JUST APPLY CAF LICENSING WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOUR!

COURT CLERK: Bailiff! All rise, may I call case number: 03/06/2019 heard here at Court A for the past three weeks, the state versus security forces teams (Green Mamba, Royal Leopard and Young Buffaloes) with Honourable Judge Lwazi Knowledge Manqoba Dlamini presiding.

(Court gallery filled to the brim, lot of chuckling, murmuring and tension palpable as the honourable judge dressed in a Viyella black suit, white Polo shirt, Black Carducci tie, G-Star Raw Manon Caxton shoes)

PROSECUTOR (LENHLE NHLANE):  Silence in court! All the accused persons have made their submissions over the past three weeks and the witnesses paraded by the state also made their submissions. My Lord, it has been a very emotional case before court, which speaks to the well-being of Eswatini football and how it affects the everyday life of its citizens who love football – the game of the billions – to bits. My Lord, I am a die-hard Arsenal fan, the Gunners of London, but I now fully understand why the legendary Liverpool Manager, Bill Shankly, once famously said: “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don’t like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that, “

This case has attracted interest from across the spectrum of society; people from all walks of life. That’s why today My Lord, you can see the infamous jujuman of East African descent; a die-hard Manzini Wanderers supporting taxi driver servicing the Mbabane-Manzini route; a foul-mouthed pseudo businessman who was once jailed for posing as a cop in raiding the green grass of Jamaica in Ekufikeni; former Sihlangu manager Josiah Dlamini, who true to his nickname suddenly ‘dug’ up a mess in the ‘Swazi Football turns 50’ project as reported in the Times Sunday.

I also see the life President Adam ‘Bomber’ Mthethwa, who has been nominated for a position in the CAF Executive Committee at a time when FIFA, the world governing body, saw it befitting to take over the running of African football. In a CAF-FIFA joint statement released last week, General Secretary Fatma Samoura will take over the running of the continental federation.

This, My Lord, says a lot about the bad leadership at CAF and it is a clear inference that CAF is unable to handle its own affairs and solve its problems. We have to seek the assistance of the master – often outside Africa – to help us clean our mess. This is an indictment on the CAF leadership.  Don’t they say then my Lord what kids do they take from their parents, in far as local football is concerned as well? We have not forgotten the Women’s football mess and the Shiselweni Regional Football League protracted wrangle.

Otherwise, this security forces saga would not have come to this court. It would have been dealt with khona lebholeni which has all the structures to deal with the matter accordingly. While the court appreciates football people seeking legal redress in the highest courts of the land in what is ostensibly natural justice, FIFA does not advocate for football issues to be dragged to court. This issue, My Lord, is peculiar on many fronts. The past three weeks have been a harrowing experience for all of us on how sensitive the matter is. I hand over to you my Lord to continue.

JUDGE LWAZI: Thank you Mr. Prosecutor, you have already said a mouthful on the corruption-infested web of African football, a laundry list of unfulfilled promises and petty internecine fights within football corridors of power, which saw this case also find its way to my esteemed court against my will. I might sound like a stuck record but I am saying it again, I long for the day such cases were resolved within the structures of football as FIFA advocates. We have a backlog of cases in the country, not least the ongoing riveting case where one Sipho Shongwe is a suspect in the cold-blooded murder of shrewd businessman Victor ‘Maradona’ Gamedze in Court B. This is a case where we do not only wish justice being done but also being seen to be done.

introspection

Equally so, in this matter before me, I want to implore the football authorities at Sigwaca House to not only do an introspection about themselves and where they are taking football to, but to take into consideration all the points I will highlight on this security forces issue, which is like an unfettered wound to many bona fide Eswatini football lovers, who are not happy at all with the dominance of the government-funded teams. I want also for the football authorities, especially at the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE), to understand that their factional wars in the quest to lay their hands on the levers of power is not good for the game, which frankly, has not progressed since a bumbling fool, with no regard for life, gunned down the streetwise Victor ‘Maradona’ Gamedze on the fateful Sunday evening of January 14, 2018 at exactly 6:53pm at Galp Filling Station in Ezulwini. Since that fateful day, what have they done to take the sport forward?

Why do they want to unravel all the good work he did in taking the sport forward? Didn’t they learn a thing or two from his administration acumen? Look at the mess at Mbabane Swallows, where small monkeys are now swinging on big door hinges, peddling falsehood in desperate smear campaigns in order to keep their dirty hands in the cookie jar. Gamedze must be turning and tossing in his grave!

