Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila FC (TTM) and a club official have been fined by the Premier Soccer League’s disciplinary committee for causing violence and threatening to bewitch a match official.

The case relates to an incident that took place after TTM’s Motsepe Foundation Championship League game against rivals Venda Football Academy (VFA), which was played at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Friday, 27 January.

Following the incident, the club and an official, namely Mr Lavhelesani Mukomafhedzi, were summoned to appear before the league’s disciplinary committee last Thursday (9^th). The committee members heard that Mukomafhedzi, who holds the position of kit manager in the club, had harassed the match officials after the game and that he had threatened to assault the first assistant referee. He had to be pulled back by his colleagues to stop him from hitting the assistant referee.

The committee heard the allegation that Mukomafhedzi later verbally abused and threatened the first assistant referee with witchcraft. Mukomafhedzi went further and took samples of the soil on which that match official had walked for the purpose of muti witchcraft.

TTM were represented by the club’s legal representatives during the DC hearing. The club pleaded guilty to all charges.

“The spectators for the first respondent, which is the club, had also thrown missiles in the direction of the match officials as they were being escorted to safety by the security personnel,” reads an extract of the statement from the league’s prosecutor, Mr Zola Majavu. “Upon receipt of the charge sheet … [TTM’s] legal representatives had indicated that they would be pleading guilty as charged. That was followed by a written plea which was put out before the DC and the prosecutor accepted the plea, which was later converted into a conviction,” the statement reads.

The club was fined an amount of R100 000, of which R50 000 is suspended on condition that they are not found guilty of the same offence during a period of 12 months. A fine of R80 000 was imposed on Mukomafhedzi, half of which is also suspended for a period of 12 months on the same conditions. TTM were again ordered to direct a written apology to the league and the match officials and to ensure that such an apology is carried on the club’s official website.

Mukomafhedzi was suspended for three matches. Both the club and Mukomafhedzi were ordered to pay the costs of the disciplinary committee’s hearing.