Dr Thulani Ngwenya confirms return of doping control body SAIDS to football

In the past, the organisation has been a permanent feature and responsible for several high-profile Premier Soccer League players being sanctioned for testing positive for banned substances.

Ngwenya explains the new arrangement to SABC Sport.

"They were absent from football in South Africa for the longest time and it was after an incident of the under-23, just preparing for the Olympics where after that incident I then decided to go and gauge them to say; please come back to football, come test more," Ngwenya said.

"Then we had that formal engagement and they agreed to say they are going to restart the whole process. I don't know what made them stop before."

SAIDS will not plan their visits because they test athletes randomly, Ngwenya added.

"They started with the national teams. They were testing all the national teams when they go to camp. It then moved to the professional league and there it is a formal arrangement because they come unannounced," he added.

"So, it is known that they can come at any game and they can come also even outside a game. They may come to your house while you are just chilling. You remember the issue of Ntshumayelo [Thandani] where they came and tested him while he was just at home."

Ngwenya admits there were big lessons learnt from medical assessments done ahead of the U23s participation in the Tokyo Olympics two years ago – five players in Lyle Foster, Fagrie Lakay, Abbubaker Mobara, Sipho Mbule and Keletso Makgalwa were withdrawn from the team due to “medical reasons”.

"We enquired further. We then realised that actually this thing is not starting here at camp, it's starting back where they are actually playing. 

Like for instance, I want to make an example, cannabis, cannabis in South Africa is allowed. You can even plant it in your backyard. But for sports, it is not allowed, so sometimes you may find people not understanding that.

That's why it's important to have continuous education, you see when you don't have sports physicians in the club then they wouldn't really focus on this and it is an important factor. 

Because WADA which is the World Anti-Doping Agency releases banned substances each and every year."