 my view is that that problem may persist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Poorly paid referees<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The financial disparities do not end there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A referee in the ABC Motsepe League is paid between R750 and R800 per match, and they have to share that money with their two assistants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe used to have one stream when I was officiating in Limpopo, and if you know the province you know that it\u2019s vast,\u201d said a former referee who spoke to amaBhungane on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you are from Venda for instance, and have to officiate a game in Bakenberg [which is almost 300km away], you can just see how much we travelled. I think we were paid R500 [at that time]. And there are three of you who have to share that money, and also pay for the car for the trip. The whole money ends up going to the driver of the car because it was not enough\u2026At times we would go home with nothing because of what that money had to cover.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the premier division, a referee is paid R6 497 per match with an assistant referee earning R5 064, and R5 392 for a match commissioner. For officiating in the first division, referees earn R5 064 with assistant referees getting R3 344 and match commissioners get R5 301.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2018, SAFA president Danny Jordaan raised concerns about the amounts that referees in the ABC Motsepe League were being paid and the model of payment \u2013 where the hosting club pays the referee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo avoid tempting our match officials, we must pay our referees on time and their full amount. We also need programmes that will help referees beyond their retirement time,\u201d Jordaan said<\/a> at the SAFA National Integrity workshop in Sandton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Four years later, SAFA have not fully honoured this pledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Abercrombie is clearly aware of the problem: \u201cIn so far as the ABC Motsepe league is concerned it must be noted that this league is a very competitive league and more particularly the play-offs. Club owners want to win at all costs as winning can be very rewarding. We have received many complaints of what appears to be incorrect decisions by match officials but to prove match manipulation is another thing,\u201d he told amaBhungane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The financial challenges of running the league only worsen matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mumble claims that SAFA needs at least R20-million a season to be able to properly manage the ABC Motsepe League. That is R11-million more than what the Motsepe Foundation pays the association, which has left SAFA having to find other avenues to cover the shortfall. And this leads to shortcuts and cutbacks in key administrative areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mumble offers an example of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor instance, you end up in a situation where you are not going to be able to afford match commissioners. Match commissioners serve as virtual integrity officers for any league. Match commissioners perform a vital function in the organisation of the league because not only do they perform administrative functions to make sure that everything around a match is organised properly, but they also look at the performance of the referee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBecause that comes with a cost, the ABC Motsepe League couldn\u2019t afford match commissioners consistently? So you found yourself plugging a gap, and sending them only in matches where you suspect that there is something wrong,\u201d says Mumble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This raises the question: would better and more equitable funding be the answer to ending corruption in the league? It might help, but there are basic administrative problems within SAFA that create a permissive environment for corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For starters, the two numbers it has on its website<\/a> to report corruption in the league do not work. In fact, the toll-free hotline they have on their website has 11 digits instead of 10. When this was put to SAFA, Abercrombie responded by saying that the correct number is 0800777228. That mistake has not been fixed on the website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This might seem like a small and inconsequential matter, but SAFA\u2019s administrative bungles have hamstrung the league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These bungles include repeated instances where referees do not arrive on time<\/a> for some matches (or when they arrive they are not the full complement of three), regular delays<\/a> of the start of the league because of issues like the late arrival of playing cards and late payments<\/a> of the travel grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The league\u2019s prize money will increase from R1-million to R3-million in the 2022\/23 season. The league\u2019s sponsor, Patrice Motsepe, made the announcement in the final of this year\u2019s play-offs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That increase will not address the financial issues of the league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The money will still be saturated at the top instead of spreading it evenly so that running a club in the ABC Motsepe League is not such a financially exhausting exercise with little or no return. The pessimistic outlook in this increase is that it might actually increase the corruption scourge as there is now a bigger pot to fight for without necessarily addressing the structural issues in the league.<\/p>\n\n\n \ud83d\udcf9 |<\/p>\n \u201cSAFA is a good structure but there are some individuals at SAFA that are corrupt. In Fact, they need to be flushed and let them carry on with corruption somewhere else\u201d<\/p>\n – Makgaba Letsoalo, Chairman of Madridtas who were docked 62 points.#LimSportsZone<\/a> #ABCMotsepeLeague<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/W46PMplRWC<\/a><\/p>\n — Lim Sports Zone (@LimSportsZone) August 21, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/The-fake-judgement-3.png\")
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