By Dylan Bettencourt
- Safa says VAR will be up and running across South African professional football by the start of the 2026/27 season.
- Sports minister Gayton McKenzie promised VAR for the 2025/26 season but backtracked in July saying funding was still not finalised.
South African football has a new VAR deadline. Again.
Safa is targeting the 2026/27 season to have the technology up and running in the PSL and the Hollywoodbets Super League.
Mxolisi Sibam, chairperson of Safa’s finance committee and a member of its National Executive Committee (NEC), confirmed the update. He said the government gave Safa R20-million to get the system going.
“The government has been very generous with us,” Sibam said. “They have given us R20-million to implement VAR. We are in the process to finalise the approval of that budget so that we can start with the work.”
But South Africans have heard this before. In May 2025, Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie promised VAR would arrive for the 2025/26 season, saying R90-million was already secured and his part was done. Two months later, he told Parliament the government was “still finalising the process of funding VAR.” The 2025/26 season came and went without VAR.
By March 2026, McKenzie was back at a podium. “I have the proof of payment in my hand,” he said.
The funding figures have also shifted. McKenzie’s public statements referenced R90-million. Safa is now confirming R20-million. Neither side has explained the gap.
Sibam said the groundwork has been going on for seven months. He said the money sits in a separate Safa bank account. He also said Safa has no excuse not to lead.
“We are the leading country in Africa. We can’t be left behind,” Sibam said.
Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Mauritania already use VAR in their domestic leagues.
The PSL told Parliament in November last year that nobody had informed them about the rollout. Sibam said the league will be consulted as the main end user of the system.
Pictured above: A VAR station used in the 2020 Afcon in Cameroon.
Image source: @CAF_Online
