'Bribery claims hit SA soccer'

CORRUPTION is rife in Safa's Vodacom League, where the bribery of referees by club officials is the order of the day.

The startling revelation was made by top PSL referee Lwandile Mfika at the Semenya Commission of Inquiry in Rosebank, Johannesburg, yesterday.

Mfika blamed the widespread bribery of referees in all nine provinces on Safa's failure to pay match officials for services rendered.

"It (bribery of referees) is rife in the Vodacom League, it is an open secret there are guys doing it, it don't think it is happening only in the Eastern Cape.

"It is happening in all the nine provinces. I go to the matches in my area, some of the decisions (by referees) in that league are shocking.

"One or two teams are not doing it (bribing referees). In the PSL, we are paid on a regular basis, the PSL is really taking good care of us, our payments are done on a fixed date."

Mfika said some of the referees in the league, which is the third division of the South African soccer, have gone three to four years without being paid by Safa.

Asked by commission member David Elleray if the introduction of match commissioners in the league will help end corruption, Mfika said: "It will improve . but the problem here is that the referees go three to four years without getting anything." On the introduction of full-time referees, Mfika said: "That is long overdue."

Elleray is the English Football Association Referees Committee chairperson. The Semenya Commission, led by Ishmael Semenya SC was appointed by Safa to investigate allegations of match-fixing and corruption in the NSL and Safa.