Orlando Pirates escape with suspended fine for Tim Sukazi incident

23 Aug 2022

It was an incident which left a bitter taste in the mouths of the South African football followers. However, after Orlando Pirates originally appealed the guilty verdict, it was upheld.

Considering the overly physical nature of their transgression, Orlando Pirates walked away with a slap on the wrist after their appeal against a guilty verdict from the Premier Soccer League (PSL) fell through.

The incident in question took place in December 2021, where the Buccaneers' security personnel denied TS Galaxy owner Tim Sukazi entry into the field and his team’s dressing room — in spite of his possession of an all-access accreditation.

This is the kind of treatment we are subjected to at Orlando Stadium. They don't want to allow our President to access the field but he has an accreditation that allows him to be in the field.#Siyadumuza #TheRockets #TSG pic.twitter.com/W4U8eWaTRQ

— TS Galaxy FC (@TSGALAXYFC) December 11, 2021

Subsequently, in April 2022 the league’s disciplinary committee (DC) ruled in favour of Sukazi and Galaxy over the unsavoury scenes that played out at the Orlando stadium on that fateful day in December.

However, the Soweto side opted to appeal the verdict — a process which has also now somewhat backfired after the South African Football Association (Safa) upheld the original PSL DC decision.

“In terms of the rules, Pirates were perfectly entitled to lodge an appeal to the Safa appeal board if aggrieved by the decision,” said PSL prosecutor Zola Majavu said on Monday, 22 August.

“The matter was argued before the Safa appeal board and judgment was reserved. On Monday evening that judgment was delivered and the appeal by Orlando Pirates was dismissed.”

Nonetheless, the punishment for the Buccaneers being found guilty of misconduct was a relatively light one.

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“They were sanctioned a monetary fine of R100,000 — which is wholly suspended for a period of 12 months — on condition that during the period of suspension they are not found guilty of the same offence,” Majavu stated.

“They were also directed to forfeit the appeal fee and further to send a written apology to the league in which they apologise for the incident. They were further directed to pay the costs of that [original] sitting and the costs of the Safa tribunal.”

Speaking to the South African Football Journalists’ Association [Safja] in the aftermath of the incident, Sukazi had revealed that it wasn’t the first time he had been subjected to such treatment at Orlando stadium in the past, stating that in January 2021 similar scenes played out.

He and his club had opted not to report the matter to the PSL. However, in anticipation of a potential repeat, they had their phones ready to record the second incident, which they did.

“Even people who were journalists on the day saw. It was captured on camera, but nothing happened with that situation. Fortunately, this time around, when it started people were smart enough to say, ‘let’s capture this thing’ so people can see what we’re subjected to here,” said Sukazi at the time.

On why he was twice subjected to such treatment, Sukazi is none the wiser. However, when his Galaxy next visits Orlando on 10 September he will hope the guillotine hanging over Pirates’ head will be a sufficient deterrent to avoid a repeat of the past. DM

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