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The process of introducing Video Assistance Referee (VAR) in South Africa is moving quickly, following the availability of funding to implement the project from the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie.
SAFA CEO Lydia Monyepao has confirmed to SABC Sport that following the closing of the tender two days ago, the next step is to appoint a tender committee, which will go through the approved VAR suppliers who have applied in this process.
SAFA put out the tender on the ninth of this month.
"The request for proposals went out, and we are looking for approved VAR suppliers out there to submit their proposals, in line with the requirements we put forward.
"We are in the process of putting together a tender committee that will assess all the proposals we receive, so that we identify the best possible service providers that we can interview, and ensure that whoever is eventually appointed is the right service provider.
"We have to get it right the first time," asserted the SAFA CEO.
Following the scenes at Loftus Versveld and FNB Stadium last week in the CAF Champions League, where the two South African teams (Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates) benefitted correctly from the VAR against Egyptian teams (Al Ahly and Pyramids FC), there have been growing calls for the introduction of VAR in the Premier Soccer League (PSL).
"Once we get the service providers, it's about the training of our officials, that's really key for us.
"We are not going to start big, we're going to have to start small by identifying the cup competitions as a start, and eventually grow from there," explained Monyepao.
Currently, there are only three match officials in the country, fully trained on VAR. Those officials are Abongile Tom, Akhona Makhalima, and Zakhele Siwela.
Others on the FIFA international panel are still undergoing the training process or have officiated in a game where the VAR would have been used, but they weren’t in charge of the process.
Monyepao also reveals that the refereeing department had been targeting this season’s Nedbank Cup final, between arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, to test the VAR, but says it could be too soon, and they will move it to next season.
However, the VAR is not going to come cheap. It will start with the training of the match officials, which could reach up to R30 million or more.
For the first year of the project, the costs were estimated at R80 million, with each game set to cost R80,000.
The expectation will be that the VAR will cover all their Premier Division matches in all competitions, possibly including the promotion and relegation playoffs.
Monyepao, has thanked Gayton McKenzie for making this possible, even though it’s still not clear how much the Ministry is availing for this project.
