An undisclosed number of referees were expected to be arrested over the next few days as police conclude their initial investigation into professional soccer match fixing, police spokesperson Director Sally de Beer confirmed on Sunday.
”We have made no arrests yet but are now in a position do so,” she said, explaining that this came after the South Africa Football Association (Safa) asked them to conduct an investigation two months ago.
She said ”a number of referees” had been identified and would be arrested and appear in court on bribery and corruption charges.
De Beer would not comment on the number of suspects but said that as the investigation continued more arrests were expected.
The probe into match fixing in local professional soccer was completed last week and was discussed at a meeting between national police commissioner Jackie Selebi and Safa president Molefi Oliphant.
Oliphant admitted on Sunday that he was ”disappointed” that local soccer was blighted by match fixing. ”One would always expect that the outcome of a match should be decided by the two clubs and not by any official influencing the result.”
He also confirmed that unlike the incidents of cricket match fixing, gambling was not the cause of result tampering. ”In this case it is about club officials paying off referees to ensure their team wins.”
The probe was initiated by Safa after persistent rumours that referees were accepting bribes.
”The mere fact that there was an outcry indicated the need for an investigation,” said Oliphant.
The probe was into professional football looked both premier division and first division teams. The leading 16 teams play in the premier league while the first division comprises ”streams”, namely the inland stream, with 16 teams, and the coastal stream, with 14 teams. However, from next season the first division will once again be amalgamated into a single league.
The 2003/2004 season was completed last week with Kaizer Chiefs winning the premier league title, Bush Bucks the coastal stream and Bloemfontein Celtic the inland stream.
In addition to the league games there are also a number of other competitions, including the lucrative Absa Cup, which sees the winning team earn R1,5-million, and the SAA Top Eight, a knockout event for the premier league’s leading eight clubs.
A report in the City Press newspaper on Sunday claiming a rift between SA 2010 Bid Committee chairperson Irvin Khoza and CEO Danny Jordaan was strongly refuted by a senior Safa official. ”The claim that Danny and Irvin are not talking is nonsense.
”They meet regularly at meetings and they definitely converse. The only reason they are not talking right now is that Danny is in Mauritius,” said the unidentified official. – Sapa