 Petros Mathebela is among 27 officials arrested by South Africa police |
After heading a referees' committee at the Cosafa under-20 tournament in South Africa in December 1999, I detailed in a report to the southern African regional body my concerns that referees in the country could be open to abuse.
At the heart of the current match-fixing crisis in South Africa, in my view, is the fact that many referees in the country are unemployed, so leaving them vulnerable to the temptations that may come their way.
I believe that refereeing should not be a person's main source of income, and the fact that it is lies at the source of the investigation currently ongoing.
When I highlighted my concerns at the Cosafa tournament in 1999, I didn't see referees being bribed but I did see that they kept on insisting on payments all the time.
I was a little annoyed, as I never regarded refereeing as a way of making money, but the match officials told me that they were unemployed and needed the money to make ends meet.
My view is that all referees on the Fifa panel should hold down good jobs, so that they don't need to make ends meet through football.
I'm not saying unemployment relates to a lack of integrity, but it does make a referee more susceptible to the temptations that may come his way.
Neither do I blame the referees alone in this scandal.
It takes two to tango, and I believe a fair share of the blame must be apportioned to those people who aim to bribe referees.
People will naturally now wonder whether this problem is continent-wide but I don't think it is, at least not on the same scale.
I believe that, on the whole, referees in Africa are doing a good job.
There are frequent allegations that important matches are thrown, but my feeling is that referees are an easy target when coaches lose.
As a match commissioner, I can say with all sincerity that I've certainly never had to note that a referee has thrown a match. In all my days as a referee, only once was I offered compensation for producing the 'right result'.
And when I took the matter further, the club chairman involved was given a five-year ban by the Confederation of African Football.
After what I saw in South Africa in 1999, I'm not surprised at what is happening now but I find it very sad that so many referees and ex-referees have been implicated.
Yet in one way it's good for football, as at least we do now know that the problem is there and so the chance exists to put it right.
It's good for everyone concerned, especially the referees - since they now know they are being watched all the time.
Zimbabwean Frank Valdemarca refereed in his homeland and across the continent for 30 years.
MMIX
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