The SA Football Association (Safa) is without a head of referees after Tenda Masikhwa, who was occupying the position, took a voluntary retrenchment recently, according to insiders at Safa House.

Last month, Safa began a section 189 process as the organisation implemented retrenchment on a major scale.

It is now understood that Masikhwa is one of the staff who is leaving.

"He is going because the bosses don't want him anymore and he was one of the few who was forced to take a voluntary retrenchment," an insider at Safa told Sowetan yesterday.

Sports bodies across the globe have felt the pinch in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak and they have all had to take drastic measures to ensure their survival.

"From next week, we won't have the head of referees. All the referees' mistakes which were happening in the past were compromising the association, so in terms of restructuring, he is not part of it anymore, that's why they decided that he must leave," the insider continued. "We don't know if they will replace him."

Safa refused to comment, while Masikhwa could not be reached and failed to return our calls and text messages.