28th February 2023
SABC Sport posed questions to Motlanthe over the alleged match-fixing claims in SAFA amateur divisions, and allegations of poor match officiating leading to these claims, particularly in the Motsepe Foundation Championship.
SAFA have in the past put up an integrity officer and a hotline for people to report allegations of match-fixing and corruption, but Motlanthe says there are no follow-up submissions.
"We live in a country where you need to produce evidence so ([email protected]) is still there for people to report. Ethics committee is still there to deal with any conduct of us officials, staff and things that you think are unethical. The plea is don't use it to smear because it becomes something else," he said.
Motlanthe says at times these platforms to report allegations of match-fixing and corruption are exploited for smear campaigns by certain people in the game.
"We are saying use these processes, give evidence because this corruption is being spoken about all over but people can't produce any evidence. Once we get evidence then we can act. We need to start educating our football community not to take the risk of being sued for defamation," he added.
Match manipulation in the local game is nothing new and senior ranking officials have previously been successfully convicted in the court of law.
Currently, there is also a pending case at the Kempton Park Magistrate Court around similar allegations.