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SAFA come down heavily on poor officials

Cape Town - The South African Football Association (SAFA) has imposed harsh sanctions on referee Cedrick Muvhali and assistant referee Patrick Jafta following their poor officiating during the Premier Soccer League (PSL) match between Cape Town City and Polokwane City on September 22 at the Cape Town Stadium.

According to the official SAFA website, the match was blighted by some poor officiating in which the home side was denied what looked like a clear goal.

As a result, both officials have been suspended from handling any game within the National Soccer League (NSL) from October 1 to December 31, 2017.

The match fee which the two were supposed to have been paid has been forfeited as well as their monthly stipend for the same period of October to December.

A letter has been forwarded to the NSL informing them of this development.

On resumption of their official duties, the two will officiate in National First Division (NFD) matches and a Senior Match Commissioner will be assigned to all of their matches to monitor them for at least four weeks.

Officiating in any PSL fixture will only be considered thereafter provided the two achieve satisfactory results in respect of those assignments afforded during the four week period under review.

SAFA Senior Referees Manager, Ian McLeod said the severe punishment was warranted considering the amount of negative publicity the whole scenario had hogged as a result of the two’s poor performance.

"This type of performance must not re-occur at any level in the future," warned McLeod.

According to SAFA, both officials have accepted the outcome.

"We needed to act swiftly and decisively in order to send a strong message to all match officials that such below par performances are unacceptable and measures will be taken against match officials who perform poorly,” said SAFA chairperson of the technical committee, Natasha Tsichlas.

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