SAFA disregard court order as ABC Motsepe National playoffs go ahead

The play-offs final has gone ahead on Sunday at Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville, where The Bees, Gomora United (Gauteng) and Midlands Wanderers have been provisionally promoted to the National First Division.

However, the matter heard by East London High Court judge Thembekile Malusi, who ruled on Saturday afternoon that matches from 6pm (on Saturday) have to be halted.

"It is ordered that the SAFA national play-off fixtures scheduled for 6pm on 5 July and those on 6 July, or any, shall be stayed pending the finalisation of the cases under the above-mentioned case numbers,” Judge Malusi ordered on Saturday. 

READ: ABC Motsepe National Play-off semifinals engulfed in arbitration storm

Eastern Cape-based Sinenkani FC filed an urgent application at the East London High Court, challenging SAFA’s decision to exclude teams from their province and Limpopo due to what they termed 'pending legal cases'. 

In their application, Sinenkani were joined by Kakamas Juventus from Northern Cape – a team that was already part of the national playoffs in Pretoria but felt aggrieved by this decision and the rules that affected them in the middle of the tournament. 

The first semi-final between The Bees and Thames, which saw the Mpumalanga side winning promotion to the National First Division after beating the team from North West 4-2, was underway while court was in session, leading to Judge Malusi issuing this order. 

“The national play-off fixture played on 5 July 2025, at 15:00, between The Bees FC and The Thames may continue to play, but is subject to the outcome of the Main Review Application under case number 301/2025 and 3013/2025."

As part of his orders on Saturday, Judge Malusi also stated that the matches that had already been played would all be included in the main application. 

“The fixtures from the 2 July to date of the SAFA national play-offs are also subject to the outcome of the Main Review Application, under the same case numbers,” the order read.

The case is now expected to be heard again on 22 July 2025, with the Premier Soccer League having also been added as one of the respondents, as the three teams promoted from the play-offs will fall under their administration in the Motsepe Foundation Championship. 

One of the cases also includes FC Ravens’ application to challenge the court ruling, which reviewed and set aside an arbitration award that found in their favour in an earlier provincial matter against Sinenkani. 

Sinenkani chairman Nathi Nqoko told SABC Sport he was shocked to see SAFA continuing with the play-offs despite the court ruling.

"The court communicated to SAFA through their legal team that was in court yesterday (Saturday), and I’m surprised to see them continuing with the games. This is a serious matter,” said Nqoko. 

"The good thing now is that there will be three judges listening to this case and will ensure that the matters are closed as soon as possible, because this is a complex matter.  

“We welcome this decision because it will close all the gaps and make things easier, even though we feel the matter is straightforward, but it gives us comfort to have three judges for this case."

SAFA responded in a nonchalant manner when asked by SABC Sport to comment on these ongoing cases. 

"We have a game taking place at the moment, and we are concentrating on it at the moment. We will issue a statement at a later stage,” said a SAFA representative.