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Many issues were raised during our pre-season meetings. We wanted to forward recommendations for certain rules to be amended, but the rules govern the whole country. It’s therefore not an easy process …amendments must go through legal and ethics committees. – Bevan Mahlangu, SAFA Mpumalanga executive

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Sizwe sama Yende

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The corruption-riddled third-tier division of South African football, the ABC Motsepe League, has a long way to go before it can be cleaned up.

As usual, some teams, particularly from Mpumalanga, marred the already sullied league by deciding to stay away from their games towards the end of the season.

Drying up of funds has been cited as an excuse. It is a genuine excuse, but the timing is suspicious.

These acts stoked up speculation that the competing teams at the top of the Mpumalanga log, Kruger United and Ehlanzeni United, had paid bribes to benefit from the deduction of points when these truants are expelled.  

SAFA national spokesperson, Mninawa Ntloko, referred questions about the rampant corruption besetting the league in the nine provinces to the association’s Mpumalanga executive officer, Bevan Mahlangu – a hint that the problem was worse in Mpumalanga than the rest of the provinces.

In Mpumalanga, Barberton All Stars missed three games, which means it has been expelled. Gemsbok Classic missed two of their games. The club’s fate is in the hands of the SAFA disciplinary committee.

Kruger United won the Mpumalanga league last weekend with 66 points and has qualified to fight for a place in the professional National First Division at the play-offs to be hosted in Upington, Northern Cape. Ehlanzeni finished in the second place after leading the log for a long time during the season.

Mahlangu told The People’s Eye that fixing the ABC Motsepe League would need extensive consultation of the football-loving public for solutions.

“Many issues were raised during our pre-season meetings. We wanted to forward recommendations for certain rules to be amended, but the rules govern the whole country. It’s therefore not an easy process …amendments must go through legal and ethics committees,” Mahlangu said.

“What is happening on the ground is not a good picture,” he added. “I was preparing to call Gemsbok to a disciplinary hearing (after missing two games) and the next thing, Barberton All Stars has missed three games. The league normally starts well but when there are about eight games are left, we experience a lot of problems with the clubs.”

Mahlangu said that the association needed to find a better way of expelling wayward teams. He also said that club owners always found loopholes in the rules to use to their advantage.

Lack of funds was another problem affecting clubs taking part in the ABC Motsepe League. Some teams finished the league transporting players at the back of bakkies and owing their players and technical staff their wages.

“We understand that petrol prices go up, but the people’s interests need to be protected. Owners must be able to sustain their teams,” Mahlangu said.

Asked if club owners in the ABC Motsepe League needed to be screened to determine if they could afford to run clubs or not, he asked: “Who should do the vetting of owners? Of course, we’ve seen owners failing to run teams even at the higher level, for example, TTM. There are many owners affiliating in the league for their own selfish reasons.”

Mahlangu said that the ABC Motsepe League was an important league for players who aspired to play in the PSL and NFD.

Kruger United will join FN Rangers (from Western Cape), Dondol Stars (Gauteng) and Njampela FC (KwaZulu-Natal), Thames (North-West) in the national play-offs. Other provinces have not announced their winners yet.

The decider for Eastern Cape will be between FC Ravens and Highbury FC on May 12.

Meanwhile, in Limpopo, Tzaneen United [Stream B winners] will face Mpheni Home Defenders [Stream B winners] in the provincial playoffs and the winner will compete nationally. It looks like there may cases of illegitimate players.