Safa president Molefi Oliphant ordered the match-fixing probe

Two more club officials and another referee have been arrested and have made brief court appearances in South African football's match-fixing scandal.

The total number of arrests has now risen to 22.

Dumisani Ndlovu of Premier United, Dolf Rosseau of Basotho Tigers and Durban referee Enoch Hadebe were detained on Monday in the on-going police probe codenamed 'Operation Dribble', a spokesman said on Tuesday.

A total of five club officials have now been arrested, all of them from clubs in the country's first division.

Leading SA referees in court

Two of them, Stru Pasiya and Bongile Nkola of Umtata Bush Bucks, were due to appear again in court late on Tuesday after lawyers argued about the conditions of their bail when they made their initial appearance on Monday.

Bush Bucks won promotion in May to the country's premier league, which starts again in August, and club official Pasiya is also a member of the league's executive committee.

Hadebe's arrest means that 16 referees have appeared in court to face corruption charges and given bail, yet trials are not expected to start before August.

One match commissioner has also been detained and appeared briefly in court on Monday.

The referees include four with accredited status from football's world governing body Fifa, with three of them - Petros Mathebela, Simon Motau and Ronnie Marhule - on the 2004 list.

The other, Walter Mochubela, retired from international football last year.

Mathebela was scheduled to referee a World Cup qualifier in Sudan on Saturday when the home side host Libya.

Police said on Sunday they were due to arrest a member of the refereeing committee of the South African Football Association (Safa) this week.

Yet they have since been told by national police commissioner Jackie Selebi to stop tipping off the local media about anticipated arrests.

The investigation was requested by Safa several months ago after consistent complaints from clubs over refereeing performances and media outrage at dubious decisions.