admin
“An independent judicial commission of enquiry will be set-up by the South African government,” said Fifa, who had previously warned South Africa off a judicial inquiry, in a statement.
“The mandate of this judicial investigation will be limited to matters related to the case of irregularities related to friendly matches of the South African Football Association (Safa) in the build-up to the 2010 Fifa World Cup.”
Several of South Africa’s warm-ups before they hosted the 2010 World Cup were found to have been fixed, which led to the brief suspension of senior Safa officials, including its president Kirsten Nematandani.
Fifa had previously written to the South African government saying the matter should be handled by the country’s football association rather than the judiciary.
But yesterday, South Africa and Fifa managed to head off a full-blown battle over the country’s probe of a pre-2010 World Cup match-fixing scandal, which world football’s governing body saw as political meddling in the game.
Fifa said yesterday that the dispute had been defused after talks at its Swiss headquarters with South African sports minister Fikile Mbalula and the head of Safa, Nematandani.
Fifa said that a deal had been struck that marked a “new milestone” in the fight against match-fixing, with an independent judicial commission of inquiry to be set up by the South African government.
Mbalula has been pushing for an inquiry to delve into a Fifa report which claimed that four of South Africa’s warm-up games before they hosted the World Cup were fixed by corrupt referees from Kenya, Niger and Togo.
But Fifa bristles at what it sees as government interference in football and had argued that Safa should investigate itself.
“This long-standing open case is harming South African football. It is vital that this matter which dates back to 2010 is concluded soon, with the culprits to be sanctioned in accordance with the zero tolerance policy,” said Fifa’s secretary-general Jerome Valcke.
Under the deal, the mandate of the inquiry will be limited to matters related to the friendly matches.
In addition, Fifa, Safa and Mbalula have backed a proposal that an independent representative of Fifa’s ethics committee should be part of the South African inquiry team.
“The rise of match manipulation globally has become one of the most pressing issues facing football today. I understand fully that Fifa needs strong action from associations like Safa to tackle this problem,” said Mbalula. — Soccernet.
“It is vitally important that national authorities such as ourselves play a full role,” he added.
Nematandani was among five Safa officials temporarily suspended after a Fifa report said convicted Singaporean match-fixer Wilson Perumal arranged friendlies against Thailand, Bulgaria, Guatemala and Colombia and chose the referees.
South Africa won three of the games and drew the other, while those against Guatemala and Colombia were marred by a series of dubious penalties awarded to the home team.
Online Reporter