Ria Stars qualified fairly, says monitor

Ria Stars posted their more than 52 000 votes legitimately to qualify for the four-team one-day Telkom Charity event at the FNB Stadium on Saturday.

That's the view of Lix Miller from Event Resources Management, a company monitoring the telephone votes following the uproar caused by "Manyora" taking the lead on Friday.

Ria were trailing Moroka Swallows on fifth position with 17 000 votes on Thursday but managed to garner 29 000 votes overnight and shoot to the top of the voting list, overtaking both Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs in the process.

"We have put in place a system whereby we can actually give you a graphic presentation of where a call was made; when the call was made, and whether the volume of a particular team's callers is increasing or decreasing," said Miller.

The draw for the semifinals will be conducted at Hyde Park on Monday but both Swallows and Sundowns, one of whom stand to drop out after Ria's dramatic showing, maintain that they are still not happy and question the fact that "Manyora" could collect so many votes overnight.

The two teams - Swallows and Sundowns - were fighting it out in a neck-and-neck race for the fourth and final qualifying spot shortly before the Friday midnight deadline.

Both Alex Shakoane (Sundowns) and Gavin Bernstein (Swallows) kept calling The Star enquiring about the latest development on the state of voting.