9 October 2018 – The South African Football Association (SAFA) is paying attention and attending to recent spate of below par performances by some match officials in top flight games.

Head of referees Tenda Masikhwa said while eradicating human error was virtually impossible in any sport, SAFA was working thoroughly to minimise some of the avoidable mistakes.

“We acknowledge that teams invest a lot of resources in running their business. We have seen some borderline game-changing decisions in some matches, for example, the Bloemfontein Celtic/Mamelodi Sundowns, Cape Town City/Bidvest Wits and a few others just to mention a few. While match officials are only human and are prone to making mistakes, some of the blunders are unacceptable and we ask match officials as professionals, to jerk up their act,” said Masikhwa.

Masikhwa said the Association, through the Referees Department, were busy addressing the matters that needed urgent attention as a way to stop unnecessary errors through the implementation of the Intervention Programme

“Much as our officials are among the best on the continent, mistakes are part of the game but we are working flat out to eradicate unnecessary and costly mistakes among our officials,” added Masikhwa.