The South African Football Association (SAFA) Head of Referees Abdul Ebrahim has confirmed that the association has suspended referee Siyabonga Nkomo and his assistant Thamanga Sebati for “four to eight weeks“.
SAFA has found them guilty for allowing the second goal of Moroka Swallows to stand, which was decisive as The Dube Birds won 2-1 against Sekhukhune United at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Wednesday.
Dumisani Zuma’s shot was easily gathered by Badri Sangare but he appeared to be pushed over the goal-line by Gabadinho Mhango and Nkomo pointed to the centre circle for a goal in the added minute, leaving the Ivory Coast international bemused.
Both sets of technical areas got involved with the first assistant official – Kgara Mokoena and Swallows coach Steve Komphela was seen pointing his finger in protest that it was a goal, with Sekhukhune arguing that the goal should have not stood.
The referee had to be escorted off the field by security guards, as Sekhukhune officials were left incensed at the decision.
This publication has learnt that the review committee sat on Thursday and it is when they were found guilty for allowing the goal stand.
“The decision from the review committee is that the match officials erred in allowing the goal to stand,” Ebrahim told iDiski Times.
“They have recommended that the two match officials – the referee and assistant referee – be put on the rehabilitation program.
“But they will, however, be officiating while they are on this rehabilitation but they will not be officiating in the National Soccer League (NSL, including games in the Motsepe Foundation Championship).
“I have not been given everything but it will be between four to eight weeks.”.
When it was argued that the goalkeepers are too protected and it was not a strong push by Mhango, Ebrahim said there is no incident in football that is classified as hard or soft.
“In football, there aren’t any soft and hard fouls,” said Ebrahim.
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“At the end of the day, if the review committee deemed it to be a foul then so be it. So that is where we stand at the moment and the review committee has made a decision and the decision has been carried by the refereeing committee.”
As the season has just started, this is not good for the refereeing industry, admits Ebrahim.
“Definitely we don’t want to suspend, we don’t want to rehabilitate match officials (this early), but yes errors do occur and they are going to occur in any game of football,” said Ebrahim.
“How we deal with it is important. The kind of comments we make around it, we cannot be irresponsible about it because everybody in football makes mistakes, everybody. We need to be fair in football. If we need to find blame, we need to look at the game holistically.
“But in this instance, the match officials erred and now our technical committee will work with them so that when they do come back, they are not going to make the same mistakes.”
