Former Kaizer Chiefs defender Tefu Mashamaite has refuted claims suggesting that Amakhosi Football Manager Bobby Motaung was involved in bribing officials during the team's successful period.
Mashamaite was a captain of the Chiefs team that won the MTN8 and the ABSA Premiership in the 2014/15 season under the leadership of Stuart Baxter.
At the time, the Soweto giants were consistent in winning games; both league and cup competitions.
Mashamaite asserts that while referees may have made errors that inadvertently favored the Chiefs, Motaung was not engaged in any form of bribery.
MASHAMAITE ON CLAIMS ABOUT BOBBY BUYING REFEREES
“They are human at the end of the day, pressure does count, I don’t think there’s anything sinister like brown envelopes, we always got accused of it at Chiefs when we were winning, they also said Bobby [Motaung] was pushing brown envelopes,” said on the Bettor Pod as quoted by iDiski Times.
“But at the same time, you’re playing and seeing a referee is against us. But at the end of the day, they accusing Bobby of paying the ref, so I don’t think it’s got anything to do with the [conspiracies] of administrators paying them.”
Further, Mashamaite criticised the standard of refereeing in South Africa, suggesting that it has consistently been poor.
MASHAMAITE ON STANDARD OF REFEREEING
“It was the same when I was playing, there’s no standard that has dropped, the standard has always been low, we’ve been complaining about the refs, it was the same thing [when I was playing],” he added.
“They are very arrogant, I’m sorry to say this. I remember during my time, as a captain you approach the ref to try and get an explanation of his decision and he tells you; ‘you are not my captain’, I’m like what was the point of me wearing an armband if I can’t come and represent my team [on decisions].
“But I also feel the system protects them a lot, in England, you have review committees who take real action where yellow cards and red cards get rescinded, but here in South Africa, the referee makes a mistake and gets away with it.
“Or he gets suspended and then comes back a couple of weeks later, the system is to blame, referees have always been a thorny issue. I hope with the cries that are happening right now, something can be done, because it’s taking our football back.”
