Ndengeza FC expelled for assaulting match officials

One of the affiliates of the Limpopo Stream of the ABC Motsepe League, Ndengeza FC, has been expelled from the league's activities for assaulting the match officials.

The expulsion follows an incident that took place at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium shortly after the league game between Ndengeza FC and Mighty FC on Sunday, 21 January this year.

During its sitting last week, the league’s disciplinary committee found Ndengeza guilty of assaulting two match officials, Messrs Joel Baloyi and Israel Rikhotso. Baloyi was the match commissioner, while Rikhotso was one of the assistant referees.

Ndengeza lost the match 3-4.

 According to Baloyi, he went to the chairman of Mighty FC, Mr Mighty Tlale, to collect the officials’ travelling fee after the game. On his way back to the dressing he room, he was confronted by the players and officials of Ndengeza, who accused him of corruption, saying he had received a bribe from Tlale.

Baloyi said he showed them the R375 travelling fee that he had received from Tlale. Baloyi further testified that the crowd followed him to the dressing room where the referee, Mr Roy Mulaudzi, and his assistants, Ms Nana Manaka and Mr Israel Rikhotso, were.

He testified that an argument ensued between the match officials and the angry mob inside the dressing room. The referee and one of his assistants, Ms Nana Manaka, managed to escape from the dressing room before the crowd closed the door, leaving him and Rikhotso at the mercy of the angry mob.

Baloyi told the committee that the mob started to assault them with various objects they could lay their hands on. The two match officials were severely injured. The mob also tore Baloyi’s SAFA blazer apart in the ordeal.

The committee found Ndengeza guilty of assaulting the match officials and bringing the league into disrepute. When commenting about the sanction imposed on Ndengeza, one of the victims, Mr Baloyi, said that he was caught in a “catch 22 situation” and that it was an embarrassment for him to see that the club that had treated him in a brutal and barbaric way was from his district, Mopani.

He further indicated that the club did not show any sign of remorse after the incident and that the team’s managing director, Mr Akani Siweya, had his contact details but he had not even given him a courtesy call after the incident. “It is sad for me to see a district losing a club, but on the other hand what they did to me was really uncalled for,” said Baloyi.

He further indicated that he had invested a lot in football and taking a bribe was something he would never do in life. Asked to comment on the case, the team’s managing director, Mr Akani Siweya, revealed that it was premature for him to comment, saying his lawyers were working on the matter.  

Date:19 July 2018

By: Frank Mavhungu

Frank is a Human Resources Manager at the Department of Public Works in Limpopo. He is the longest serving correspondent of the Mirror, having joined us at the end of 1990.  He mainly writes sports reports and resides at Tsianda Village. In 2004, Frank won the National Castle League Award, an award for the best reporter in the SAB league in South Africa.

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