Cape Town - The South African Football Association (SAFA) has confirmed that the hearing with former CEO Leslie Sedibe has been postponed, official SAFA website reports.

On March 14, 2016, world football governing body FIFA banned Sedibe for five years and fined him €20 000. This followed a FIFA probe into match-fixing.

The world governing body's statement then read: "FIFA has confirmed banning Ace Kika from all football-related activities for six years, Leslie Sedibe for five years and a fine of CHF20 000.

"FIFA has also imposed a two-year ban on both Steve Goddard and former head of referees Adeel Carelse. All bans come into force immediately."

Subsequent to this, in June 2016 Sedibe instituted legal proceedings against SAFA claiming an amount of R5 million in damages. The basis for his claim was an allegation that two former SAFA officials defamed him with regards to the FIFA matter.

The matter was set down for hearing on Friday, February 22, 2019. However, earlier this week, Sedibe’s legal team requested the matter to be postponed.

SAFA agreed to this request.

The root cause of the postponement was that in January 2019 - more than two and half years after first launching the case - Sedibe materially changed the nature of his claim against SAFA. The case was therefore not properly ready to proceed.

"As the matter is pending before the courts, we do not consider it appropriate to comment on the particulars. It suffices to say that SAFA is confident that Sedibe’s case is without substance and that when it eventually is heard, his claim will be dismissed. SAFA, therefore, looks forward to the hearing of the matter in due course," SAFA said via a statement.