SOUTH Africa received fulsome praise from critics and cynics alike the world over after we hosted a memorable 2010 World Cup.
Safa, the government, municipalities, the corporate sphere and all stakeholders worked in tandem to ensure South Africa delivered a tournament to remember.
And what a noteworthy event it was.
While we were still celebrating our success came the unthinkable - the match-fixing scandal that has rocked Bafana Bafana.
We have learnt with much embarrassment that some Bafana matches in the build-up to the 2010 World Cup finals - against Guatemala, Thailand, Bulgaria and Colombia - were allegedly fixed.
Controversial Singaporean crook Wilson Ray Perumal is allegedly behind the scandal.
Perumal has since been jailed in Finland for manipulating games in that country.
If the allegations are true, it will be a shame not only for the country but the entire continent, which was hosting the Fifa World Cup for the first time in history.
As they say in the classics: there is no smoke without fire!
Leslie Sedibe is making every effort to clear his name after media reports insinuated that the urbane legal mind knew about the match-fixing when he was still Safa CEO when these matches were "fixed" by referees appointed by shadowy sports marketing group Football4U.
Sedibe appointed a team of lawyers led by the charismatic Zola Majavu to clear his name.
I want to suggest to you, Mr Sedibe, that you know that organisationally the buck stops with the CEO.
No one is suggesting that Sedibe was involved in the scandal but he was somehow not streetwise in dealing with the game's shadowy agents.
As a head of administration at Safa at that time, he must take the blame.
I think, Sedibe you should rather offer to help get to the root of the allegations than pay to clear your name and pass the buck to your subordinate Lindile "Ace" Kika, who you trusted by delegating some of your duties to.
You gave Kika the job of dealing with issues pertaining to match officials on behalf of the federation.
Kika was Safa referees' technical committee chairman at that time. He is now the federation's head of national teams.
But the two gentlemen seem to be pointing accusing fingers at each other.
Sedibe seems to be shifting the blame of arranging referees for the affected matches on to Kika. Kika is adamant he never had the authority to make such decisions.
To these two gentlemen, for whom I have much respect, I say: stop blaming each other and work together at Safa to get to the bottom of these allegations that are damaging the image of the local game.
Like Safa, who are somehow implicated in the whole thing, we welcome Fifa's investigation into this scandalous episode that has disgraced our football-mad country.
"The association (Safa) welcomes the investigation and is working very closely with Fifa to ensure that the scourge of corruption is uprooted from the game," a Safa statement issued on Monday read in part.
Fifa chief investigator Chris Eaton will visit the country early next month to follow up leads in the case.
Eaton has been leading Fifa's global fight against match-fixing.
Encouraging!
Safa CEO Robin Petersen said yesterday his organisation would not be conducting an investigation and had handed relevant documents to Fifa.
"We did this a long time ago after we were aware that our games were targeted for match-fixing," said Petersen.
"Handing over the information shows we have co-operated with Fifa. That's as far as our role goes."
But shouldn't Safa take the bull by the horns and institute their own investigation while awaiting Fifa's report?
It is not like Fifa is holding them back, and why don't Safa knuckle down to serious investigating business of their own?
How about Safa going to Finland to interview Perumal? Involve the Hawks as well.
It is also encouraging that Sport and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula has joined the fray.
I would be happy if he institutes a commission of inquiry similar to the one he initiated in Cricket SA's bonus scandal.
Isn't this fair enough?
We will be lying to ourselves if we believe the image of football in the region has not been blemished and it's not funny.
I urge the authorities to act now to ensure that they restore the image of football in the region.
We have been embarrassed by the developments in Zimbabwe, where 80 national players and coach Norman Mapeza have been suspended from national duties for alleged match-fixing.
Stop playing blame game and take action
SOUTH Africa received fulsome praise from critics and cynics alike the world over after we hosted a memorable 2010 World Cup.
Safa, the government, municipalities, the corporate sphere and all stakeholders worked in tandem to ensure South Africa delivered a tournament to remember.
And what a noteworthy event it was.
While we were still celebrating our success came the unthinkable - the match-fixing scandal that has rocked Bafana Bafana.
We have learnt with much embarrassment that some Bafana matches in the build-up to the 2010 World Cup finals - against Guatemala, Thailand, Bulgaria and Colombia - were allegedly fixed.
Controversial Singaporean crook Wilson Ray Perumal is allegedly behind the scandal.
Perumal has since been jailed in Finland for manipulating games in that country.
If the allegations are true, it will be a shame not only for the country but the entire continent, which was hosting the Fifa World Cup for the first time in history.
As they say in the classics: there is no smoke without fire!
Leslie Sedibe is making every effort to clear his name after media reports insinuated that the urbane legal mind knew about the match-fixing when he was still Safa CEO when these matches were "fixed" by referees appointed by shadowy sports marketing group Football4U.
Sedibe appointed a team of lawyers led by the charismatic Zola Majavu to clear his name.
I want to suggest to you, Mr Sedibe, that you know that organisationally the buck stops with the CEO.
No one is suggesting that Sedibe was involved in the scandal but he was somehow not streetwise in dealing with the game's shadowy agents.
As a head of administration at Safa at that time, he must take the blame.
I think, Sedibe you should rather offer to help get to the root of the allegations than pay to clear your name and pass the buck to your subordinate Lindile "Ace" Kika, who you trusted by delegating some of your duties to.
You gave Kika the job of dealing with issues pertaining to match officials on behalf of the federation.
Kika was Safa referees' technical committee chairman at that time. He is now the federation's head of national teams.
But the two gentlemen seem to be pointing accusing fingers at each other.
Sedibe seems to be shifting the blame of arranging referees for the affected matches on to Kika. Kika is adamant he never had the authority to make such decisions.
To these two gentlemen, for whom I have much respect, I say: stop blaming each other and work together at Safa to get to the bottom of these allegations that are damaging the image of the local game.
Like Safa, who are somehow implicated in the whole thing, we welcome Fifa's investigation into this scandalous episode that has disgraced our football-mad country.
"The association (Safa) welcomes the investigation and is working very closely with Fifa to ensure that the scourge of corruption is uprooted from the game," a Safa statement issued on Monday read in part.
Fifa chief investigator Chris Eaton will visit the country early next month to follow up leads in the case.
Eaton has been leading Fifa's global fight against match-fixing.
Encouraging!
Safa CEO Robin Petersen said yesterday his organisation would not be conducting an investigation and had handed relevant documents to Fifa.
"We did this a long time ago after we were aware that our games were targeted for match-fixing," said Petersen.
"Handing over the information shows we have co-operated with Fifa. That's as far as our role goes."
But shouldn't Safa take the bull by the horns and institute their own investigation while awaiting Fifa's report?
It is not like Fifa is holding them back, and why don't Safa knuckle down to serious investigating business of their own?
How about Safa going to Finland to interview Perumal? Involve the Hawks as well.
It is also encouraging that Sport and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula has joined the fray.
I would be happy if he institutes a commission of inquiry similar to the one he initiated in Cricket SA's bonus scandal.
Isn't this fair enough?
We will be lying to ourselves if we believe the image of football in the region has not been blemished and it's not funny.
I urge the authorities to act now to ensure that they restore the image of football in the region.
We have been embarrassed by the developments in Zimbabwe, where 80 national players and coach Norman Mapeza have been suspended from national duties for alleged match-fixing.
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