Two match officials fined and suspended

Two soccer referees who officiated in Safa Vhembe matches in Stream A, Dion Mphuma and Oddies Moyana, were found guilty and suspended on charges of match fixing. Their cases appeared before a disciplinary committee on Saturday at Safa’s Thohoyandou office.

The two were among nine referees who were suspended in October on match-fixing charges. Nzunzukani Ngwenya, an assistant referee in the ABC Motsepe league and a referee in Stream E (Sinthumule/Kutama), was found not guilty. The other six suspended referees who were found not guilty are from the Nzhelele area’s stream G, and they are: Tshianeo Ratshilumela, Rollet Mulaudzi, Aifheli Mudau, Khuliso Ramulumbi, Stephen Sinthumule and Livhuwani Makhomisane.

Mphuma was fined R2 000 and suspended for six months. Moyana was found quilt on two charges. He is said to have received a bribe from Muchipis when they played against Mapapila Blue Eagles. For this he was fined R5 000 and suspended for 12 months. He was also told to pay a R2 000 fine and was suspended for six months relating to an incident where he was assistant referee when Phylimark played against Maravi FC.

The case against Tshikhwani Stone Breakers was withdrawn because of a lack of evidence. Magau United accused Breakers of trying to bribe a referee.

Phylimark FC were fined R2 000 for paying the referee fees by EFT and not paying their traveling cost in cash. Tshipuseni All Stars were fined R2 000 for failing to mark the ground properly and the teams also forfeited the points to Valdezia FC.

The secretary of Safa Vhembe, Mr Sam Matodzi, said that Safa Vhembe stood for integrity in football and that fans should have confidence in the way the leagues were run. “We appeal to all our teams to report any signs of attempted match fixing and unethical conduct by our referees immediately. We therefore discourage any club official and referee from involving themselves in corrupt activities during our games,” he said.

The manager of Tshikhwani Stone Breakers, Vhamusanda Vho-Mbulaheni Ramabulana, said that he was happy about the withdrawal of the case of bribery against his team. He said that the suspension had demoralised the players.

Date:22 December 2022

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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