By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Department of Sports, Arts and Culture minister Gayton McKenzie revealed that his deparment has set aside R90 million to introduce the Video-Assited Referee (VAR) system for top-tier football in South Africa.
McKenzie was responding to a Parliamentary Q&A from Rise Mzansi MP Makashule Gana.
He said it is envisaged that this budget will also be used to acquire goal-line technology.
VAR has been implemented in over 50 leagues worldwide, and other African countries, such as Algeria, Egypt, Tanzania, and Morocco, are already using it.
He said using the technology could cost as much as R70,000 per match, also requiring a once-off sum of up to R80 million, and money to train referees.
In April, he announced that according to FIFA regulations, the South African Football Association (Safa) must implement it.
A few days later, Safa issued a tender for service providers to bid for the supply of VAR equipment, preparation of VAR training programmes, and training of video and match officials.
McKenzie noted that Safa received “about a dozen proposals” when the bidding window closed on 21 April.
Regarding the tender’s progress, the minister said Safa was assembling a proposal evaluation committee, which should begin evaluating bids in early June.
SAFA head of the refereeing Abdul Ebrahim said, “The tender process has been completed, and the tender committee needs to be established to make a decision. They need to go through the tender process, and obviously, they will select a service provider from there.
“It’s possible for the PSL to have VAR next season, but only in certain matches; we will not be able to implement VAR in the league because a lot of training is still needed.
“There is possibility in cup games, yes, but not for the league.”
Ebrahim also praised his refereeing panel for their performance over the past season, although he admitted there is always room for improvement.
Data released by the Premier League shows that the rate of correct refereeing decisions has improved from 82% to 96%.
“VAR is, and remains, a very effective tool in supporting the match officials on the pitch,” Premier League Chief Football Officer Tony Sholes told Sky Sports in 2024.
He noted that the Premier League had only identified 20 VAR mistakes across the 2023/24 season, 17 of which were due to the video referees failing to intervene when they should have.
However, despite VAR allowing for more rigid match officiating, a survey of 33,243 English and Welsh football fans revealed that nearly all found the sport to have become less enjoyable.