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In September, I wrote a column with the headline PSL disciplinary committee sanctions are a joke and a disgrace.
It was about how long this quasi-judicial body had taken to mete out punishment to Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates thugs who had brought the game into disrepute.
Even when they came out with the verdict, the punishment dished out was a mere rap on the knuckles.
The column concluded: “If not even lives are taken seriously, what will jolt the current committee members into acting appropriately – or should they just be replaced with people with some grit who will take proper action?”
After this week’s announcement on a number of cases the PSL committee had reached verdicts on, I strongly feel that this structure is increasingly becoming a serious Achilles heel and doing a disservice to the league.
Here is the lowdown:
. On October 7, Mamelodi Sundowns fielded Wayne Arendse, who was not on the team sheet for their match against Bidvest Wits.
. The club was only charged on February 4 for this offence and the matter was set down for a hearing on February 6, which was postponed.
. On February 8, Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane registered concern about how long the matter was being dragged out for, and he also questioned the charges.
. On Monday night – and this is no April Fool’s joke – while Sundowns and Orlando Pirates were playing to a goalless draw at Orlando Stadium, the committee was reaching its verdict at the PSL offices.
Coincidentally, after Monday night’s match, Mosimane once more registered his frustrations about not knowing the verdict and its consequences while his club was involved in a neck-and-neck race with the same Pirates for the league title.
Contents of Monday night’s verdict were contained in a statement released by the PSL on Wednesday under the heading PSL DC outcome on Mamelodi Sundowns, Wayne Arendse and Pitso Mosimane.
It read: “The Premier Soccer League disciplinary committee has delivered a verdict on matters involving Mamelodi Sundowns, Mr Wayne Arendse and Mr Pitso Mosimane.
“In the first matter involving Mamelodi Sundowns and Wayne Arendse, the disciplinary committee found both the club and the player guilty of misconduct.
“This is after Mamelodi Sundowns fielded Mr Arendse while he was ineligible to play in the Absa Premiership fixture against Bidvest Wits on October 7 2018. Sanction will be handed down once all the parties have made submissions to the disciplinary committee.
“In the second matter arising from an incident between AmaZulu and Mamelodi Sundowns on September 1 2018, Mr Pitso Mosimane was charged with misconduct after he allegedly assaulted AmaZulu team security official Mr Satchmo Ngwenya by punching him in the face.
“Mamelodi Sundowns was charged with bringing the league into disrepute as a result of their coach’s actions. Both the club as well as Mr Mosimane were found guilty. Sanction will be handed down once all the parties have made submissions to the disciplinary committee.”
The timing of this is just too much of a coincidence and raises a number of questions.
Why would it take the PSL disciplinary committee a whole six months to reach a verdict on a simple matter of violation of league rules?
Why does the verdict come at such a tentative stage in the race for the league title between Sundowns and Pirates?
Why does it come on the eve of a crucial CAF Champions League match, where Sundowns were to face Egyptian giants Al Ahly in the quarterfinals yesterday?
Once more, the actions – more the timing thereof – of the disciplinary committee (much as we are led to believe that it’s an independent body) will raise issues of corporate governance, given that PSL chair Irvin Khoza is also the owner of Pirates, while Lamontville Golden Arrows boss Mato Madlala has been the league’s acting chief executive officer since October 2015.
Several clubs have in the past accused the league of engaging in what seems to be tactics to destabilise them.
In a scathing letter sent to Safa and Fifa in December, Black Leopards boss David Thidiela, a long-serving member of the PSL executive committee, wrote:
“It is my submission that being summoned to appear before the disciplinary committee has nothing to do with discipline within the National Soccer League or the PSL, but has to do with ulterior motives against the Black Leopards Football Club [BLFC] and me, simply because the BLFC and I are more vocal about a PSL that is held hostage by one man or through a few who surround or are appointed by him. This one man is none other than Irvin Khoza.
“It is imperative that Fifa, in conjunction with Safa, institute a commission of inquiry into the extent to which the PSL is captured by the current PSL chair or a few who surround or are appointed by him.”
This matter has still not been attended to or resolved by the national and international football governing bodies.
Under these circumstances, no one can blame Mosimane and the entire Sundowns family for smelling a rat.
Fair play? What fair play?
. Follow me on Twitter @Sbu_Mseleku
