Otniel Hembapu
Hesron Kapanga
The 16th extra-ordinary congress of the Namibia Football Association (NFA) held in Windhoek on Saturday, overwhelmingly voted in favour of expelling the Namibia Premier League (NPL) as its member, but the banished league’s chairperson Patrick Kauta yesterday said he will review their expulsion and issue apposite countermeasures.
Along with the expulsion of the NPL, the 16th NFA extra-ordinary congress also moved to expel the entire executive committee of the league, which consists of Kauta (chairperson), Bonnie Paulino (vice-chairperson), Peter Nakura, Gabriel Tjombe and the league’s chief executive officer Harald Fuller.
Out of the 21 delegates that voted, only two members voted against the expulsion of the league, while a substantial 19 voted in favour of ousting the NPL for bringing the FA into disrepute. With the expulsion of the NPL now intact, congress announced that the NFA will now embark upon constituting a new topflight football league that will resort under the jurisdiction of the NFA.
The NFA expelled the league based on the provisions of Article 15 of the association’s statutes, which states: “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 extraordinary congress to succeed in expelling the NPL, more than 50% of the delegates representing the members eligible to vote at the congress was needed for the expulsion to be valid, and the motion for expulsion had to be adopted by a three-quarter majority of the valid votes cast.
Speaking to the media after the congress, NFA president Ranga Haikali said the expulsion was not the only option the members who voted on the day had.
“Let’s also be fair enough to not only judge that this was the only option because there were various attempts. You are aware of the High Court challenge, Supreme Court challenge, the CAS challenge which is still ongoing as it was referred to an arbitrator, there was a consultation with the Minister of Sport, Youth and National Service, and the engagement the Normalisation Committee had with the NPL since last year,” he said.
He added that the NPL had more than six chances to engage them but failed to do so. “Our constitution is very clear, so I would like us to all be fair and acknowledge that there were several attempts before this expulsion decision was held, it did not happen February at the congress – it only happened now with the extra-ordinary congress,” he reiterated.
Haikali stated that he regretfully observed that the whole matter was a mere threat between the mother body and its affiliate. “This matter is just threats… if you don’t do this, I will do this, if you do that I will do this. This is not negotiations, arbitration or reconciliation,” said Haikali.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Kauta remained unfazed by the league’s expulsion and said they will first study the reasons for their expulsion before mapping a clear roadmap for the NPL and its member clubs.
“As you are aware the NPL was not privy to the deliberations and purported expulsion. We shall await the reasons, study them first and chart an informed decision on the way forward,” said Kauta, adding that only upon reviewing their ousting can they implement well-gauged countermeasures.
–ohembapu@nepc.com.na