By Carlos Kambaekwa
WINDHOEK
The much-anticipated MTC Namibia Premiership match that was to have taken place between title-chasing Black Africa and African Stars at the SKW Stadium in Olympia last night was prematurely called off.
Hundreds of supporters from both teams were left in limbo after the entire Black Africa team and officials protested vehemently against the appointed match official Mathew Katjimune who is one of very few FIFA accredited referees in Namibia.
Africa accused Katjimune of being in an unstable state of mind, claiming that he was smelling heavily of booze – an allegation that infuriated the normally reputable match official to the extent that he threatened to sue his accusers in the absence of concrete evidence to back their claim.
However, Africa stayed put and brought the matter under the attention of Match Commissioner Boy-Boy Ndjadila, who immediately responded by replacing Katjimune with the 4th match official – only to make a U-turn after the implicated match official protested his unceremonious removal.
Africa would have none of Ndjadila’s backtracking and demanded for the immediate removal of Katjimune, but the 32-year old FIFA accredited match official would not budge.
When requested to undergo a breathalyzer test either to confirm or dismiss the allegations, Katjimune refused point-blankly and stated clearly that this practice was not in the FIFA statutes.
Nonetheless, he availed himself for blood testing which he claimed was standard procedures should suspicion of that nature occur.
After what turned out to be unfruitful deliberations between league officials, referees and the match commissioner, the game was summarily called off – much to the amazement of both sets of supporters.
Officials from the Namibia Premier League refused to be drawn into the fiasco that has brought the game of football into disrepute and hinted that they will only deal with the matter once the match report has been tabled.
Katjimune is so far the only local match official earmarked to officiate at the 3-week 26th edition of the African Cup of Nations in Ghana next month.