Mngqithi’s call is not a new one, but rather a long-standing plea directed at the South African Football Association, who are responsible for commissioning and deploying match officials in Mzansi football.

That call rang louder than ever on Tuesday, echoing with frustration and urgency as Mngqithi once again questioned why the game-changing technology remains absent from the domestic game.

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The Arrows mentor cut a visibly agitated figure after watching his side fall 1-0 to Kaizer Chiefs in a Betway Premiership contest. Incensed by what he believes were costly officiating errors that worked in Chiefs’ favour, Mngqithi stopped short of placing the blame squarely on the referees themselves.

Instead, he turned his ire toward the powers that be, wagging his finger at the system that continues to leave match officials exposed, and teams vulnerable, without the safety net of VAR is known to be.

“The PSL will forever have issues if this issue of VAR is not taken care of. Mistakes are very high. We work very hard to build our teams,” Mngqithi told SuperSport TV.

“If you want to see if this goal was offside, wait for the touch that goes to Silva and already Aiden McCarthy is on the other side offside. We lose the game, nobody cares. You concede goals and people say you concede because you don’t defend well. The reality is that the league work very hard on working on this thing.

“The game has become too dynamic. It is not us, it is the game that should tell us that it is too difficult for the officials to follow and track the runs of these players.

“I cannot always blame officials, the game has become too dynamic and it demands that we must respond to that. We are not playing for R500 000, we are playing for R20-million. We should be considering looking into this thing of VAR otherwise we will keep losing games like this and people will be okay with that,” he added.

The call for VAR is not falling on deaf ears. Sports, Arts and Culture minister, Gayton McKenzie has had his say about VAR, previously claiming that money has been set aside to implement the technology, also suggesting there is a reluctancy from the higher echelons of South African football.

“I promised and I said the month of April. I’ve done it. The money is there, the advert went out. Fifa  will tell you they don’t want the department to do it. They want Safa to do it. So the R90 million is there, we went to Spain with the help of SuperSport again, we tested VAR. It works 100%,” McKenzie said in June 2025.

Written by Mike Gumede