A high-profile legal eagle for a high-profile “complex” case!
This, in a nutshell, is why Safa Cape Town has roped in the best in the business to deal with the scandal of alleged bribery and corruption that rocked the recent Third Division Playoffs at William Herbert in Wynberg.
This move was confirmed by the region’s deputy president, Andrew Bothman, who is also spearheading the investigation.
Bothman informed No Bones with Jones that he would be assisted by the high-profile Magistrate in Shaun Lea to get to the bottom of the story.
“The lawyer we roped in has got 36 years of experience in criminal justice as we want to use the best for this case,” Bothman explains. “The matter is of high importance and very serious to us,” the Safa deputy stated.
According to Bothman, their investigations have nothing to do with the playoffs which are scheduled to go ahead as planned with the knockout stages this coming weekend.
“We are dealing with the investigations while Safa CT handles the playoffs and we got nothing to do with that. We have started gathering information and from Monday it will be in earnest with interviewing all parties involved and implicated,” Bothman further added.
Bothman highlighted that at this stage he cannot confirm if the investigation will have any impact on the playoffs.
“Well, I can’t say and I don’t know, it all depends on what we find. Should, for whatever reason, it implicate a club that is still competing in the playoffs, then we will refer it back to the Mancom and REC and a recommendation will be made and they (Safa CT) can then decide on the way forward – that is my terms of reference,” Bothman concluded.
This development pertains to the probe of the freakish scorelines when 58 goals were scored in two matches in Group H, dubbed as the “Group of Death” which included Rebels FC, Two For Joy, West Coast, Electric City and Diadora FC.
Things started to get interesting in the last group matches when Two For Joy and Diadora were both deadlocked on seven points but the former had a superior goal difference.
Two for Joy had to beat West Coast and Diadora needed to replicate that against Electric City
The eyebrows were raised in the second half of Diadora and Two for Joy’s respective matches when it was raining goals in both matches which had the tongues wagging.
In the end, Diadora FC topped the group with a 35-1 scoreline and progressed to the quarterfinals on goal difference of +38, while Two For Joy had +36 following their 22-0 win.
