Officials slammed after Mamelodi Sundowns beat Orlando Pirates in MTN8 final drama - 'Referees sometimes ruin a game'

The 2026 MTN8 final was billed as a clash of titans between Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns, yet much of the post-match discourse has shifted away from the tactical battle and onto the man in the middle.

Goals from Teboho Mokoena and a late Iqraam Rayners penalty were enough to ensure the trophy headed to Chloorkop, ending the Buccaneers' recent era of dominance in the Wafa Wafa competition.

Junior Khanye was left unimpressed by the officiating standards on display during the high-stakes encounter.

"Referees sometimes ruin a game because, for me, I don’t think both penalties were actual penalties," he said on iDiski TV.

Khanye was particularly critical of the decision to penalise Teboho Mokoena for the challenge on Yanela Mbuthuma, suggesting that the contact was nowhere near sufficient to justify a penalty at such a critical juncture of the game.

"The Orlando Pirates penalty and [Siyanda Ndlovu] Skwish’s they were not penalties, according to me. The first one was soft for me; I mean the ball was played, there was a bit of a stretch from Tebza, but not that much of a push.

"Even if the incident happened outside the box, I wouldn’t have given a foul. To me it was too soft," Khanye added.

The second penalty, which ultimately put the game out of reach for the Buccaneers, also drew Khanye's ire. As Sundowns looked to kill off the game, Ndlovu went down under pressure from Thapelo Mokobodi.

While the referee saw enough to award a second penalty of the evening, the analyst felt the attacker had simply lost his footing rather than being fouled by the Pirates midfielder.

"The second one was also soft. I don’t understand why it was a penalty because Ndlovu lost the ball; he wasn’t obstructed; he lost the ball. The opponent saw him and read the situation, and then when he ran to the ball he fell, and there was a bit of a contact," he explained.

In a final stinging assessment, the former Kaizer Chiefs man suggested that the second decision might have been an attempt by the official to balance the scales after the earlier controversial call.

This theory of 'makeup calls' is a common frustration in football when officiating decisions seem to lack a clear and objective foundation across the full 90 minutes.

"I can’t say that was a penalty. I think the referee was trying to rectify his blunder from the first penalty," Khanye concluded.

As Sundowns celebrate their latest piece of silverware, the debate regarding the standard of officiating in South African football is likely to continue, especially following such high-profile errors in a showcase final that deserved to be decided purely by the players on the pitch.

The decisions in the final saw Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie promise to make another announcement on VAR on Wednesday, in a continuation of his pressure on SAFA to implement the technology.