The possible expulsion of the Namibia Premier League (NPL) will be top of the agenda at the much-awaited 16th extra-ordinary congress of the Namibia Football Association (NFA) slated for next Saturday, 18 July 2020, documents seen by this publication reveal.
The NPL is currently under suspension following its fallout with the NFA, which led to the association grounding the league in February last year. After two failed attempts at the High Court and the Supreme Court, the league took its grievances to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and now awaits its appeal to be heard.
While the NPL is waiting for its appeal to be heard, the NFA has now resolved to move a gear further and has placed top of their agenda the permanent expulsion of the NPL from its structures.
According to the documents, apart from the NPL’s possible expulsion, congress will also attend to the approval of judicial bodies such as the disciplinary committee, ethics committee, and audit and compliance committee, as well as scrutinising the audited financial statements for the period ended 3l March 2019; among other items.
The NFA is pursing the expulsion of the league based on the provisions of Article 15 of the association’s statutes, which states that; “congress may expel a member or a member of a member if they fail to fulfil its financial obligations towards the NFA; if they repeatedly violate the statutes, regulations, directives or decisions of NFA, Cosafa, CAF and Fifa…if they bring a dispute to an ordinary court, except in cases where the Fifa, CAF or NFA regulations or binding legal provisions specifically provide for or stipulate recourse to ordinary courts, if it does anything which seriously brings the game into disrepute or prejudices the contractual obligations of NFA”.
For the extra-ordinary congress to succeed in expelling the NPL, more than 50% of delegates representing the members eligible to vote at the congress is necessary for an expulsion to be valid, and the motion for expulsion must be adopted by a three-quarter majority of the valid votes cast.
What currently remains puzzling is how the NFA leadership will succeed in moving ahead to expel the NPL while the league’s appeal with CAS is still to be heard on merits.
– ohembapu@nepc.com.na