It’s time to hit fake news and propaganda pedlars for a mighty six

● Now that it is as clear as a goat’s anus that no points will be deducted from Mamelodi Sundowns for Arendsegate, the moment is opportune to hit some untruths for a six.

For the uninitiated, Arendsegate is a reference to the case brought against Mamelodi Sundowns.

Their charge was fielding defender Wayne Arendse, who was ineligible to play in that his name was not on the team sheet submitted for the Premier Soccer League (PSL) clash against Bidvest Wits last October.

Rumour mongering and propaganda peddling was the order the day.

People were convinced that the delay in issuing a sanction was a ploy to try to dock points from Sundowns.

Because of the delay, there was conjecture aplenty as all and sundry speculated about the possible motive behind the slow turn in the wheels of justice.

The general consensus was that something was being cooked by chefs of evil behind the veil of the Premier Soccer League.

The theory went something like this: in the event of defending champions Sundowns and pretenders to the throne Orlando Pirates — locked in a neck-andneck race for the title — finishing on equal points, the former would be docked points in order to benefit the latter.

That would happen, the propagandists professed, because the chairman of the league will move heaven and earth for his team to be champions.

Now, Irvin Khoza is the all-powerful figure of SA soccer with such a strong grip on the game that it led to veteran scribe Sy Lerman christening him the Iron Duke.

But it does appear as a stretch of the

Off the field, Khoza’s occupation of the powerful position of PSL chairman blurs the lines

imagination that Khoza dabbles in shenanigans designed for his team to win things by hook or crook. Why would he? Once upon a time, Pirates went close to a decade without savouring silverware success, be it in cup competitions or for the Holy Grail itself.

That almost decade-long drought was broken by a waterfall of six trophies, which came in the form of the unprecedented double treble of 2010-11 and 2011-12.

Since then, they have played in numerous local cup finals and settled for silver to a point that Bridesmaids FC came close to dislodging the Buccaneers nickname.

It is as absurd an assertion as that notion which seeks to characterise Sundowns as a prison where careers are brutally brought to an end.

This pronouncement presupposes that players are kidnapped, threatened with death by firing squad and frogmarched to Chloorkop where Patrice Motsepe is a ruthless warden who jails them without trial while paying them dollops of moolah for twiddling their thumbs in the stands.

Should they succeed in wresting the crown from the claws of Sundowns, it would be because Milutin “Micho” Sredojevic and his technical team went one better than last season’s secondplace finish.

It would be because Micho’s gang embarked on the evolution of the revolution — the culmination of which was to lift Pirates from the unrecognisable debris they were and rise from the rubble to the top of the table.

Off the field, Khoza’s occupation of the powerful position of PSL chairman blurs the lines. It creates confusion and consternation where none should exist. It muddies the waters and raises an air of suspicion.

Similarly, Motsepe’s close proximity to power, by virtue of President Cyril Ramaphosa being his brother-in-law, will make people always suspect that any business deals he strikes would be accruing from the two men’s relationship and not his proven business acumen.

Let’s hit the untruths for a six.