By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Kaizer Chiefs have been slapped with another fine by the Premier Soccer League (PSL) disciplinary committee for failing to honour their fixtures against Cape Town City and Golden Arrows.
Back in December, a mass Covid-19 outbreak at the club occurred, with no less than 52 members testing positive for the virus.
Chiefs wrote to the league, urging the postponement of the relevant fixtures for the sake of public safety, but the PSL took nearly three weeks to respond and then relied on an early pandemic resolution that virus cases couldn’t be used as a reason for postponements.
Soweto giants took matters into its own hands during that time and opted not to honour their fixtures the two fixtures before returning to play Sekhukhune United 10 days later.
This fine comes four days after Chiefs were found guilty by the PSL of fielding ineligible players in their match against Sekhukhune United in December 2021.
Chiefs were also fined R200‚000 for that offence‚ of which 50% is also suspended for 12 months.
The PSL took arbitrator Nazeer Cassim’s decision on review at the high court in Johannesburg. But Chiefs then lost both rescheduled games and later withdrew their opposition to the PSL’s court review. That in turn meant the disciplinary committee hearing against the club was reinstated.
PSL prosecutor Zola Majavu said on Tuesday that Chiefs have received a fine of R200‚000‚ half of which is suspended.
Majavu said after the conclusion of the matter, I can confirm that, earlier this morning, Kaizer Chiefs FC appeared before the PSL disciplinary committee to answer to charges of misconduct in relation to their non-fulfilment of the two fixtures in December amid Covid-19.
“They were in relation to Cape Town City and Lamontville Golden Arrows. That matter was put on hold, pending the finalisation of an arbitration, which Kaizer Chiefs had to refer to.”
“Upon the arbitrator ruling in their favour, I discontinued the prosecution and later the league executive committee took that decision on review, and they succeeded last week on May 10, therefore paving the way for me to proceed with the misconduct charges.”
“That particular matter was then enrolled for hearing for today, and I am pleased to inform you that the matter was indeed duly finalised on the following basis: Kaizer Chiefs pleaded guilty, and I accepted their plea, which resulted in the disciplinary committee returning a guilty verdict.”
“We immediately proceeded to make submissions with regards to aggravation and mitigation of sentence after the PSL disciplinary committee ruled as follows with regards to sanction: Kaizer Chiefs were fined an amount of R200 000, of which 50% is suspended for a period of 12 months on condition that during the period of suspension, they are not found guilty of the same offence again.”
“They were further ordered to pay the cost of the sittings, which costs are to be administratively computed by the league and, once so finalised, they will be on forwarded to Kaizer Chiefs for onward payment.”
According to the PSL handbook, a club will forfeit three points shoult it be unable to honour a fixture, but Chiefs escaped this harsher punishment.