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Not guilty and acquitted: Mr Rudzani Mulaudzi.

“SAFA Vhembe betrayed me”

 

A well-known local football match commissioner, Mr Rudzani Mulaudzi, has been exonerated at last. He was acquitted by a SAFA Vhembe disciplinary committee on all charges of corruption.

Although the enquiry was held on 21 September, the outcome was communicated to Mulaudzi last Friday.

The case relates to an incident that took place at the Malamulele Stadium shortly before the MMK League promotional play-off game between Wayeni Sea Robbers and Ficus FC on Saturday, 9 June last year. After the game, an official of Sea Robbers sent a report to the league, alleging that Mulaudzi, who was the match commissioner in the game, had tried to solicit a bribe from the officials of Sea Robbers in exchange for a favourable result.

Although the case was reported to the league two days after the incident, it took them more than a year to finalize it. During the enquiry, the delay to finalize the matter was revealed to have been influenced by the fact that the league was still trying to collect as much evidence as possible, saying the case was complex in nature.

The committee found that the two witnesses, Mr Philemon Baloyi and his brother, Baldwin Baloyi, had failed to prove beyond doubt that Mulaudzi had indeed tried to solicit a bribe from the club. Mr Philemon Baloyi, who was the first witness in the matter, told the committee that Mr Mulaudzi had sent a certain man to solicit a bribe from the club shortly before the game started.

Baloyi failed, however, to tell the committee the identity of the so-called middleman. He stressed the fact that the man had claimed to have been sent by Mulaudzi. Mr Baldwin Baloyi’s evidence could also not link Mr Mulaudzi with the act of misconduct he had been charged with.

That left the committee with no other option than to find Mr Mulaudzi not guilty on all charges. Asked what the verdict meant to him, Mulaudzi said that he was feeling betrayed by his own organization, SAFA Vhembe.

“I feel betrayed by SAFA Vhembe. My football life was on hold for more than 12 months in SAFA Vhembe and aspirant referees suffered as a result. I am a referee development officer and now that I am acquitted, I can do what I love most,” reads an extract of Mr Mulaudzi’s statement.

The enquiry was led by a well-known legal guru, Adv AG Mphanama.

 

 

Date:12 October 2019

By: Frank Mavhungu

Frank is a Human Resources Manager at the Department of Public Works in Limpopo. He is the longest serving correspondent of the Mirror, having joined us at the end of 1990.  He mainly writes sports reports and resides at Tsianda Village. In 2004, Frank won the National Castle League Award, an award for the best reporter in the SAB league in South Africa.

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