The Confederation of African Football (CAF) finally handed Maguette Ndiaye his first appointment as match referee on Sunday two months after Bafana's heartbreaking 1-0 defeat to Ghana.
Ndiaye faced accusations of match-fixing after SAFA laid an official complaint to football body FIFA, which was eventually dismissed.
The complaint by SAFA was then dismissed by the world governing body after which he was named as one of the officials for the 24 referees for the Afcon finals.
Despite being one of six candidates whistle man for the World Cup later this year Ndiaye's Afcon started out as a fourth official in the Group D tie between Sudan and Guinea-Bissau.
In that match fellow Senegalese Issa Sy assisted by El Hadji Samba on the line.
Samba was also the assistant referee in that match between Bafana and Ghana in Cape Coast along with Djibril Camara who was the Assistant VAR official for the Sudan and Guinea-Bissau contest.
On Sunday, Ndiaye was finally in the middle with the whistle in a 2-2 draw between Code d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone with Camara as the first assistant, Sy the fourth official and Samna the Assistant VAR official.
Ndiaye handed the Ivorians a penalty early in the match after Wilfred Zaha was fouled by Osma Konate for a spot-kick which The Elephants missed after Mohammed Nbalie Kamara reacted fast to stop Franck Yannick Kessie's effort.
He then went on to take firm charge of the game which had JDR Stars keeper Ali Badra Sangare blundering in injury time for the Sierra Leone equaliser.
This year's Afcon has already had refereeing controversy with Zambian referee Janny Sikazwe making a mess in Mali's win over Tunisia with a chaotic ending to the game.
For Ndiaye as a World Cup candidate referee, he will be under severe scrutiny at the Afcon which could prove a make or break for him.
He handled 10 international matches last year and has also officiated at the FIFA Club World Cup and FIFA Under-20 World Cup.