FIFA also fined SA about R215,000 ($12,463) for fielding an ineligible player, Teboho Mokoena, in the match against Lesotho in March.<\/p>\n
He says the developments are deeply regrettable and has brought embarrassment to the nation and the game of football.<\/p>\n
He acknowledges that this situation has brought South Africa into disrepute, and his department will launch a full investigation into the incompetence that led to this sanction.<\/p>\n
However, he called on all South Africans to rally behind Bafana Bafana as they prepare for their crucial final two qualifiers in Durban and Mbombela against Rwanda and Nigeria \u00a0matches Bafana must win if they want to qualify for next year\u2019s World Cup in the Americas.<\/p>\n
–SABC–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12352,"template":"default||default||default||default||default||default||default||default","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-12351","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"South African Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has reacted to FIFA\u2019s decision to deduct three points from Bafana Bafana in the World Cup qualifiers.||South African Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has reacted to FIFA\u2019s decision to deduct three points from Bafana Bafana in the World Cup qualifiers.||South African Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has reacted to FIFA\u2019s decision to deduct three points from Bafana Bafana in the World Cup qualifiers.||South African Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has reacted to FIFA\u2019s decision to deduct three points from Bafana Bafana in the World Cup qualifiers.||South African Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has reacted to FIFA\u2019s decision to deduct three points from Bafana Bafana in the World Cup qualifiers.||South African Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has reacted to FIFA\u2019s decision to deduct three points from Bafana Bafana in the World Cup qualifiers.||South African Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has reacted to FIFA\u2019s decision to deduct three points from Bafana Bafana in the World Cup qualifiers.||South African Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has reacted to FIFA\u2019s decision to deduct three points from Bafana Bafana in the World Cup qualifiers.","published_date":null,"news_description":"South African Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has reacted to FIFA\u2019s decision to deduct three points from Bafana Bafana in the World Cup qualifiers.||South African Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has reacted to FIFA\u2019s decision to deduct three points from Bafana Bafana in the World Cup qualifiers.||South African Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has reacted to FIFA\u2019s decision to deduct three points from Bafana Bafana in the World Cup qualifiers.||South African Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has reacted to FIFA\u2019s decision to deduct three points from Bafana Bafana in the World Cup qualifiers.||South African Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has reacted to FIFA\u2019s decision to deduct three points from Bafana Bafana in the World Cup qualifiers.||South African Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has reacted to FIFA\u2019s decision to deduct three points from Bafana Bafana in the World Cup qualifiers.||South African Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has reacted to FIFA\u2019s decision to deduct three points from Bafana Bafana in the World Cup qualifiers.||South African Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie has reacted to FIFA\u2019s decision to deduct three points from Bafana Bafana in the World Cup qualifiers.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/12351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/12351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18005,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/12351\/revisions\/18005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=12351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}