The Safa fiasco to decide on the Free State’s ABC Motsepe League team to compete for promotion at this year’s national play-offs drags on.
This is due to an appeal filed by Mangaung Unite FC against the embattled federation’s decision to dismiss a complaint regarding the improper registration of two players by Black Cross FC.
On Monday (29/05) Safa concluded the draw for this year’s ABC Motsepe League’s national promotion play-offs, reserving the name of the Free State team due to the unresolved debacle.
The play-offs will be held in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, from 6 to 11 June.
The Bloemfontein-based outfit Mangaung filed an appeal after the Safa disciplinary committee had dismissed its complaints on technical grounds – citing neglect to produce concrete evidence and merit of the case pertaining to the registration of two players without a Fifa International Transfer Certificate (ITC) from Lesotho’s outfit Bantu FC. The players in question are Theko Thako and Kamogelo Wolf.
The matter stems from Black Cross’ continuous use of the two players in numerous league fixtures of the Free State’s ABC Motsepe League “1B” stream of this just-ended season of 2022-’23.
Black Cross fielded the players in separate fixtures in the second round of the league. The matter regarding the improper registration of the players without an ITC has been fraught with controversies since its origin, when Mangaung lodged its first complaint regarding Wolf in last year November. The club then lodged a second dispute regarding Thako, on the same basis as Wolf’s case.
In Thako’s case, the committee dismissed the case, citing procedural flaws from Safa and notices from the federation that were vague.
Tumi Mokobe, chairperson of the disciplinary committee, in delivering judgment on 18 May said: “It needs to be mentioned that the complaint of the complainant herein is dated 23 April 2023, which the committee can safely say was lodged on that particular day. Considering the period of the games played by the respondents herein and the complaint at hand, the complaint herein was lodged four months after the last relevant game played, which was on 8 December 2022.”
On 7 March, Daniel Thulo, Safa Free State disciplinary chairperson, ruled in favour of Black Cross despite the club admitting Wolf had been registered improperly.
The ruling means Black Cross does not forfeit points gained in all matches it fielded the players in question. It also means the club is the Free State winner and qualifies for the promotion play-offs.
This is contrary to a case in 2012, which saw Free State side Carara Kicks FC relegated after 18 points had been docked by the Premier Soccer League’s (PSL) disciplinary committee.
The club was found guilty of fielding an improperly registered player, Thembile Taliwe. He was found to have been registered without clearance from Emfuleni Real Barcelona.
The complainant in this case was Dynamos FC, who lodged a complaint after the league had ended. Mangaung lodged complaints before the end of the league.
The Safa disciplinary committee’s apparent inconsistency in dealing with the improper registration of players has raised eyebrows.
Safa and Mangaung, owned by a Sinki Leshabane, as well as Black Cross, are anxiously awaiting the judgement of the appeal to decide which of the provincial teams will go to the play-offs.
