Cape Town – More than three months after Kaizer Chiefs pleaded guilty at a PSL Disciplinary Committee hearing to the rioting of their fans at last season's Nedbank Cup semi-final against Free State Stars at Durban's Mabhida Stadium – one of the ugliest outbreaks of its kind in years – no sentence has yet been delivered.
And this failure to administer what would seem urgent justice has raised disturbing claims of autocratic double standards within the PSL administration – notwithstanding the claims that the matter is of such a delicate and far-reaching nature as to require time to come up with a suitable sentence.
Further provoking an element of disquiet is the fact that the PSL is attempting to divorce the Mabhida Stadium mayhem from the R200 000 suspended fine hanging over Chiefs following a similar outbreak of violence by their fans at the Absa Premiership game against Chippa Stars.
A top PSL source is claiming that the Nedbank Cup fracas is unrelated to the suspended fine because the security in Durban was under the control of the PSL administration itself unlike that at the game against Chippa United when Chiefs were in charge of security.
Attempts on Tuesday to elicit further information on the cases in hand from various PSL officials all drew the same response – "we'll come back to you later."
And later, not surprisingly, has still to materialise.
Also, it will be recalled, that when Orlando Pirates fans rioted two seasons ago following on a humiliating 6-0 defeat against Mamelodi Sundowns, it took the PSL a seemingly endless 14 months before the Buccaneers were finally sentenced – with a home game behind closed doors part of the kid gloves punishment and Pirates boss and PSL chairperson Irvin Khoza claiming Sundowns were the guilty party as the home team.
Chiefs, it would seem, are in a greater predicament because of their fans behaviour on two occasions, despite the club's guilty pronouncement regarding the Durban rioting when one security official was viciously attacked, 14 other spectators badly injured and TV and radio equipment and stadium amenities damage extending into millions.
