By Carlos Kambaekwa
WINDHOEK – Contrary to the generally misplaced perception that the drawn out debacle between Katutura glamour football club, African Stars, and the country’s football presiding body, NFA, is a done deal – the club says it will still pursue its failed appeal through the legal route.
At a well-attended press briefing in Windhoek yesterday, Stars say although their initial urgent court order that sought to have their appeal heard as a matter of urgency was struck off the roll, this does not end the club’s plans of dragging the NFA to court.
“It should be clearly understood that our urgent appeal was not dismissed but only struck off the roll because the judge (Petrus Unengu) found that we did not submit a valid argument to warrant a speedy hearing,” charged the club’s spokesman Siggy Mujoro.
He further expressed disdain over the manner in which football authorities are handling the case, fingering NFA of unjustly targeting club chairman, Sidney Martin, as the real culprit.
Mujoro added that Martin is a valuable asset to the plight of domestic football, having invested millions of dollars to keep the team afloat since taking over its reigns during the 2008/2009 league campaign. Under his guidance, Stars won back-to-back premiership titles, with three NFA Cups as a cherry on the cake.
Peppered with questions from the floor as to why the club did not seek intervention from the sports presiding body, or worse still, the portfolio ministry instead of running to the courtrooms, the club’s legal representative, attorney Johan Du Plessis, accused the NFA and the Sports Commission of playing truant.
And on the pertinent question of why the club resolved to cite NFA as first respondent instead of the real McCoy – the Namibia Premier League (NPL) – an incoherent Du Plessis could not explain in full detail and tried by all means to duck the question, albeit with minimal success.
On his conveniently selected reference to FIFA statutes, the lawman could neither deny nor accept double standards about his interpretation of justice, since FIFA also forbids its affiliates from taking football authorities to courts.
The club has until today to respond to a strongly worded letter from the NPL requesting it to provide reasons why it should not be charged or subsequently suspended from all football related activities for having brought the game into disrepute.
According to Du Plessis, as it stands, the league authorities have no jurisdiction to kick Stars out of the elite league as such an act will constitute a travesty of justice since they are one of the parties cited in this case and as such, sanctions will be against conventional wisdom.
The NPL Management Committee (MC) will gather next Monday where all its affiliates are requested to attend and deliberate on Stars’ response and decide on the next course of action.
The club says it will not disrupt this Friday’s NPL awards ceremony, even though they did not receive an invitation from the NPL to partake in the customary voting process – a claim that is contradicted by documentary evidence in our possession.
In the meantime, Stars say NFA firebrand secretary general, Barry Rukoro, should recluse himself from the case, as his further involvement will constitute a conflict of interest since he has already pronounced himself on the possible outcome.