SHATTERED PSL referee Thando Ndzandzeka has essentially apologised to Golden Arrows defender Limbikani Mzava after wrongfully sending him off in a case of mistaken identity on Saturday.
The Malawian’s controversial red card has been the talk of the weekend after Ndzandzeka reacted to Mzwandile Buthelezi’s bone-crushing tackle on Orlando Pirates’ Luvuyo Memela, but picked on the wrong player.
Instead of identifying and memorising Buthelezi’s jersey No 3, the 39-year-old referee who is a sport and recreation supervisor at the SouthDeep gold mine, singled out No 5, Mzava.
He blames players for crowding him during the incident, saying that’s why he didn’t make the right call.
The qualified senior mining underground surveyor opened up to SunSport yesterday about the trauma he has gone through following his “mistake”. He says it has made his life a living hell.
“It hurts very much, thinking about it,” said the referee who has eight years of experience on the national panel.
“And not to point fingers or pass on blame, but I think the error could have been avoided had I had an experienced fourth official.
“Even my AR1 (assistant referee 1) did not help me that much because he too missed the number of the player at fault.
“In fact, I realised immediately after blowing the final whistle that I had made a mistake. And the first thing I did when I arrived home was watch the match highlights. I realised ‘this is bad’.
“Unfortunately I could not reverse the decision. But this is a big lesson to me and the players.
“Players must stop crowding officials because it leads to such costly mistakes.”
He said “everyone who likes football” was on his case and he was being called unpleasant names, even though this is his first misstep since he became part of the national panel in the 2010-11 season.
The Fifa accredited referee explains what transpired: “You see, when the incident happened and I rushed to check, all the players came up to me.
“I picked out No 5. And after that I went to check on the injured player.
“But when I pulled out the yellow card, I realised that the player was already booked.
“Before I could raise it, an Arrows player, jersey No 28 (Musa Bilankulu) rushed to me and said it’s actually No 3 at fault. But I thought he wanted to protect his teammate from getting a red card and I acted.
“It’s my biggest mistake, which could have been avoided by the fourth official, but it wasn’t to be.”
The referee admitted that the video assistant referee, or VAR system, approved by Fifa for use at the World Cup in Russia which starts on 14 June, would have come in handy.
) Ndzandzeka will have been relieved to discover yesterday that Safa’s referees review committee, which normally only sits on Tuesdays and Thursdays, had since rescinded Mzava’s red card, according to a press release by Safa spokesman Dominic Chimhavi.
The press release states that Ndzandzeka, who told SunSport previously of his willingness to make the matter right, had written a letter of acknowledgement saying that upon review, he realised that he had targeted the wrong player.
The statement further confirms that Buthelezi was, in fact, the player involved in the incident.
Arrows coach Clinton Larsen did not have much to say about the incident: “What can I say? Referees are human and make mistakes.
“It’s just difficult to accept a case of mistaken identity, especially when players, coaches as well as linesmen are all telling the referee he is about to send off the wrong player.”
) Mzava has already left the country for Malawi, where the Flames are in camp to play an international friendly against Uganda on 27 March.
