Mbalula shock over Zuma’s no to match-fixing probe

Sports minister taken aback when told of the decision

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma took even Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula by surprise this week when he announced that he would no longer appoint a commission of inquiry to investigate the alleged corruption in the friendlies Bafana Bafana played in the build-up to the 2010 World Cup.

Mbalula was taken aback when the Sunday Times informed him that presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj had issued the statement on Friday morning.

Zuma and Mbalula attended the Bafana friendly against Brazil at FNB Stadium on Wednesday night and the two politicians handed out medals together after the match.

But Bafana’s 5-0 annihilation at the hands of the swashbuckling Selecao was seemingly too much for the president and he never got around to communicating his intentions to his sports minister during the 90 minutes.

Maharaj said Zuma took the decision after consulting with football governing body Fifa on the matter.

‘‘The international football association, Fifa, has advised the president that there is currently a pending preliminary investigation on the same matter by Fifa,” Maharaj said.

While Maharaj declined to elaborate, the announcement resolved months of confusion over who’s to probe match-fixing allegations.

Jerome Valcke, Fifa secretarygeneral, said in November soccer’s global governing body would take control of the longrunning match-fixing investigation and conduct its own inquiry.

The Frenchman’s announcement put him on a collusion course with Mbalula, who said at the time ‘‘Valcke must get it into his head Fifa does not run this country”.

But Zuma has now agreed to Fifa’s wishes and allowed the investigation to be conducted by the sports body.

Danny Jordaan, South African Football Association (Safa) president, said he hoped that Zuma’s decision would finally resolve the confusion and also fast-track the investigation.

‘‘We want the matter resolved speedily and we are not interested in any cover-up,” Jordaan said.

‘‘This matter goes back to the World Cup in 2010 and we are now about to go to another World Cup (in Brazil). This helps because it clears things up.”

Michael Garcia, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, will head the probe, and Jordaan said he was confident that the Fifa official would finally lay the matter to rest.

South African soccer has had the match-fixing allegations hovering like a dark cloud since former Safa president Kirsten Nematandani and other top bosses were suspended in December 2012 following a Fifa probe into match-fixing.

Nematandani, CEO Dennis Mumble, then national teams’ head Lindile Kika, erstwhile referees’ head Adeel Carelse and Bafana Bafana team manager

We want the matter resolved speedily. We are not interested in any cover-up

Barney Kujane were suspended after Fifa investigators made the allegations.

Former Safa CEO Leslie Sedibe, who headed the organisation during the matches under investigation, and erstwhile head of referees Steve Goddard, were also named in the Fifa report of an investigation into the activities of an Asian syndicate, headed by convicted Singaporean match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal. He is thought to have fixed matches in many countries.

But Nematandani, Mumble, Kika, Kujane and Carelse had their suspensions reversed weeks after it emerged that the committee that suspended them had no power to do so.

Many of these officials are no longer employed by Safa and only Mumble, Kika and Kujane remain.