By Carlos Kambaekwa
WINDHOEK – Hordes of football supporters, and footballers past and present, were left disappointed when the eagerly awaited court interdict application filed by MTC Premiership club African Stars against the country’s football governing body (NFA), its affiliates and the league’s principal sponsors MTC failed to yield any positives.
Stars brought an urgent application requesting the high court to put on hold all football related activities under the jurisdiction of the country’s flagship league.
However, Judge Petrus Unengu ruled yesterday in the Windhoek High Court that the urgent application should be struck from the roll as the applicant failed to make any substantial claim as to how the club would be prejudiced should the league continue with its normal functions.
The court hearing, which attracted a full house that included legal practitioners, members from the media and former footballers and administrators took just slightly over an hour before Unengu delivered the killer punch in the face of the applicants.
Defense counsel Steve Rukoro was the second to take the stand, vigorously presenting his client’s argument that the applicant had no case and challenged them to prove beyond any reasonable doubt what kind of damages they were likely to suffer should the league go ahead with its activities including the hosting of its year-end awards ceremony.
Defence lawyer Jean Marais represented Stars.
Approached to shed light on the course of their next action, the applicant’s legal team vowed to fight to the bitter end. At the centre of the dispute is the abandoned MTC Premiership potential title decider between Stars and Orlando Pirates, which ended prematurely as a result of a power outage at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on May 6. The Ghosts led 2-0. The NPL Management Committee ordered the match be replayed over the remaining 8 minutes, but Stars dug in their heels and would have none of that seeking to have the match replayed in its entirety.
“Let me put the record straight, as it stands, our club is being painted as if it’s the one that seeks an urgent resolution to this matter, but it’s indeed the NPL and NFA who have been trying to fast-track the case,” charged a clearly agitated African Stars chairman Sydney Martin.
“What we are trying to do is to exhaust all available avenues to get to the root of the problem, but our efforts are being hamstrung by the football authorities’ cunning way of conducting their affairs,” he added.