'I’m not ashamed because people have benefited too much before:' Sundowns assistant coach Mngqithi

While Mamelodi Sundowns assistant coach Manqoba Mngqithi admits to benefiting from referees’ mistakes, he says match officials are also human and likely to get it wrong now and then. 

During lighthearted banter between Mngqithi and Orlando Pirates counterpart Mandla Ncikazi ahead of the MTN8 final at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban (6pm), the latter brought up the issue of how Sundowns have been benefiting from referees’ blunders. 

The biggest and costliest mistake by Luxolo Badi who failed to award Kaizer Chiefs a clear penalty in the second leg semifinal saw Sundowns proceed to the final. 

Had Chiefs been awarded that penalty and scored it deep in referee’s optional time, the game would have finished 2-2 (3-3 on aggregate) and Amakhosi would have proceeded to the final.

“Coach Mandla has said that we are benefiting now and who can’t be thankful to benefits?” Mngqithi said. 

“And to be honest, I’m not ashamed because people have benefited too much before. So it’s our time. 

“Lento okuthiwa yisondo iyajika (the wheel turns), so when it turns in my favour I must appreciate it. Why must I complain? 

“People, if we can say ‘let’s open the closet and see the trophies that people have won before’ and maybe if there was a screening, I was going to show you because I’ve got a lot of finals that were decided dubiously,” he said. 

“I remember others decided with a handball, I remember others decided with a penalty where Simba Marumo was hacked like this and there was nothing. But I don’t want to go into too much detail in this space but I've seen a lot of dubious decisions in football.” 

Mngqithi also offered support for the match officials, saying unlike supporters who have the advantage of viewing an immediate video repeat, they only see incidents once and have to make a decision. 

A number of coaches in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) have called for the implementation of video assistant referee (VAR) which is being used by several other top leagues around the world. 

But it’s not clear when South Africa will catch up and add the technology feature. 

“And we must also accept that sometimes referees are human beings,” Mngqithi said. 

“We have been cheated a lot. We understand and we accept that because sometimes in football referees don’t have the benefit that we have, the slow motion, where we get to see the incident for the second time. 

“They have to make the call immediately as and when it happens and that is not very easy. 

“How many times have I thought the decision was supposed to be (in my favour) and when I do a video analysis I realise that I should have not had anything here and that’s why the referee decided the Right way. 

“But sometimes when we benefit, because I must be honest, we benefited and thank God because he is the one who decides our lives. Maybe it was God’s grace that the final should be played by Pirates and Sundowns so that people can witness tickets being bought in such a short time because people wanted to see a final that will excite them. 

“We must thank God for giving us the opportunity to have a final like this.”