It's no secret that SAFA's match officials who are used for PSL matches are not full-time professionals, and they mostly depend on their second jobs to feed their families.
Match officials are paid R6 100 per match, their assistants R4 700 and some also receive monthly stipends of R4 900. Travel costs and accommodation are covered by the League.
"A simple answer is that refereeing is not a full-time job and by the time you get to 45, you are supposed to stop refereeing," SAFA official Dominic Chimhavi tells snl24.com/kickoff.
"And at 45 your life is starting, I mean most men's lives start at 40. So if you don't have a second job, what do you do when you stop refereeing?
"Now you've got a family to look after. That's why all the referees in Africa and most of the world actually have second jobs. It's not only here in Africa, it's actually in most parts of the world.
"Refereeing, it's a part-time job, they've got their own full-time jobs which they handle outside of matches because when you retire then you still need to live your life, you've got a family to look after."
New SAFA head of referees Abdul Basit echoes Chimhavi's words and explains that it is not easy to make the maximum amount available for referees on the football calendar.
"You see with the current setup that we have, you must understand referees are not professionals and as such, even though they belong in a panel, the pool of referees is large," Basit says.
"So everybody may be appointed, but obviously we know they may not get six, seven, eight, nine games for the month. One referee will get two, one will get three, one will get four... depending on how the appointments go.
"We know that football is a weekend sport, so if referees have a Monday-to-Friday job, obviously that job would take preference. Some of them are in management, some of them are teachers, some of them are police officers.
"So they have very important positions you know, and it can also speak to their state of minds."
