The South African Football Association (SAFA) has imposed more severe sanctions on one of their affiliated members, Thulamela Local Football Association (Thulfa), with immediate effect. According to a statement issued by the association's regional structure, SAFA Vhembe, the decision to impose harsh sanctions on the local football association (LFA) was influenced by Thulfa's continued acts of insubordination.
The relationship between Thulfa and SAFA gradually turned sour after Thulfa's elective congress, which was held middle of last year. The elections were followed by a dispute lodged by the losing group. The region ruled in favour of the losing group, prompting the other group to take the matter up to national level. The national dispute-resolution structure ruled in favour of the region.
Thulfa has continued to defy the instructions from the regional association, despite the ruling by the national structure. That prompted the SAFA Vhembe executive to suspend Thulfa's entire executive committee and place Thulfa under administration. As a temporary measure, the regional association had appointed Mr James Maluleke and Mr Aubrey Ramukumba as administrators, with effect from April this year.
Thulfa took the matter up with the Federation of International Football Associations, FIFA. The federation referred the matter back to SAFA, on the basis that Thulfa had not exhausted all internal grievance processes before they taking the matter up with FIFA. The SAFA national office had then given Thulfa an opportunity to make peace with their regional structure. Instead of reconciling with their regional association, Thulfa had continued to defy instructions from the mother body.
In a statement issued by the Safa Vhembe Regional Association on Monday this week, the association has indicated that the status quo regarding the placement of the Thulamela LFA under administration remains. The statement further indicates that none of teams from the LFA will be promoted to the regional association at the end of the current soccer season (2022/23). The regional association will also not relegate teams to the LFA this season. SAFA Vhembe will assist the LFA to put a proper structure in place, in line with the statutes of the association.