The South African Football Association (Safa) Sekhukhune Region in Limpopo is under the spotlight after suspected match fixing and corruption in the SAB League Stream E.
This after Auto Magolego, owner of FC Auto, who are competing in the SAB League, cried foul that his team had been unfairly expelled from the league on April 12, without any verdict in his case.
Magolego said he sent numerous letters to the board, which Sunday World has seen alongside the summons that were sent via texts. He claims that none of his grievances have been attended to by regional president Lazarus Thokoane.
Magolego is adamant that his team is being targeted, solely because he was the key witness during the Motimele Commission in 1998, which was one |
of the biggest match-fixing and corruption exposés in the country.
“My team and I are being targeted because I was the key witness during the Motimele Commission, complaining about the corruption that was taking place in our football,” Magolego exclusively told Sunday World.
“I have been having a lot of challenges as far as the referees are concerned. Some of these guys [referees] wanted me to give them money to win games, even when they knew that I had quality players to compete with anybody in this region.
“So, whenever I don’t give them the money, these match officials make sure that my team doesn’t win any game that I play.”
Magolego suspects that ABC Motsepe League coordinator in Limpopo and owner of Mighty FC, Mighty Tjale, could be the man behind his unfair treatment, saying that Tjale may be blocking his way of getting promoted to the ABC Motsepe league, since they are under the same Safa structure.
“The office of the region did indeed receive the complaint by Mr Magolego and his matter was attended to by the head of competition James Masha,” Thokoane said.
“His expulsion from the league came by default in terms of the rules, which state that in a competition of more than 10 teams, failure to attend more than three matches results in automatic termination of the club status.”
It is alleged that FC Auto lost their status on April 12 after missing three games in a season and was only notified about the loss of their status via text messages.
Thokoane has since advised FC Auto to take their matter to regional secretary Judas Thipane before they appear before the disciplinary committee and get a formal verdict.
Tjale has since refuted all allegations made against him, saying he is not aware of the allegations made against him.
“My other concern is that some of us did not form teams to benefit from, but we formed them to take the kids out of the streets,” Magolego said.
“Since I have teams competing in the LFA and SAB, what will happen to all the 60 players that are deprived of football, all because of one person.”
He threatens to escalate the matter to the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the administrative football body for intervention should justice not be done.
Safa’s new CEO Lydia Monyepao was not available on her phone to comment on the matter
For the latest sports news from Sunday World, click here.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa
