Newly signed Chicago Fire FC defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi has weighed in on the controversial officiating that sparked widespread debate in a match between Bafana Bafana and Egypt on Boxing Day.
Bafana suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat against Egypt in the second match of their 2025 AFCON group stages on Friday night, where Burundian referee Pacifique Ndabihawenimana was the centre of controversy.
In the first-half, the referee awarded a penalty to the North African giants, which was ultimately converted by Liverpool star Mohamed Salah, beating Mzanzi’s number one goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.
After winning a foul off Khuliso Mudau, Salah executed the Panenka. The Bafana right-back had caught Salah in the face, though there was very little in the challenge. Interestingly, the goal scorer, Salah, was also surprised by the penalty call, according to Bafana coach Hugo Broos.
WHAT MBOKAZI SAID ABOUT OFFICIATING IN THE BAFANA AND EGYPT TIE
In the dying minutes of the encounter, the referee was called into action once again, with a possible penalty after an Egyptian defender appeared to handle the ball in the box. After a lengthy stoppage of the Video Assistant Referee [VAR] checking the penalty, Ndabihawenimana dismissed the penalty appeal, even though the ball clearly struck the Egyptian player’s hand.
After Bafana dropped crucial points with a 1-0 loss, Mbokazi admitted the team thought it was a penalty.
“We had hope that the referee was going to give us a penalty, but we can’t complain, we don’t know how the referee made the decision,” Mbokazi said.
“We can’t argue anything. What we need to do as a team is to work together in our next match to make sure that we win because what happened [against Egypt] won’t come back, we just have to continue to fight in our next game.”
Bafana will lock horns with Zimbabwe in the next match as they look to secure a place in the knockout stage and continue their pursuit of a second AFCON title since 1996.
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