Cape Town — Advocate Tebogo Motlanthe, the chief executive of the South Africa Football Association (SAFA), has been thrust firmly in the spotlight now that the Kaizer Chiefs — Premier Soccer League (PSL) stand-off has reached a critical point.
For now, the ball is firmly in the court of Motlanthe. On Tuesday, he will announce an arbitrator who will adjudicate in the matter involving Chiefs and the PSL. Motlanthe has informed the media that the two parties have three candidates they could choose from. They were expected to forward their choices by close of business on Monday (SUBS: Yesterday).
The three candidates all enjoy senior council status. They are William Mokhari, Nazeer Cassim and Hilton Epstein. The trio are no strangers to the national football fraternity, They have worked many cases for some time.
They are all familiar with the workings of the PSL and the National Soccer League's rule book, the 'Bible' of professional soccer in South Africa. Motlanthe explained how the arbitration process works.
“In line with article 81 of the disciplinary committee code, both Chiefs and the PSL must choose who they want as the arbitrator," said Motlanthe. "If the two parties cannot reach consensus in choosing one person, then I, as the CEO of the federation (SAFA), will have to appoint someone out of the three.
"Once he has been appointed, the arbitrator will decide on the date, time and venue.”
A few days ago, the Premier Soccer League (PSL) charged Chiefs for no-shows at two DStv Premiership matches in December. The matches in question are fixtures against Cape Town City (at FNB Stadium) on December 4 and Golden Arrows on December 8, in Durban.
The no-shows came about because Chiefs suffered a massive outbreak of positive Covid-19 cases and were physically unable to field a contingent (players and supporting staff) for upcoming matches. They informed the PSL of the crisis two days ahead of the City match and requested a postponement of their matches for the rest of December.
Two days after informing the PSL, the situation at Chiefs worsened considerably, and whereas initially, just over 30 people tested positive, the number reached over 50.
After the PSL received the letter, and the matter was discussed at an executive meeting, the PSL decided against responding. The letter was not acknowledged, nor was a response to the request forthcoming.
Worst still, the PSL allowed the CT City team to travel from Cape Town to Johannesburg, knowing full well Chiefs couldn't play. The PSL also did not have the courtesy to inform the SAFA-appointed match officials that the match would not take place.
The PSL also did not inform their sponsors DStv that Chiefs could not play, and as a result, the television company went the whole hog of arriving prepared for a full-scale production on match day.
In the past, when the parties have been given an option of choosing the arbiter, it usually happens they leave it to SAFA to decide. In cases, where the parties name their preferred choice, and it is the same candidate, SAFA will appoint the person as the arbiter.
In cases where the parties name different candidates, SAFA will appoint the third candidate.
Since Chiefs are far and away the most popular club in Mznasi, there has been huge interest in their fate.
In the past, the PSL decided that coronavirus-related reasons cannot justify no-shows. However, the PSL could never have envisioned the enormity of Chiefs' setback, and their earlier no-show reasoning is hopelessly out of place in this matter.
That may well be the case when the arbiter eventually makes a call.
IOL Sport