I have learnt with shock that some hare-brained officials even contemplate moving a motion to increase First Division teams to 14 yet the league is not only unsustainable but a financial drain to the PLE. Only lickspittles would even consider such an inane idea!

Based on the resolution of the Pigg’s Peak Declaration in 2007, my analyses of the evidence presented before me, I find NO MERITS in chasing the security forces from the mainstream league as this would be against the spirit of FIFA’s doctrine of FairPlay and also tantamount to discrimination. FIFA frowns upon such. I therefore throw that point out with the contempt it deserves.

One of my findings is that the security forces teams do enjoy an UNFAIR advantage over the civilian teams as they have free transport (and to make matters worse, even transport their ‘supporters’ mostly who come in the form of ‘recruits’) and have the unpalatable habit of offering government jobs to lure away players from the other teams. When the civilian teams ask for a transfer fee, the security forces then engage in the absurd habit of approaching the parents or guardian of that particular player to ‘negotiate’ the transfer by bringing the job offer ‘carrot’.

I have been told how one parent, with drips all over his body, limped to the office of a club owner to negotiate for the release of the clearance certificate so that his son can get employment at the police college and feed the family. In the end, the security teams signed these players for FREE.

unfair

This is an unfair player movement practice. It needs to be nipped in the bud. I will explain how as I go through my judgment. One of my findings is also on the issue of agreements the security forces engage in with the civilian teams where players they have loaned out do not get to play against them – sometimes even coaches.

A quick example that comes to mind is the one involving Vovovo FC coach Gcina ‘Magiyane’ Dlamini, who has had to watch from the grandstands each time the Tsehla Bhembe-owned outfit faced Green Mamba as the former Mhlambanyatsi Rovers coach is employed as a warder.

Here, I found that there is nothing wrong as this is an agreement between the two parties. It happens even in more established leagues like the greatest football league on planet earth, the English Premier League.

Liverpool loaned out defender, Nathaniel Clyne to AFC Bournemouth in January and part of the agreement was that he would not play against the ‘Reds of Anfield’. If there is an agreement in place, then this is between the two teams, especially loan agreements. The civilian teams are not being honest here as they do the same to other civilian teams.

With all due respect, I find it distasteful and utterly irrational that the same security forces representatives in the PLE Board of Governors are part of the Task team headed by the firebrand administrator, Mashumi Shongwe, which has been tasked with taking submissions and coming out with a report.
This, as the biggest Buccaneer I know, South Africa’s City Press Editor-in-chief Mondli Makhanya would rightly put it, is like wolves guarding the chicken coop!

 I hope the Mashumi Shongwe task team will come up with a report worth the paper it is written on. Here are the highlights of my judgment in a nutshell.

APPLY THE CAF CLUB
LICENSING TO THE LETTER
The Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) and Eswatini Football Association (EFA) must stop dilly-dallying with implementing the CAF Club Licensing. It would solve all the issues around the unfairness of the security forces or any other team for that matter. Having gone through it with a fine tooth comb, I believe if implemented well, it could be the panacea to all our football ills, especially with the Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs, Harries ‘Madze’ Bulunga having also publicly announced during the league prize presentation on Friday that they were doing all in their powers to fast-track the Sports Bill. The CAF Club Licensing document is clear in what should happen and how it should happen. As long as the EFA selectively implements it, such old-as-hills debates will resurface yet these were dealt with as far back as 2007. The Club Licensing is clear on what constitutes a team; player movements and the expectations. The EFA, as custodians of the game, need to set the standards. If the teams cannot match the standards, then something has to give in. In established leagues, like the English Premier League, teams are entered into what is called ADMINISTRATION, which in layman’s terms, means a team is unable to pay off outstanding debts. Under the Insolvency Act 1986, a business will face a winding-up order bringing them to court and if it is shown that a business cannot pay debts as they fall due or cannot repay outstanding debts, then the company will be classified as insolvent. It is about time teams earned the right to play in the Premier League by producing financial statements, having a clear vision and mandate. The spaza-run teams, even if it’s the so-called BIG TEAMS, must be relegated to a lower league if they cannot sustain themselves. If the word ‘premier league’ is to be what it is, then set the standards.  The CAF Club Licensing – on all fronts, be it refereeing, administration as well – could be the panacea to all our football ills, the security forces teams’ saga notwithstanding.

PUT IN PLACE A COMMITTEE TO DEAL WITH THE UNFAIR PRACTICES
All teams in the Premier League are expected to register 30 players and this applies to all teams. Any player outside this group is a FREE AGENT. This means he can register with any team of his choice. Any team seen contravening this should be punished. This independent committee will probe such issues and the team found to be on the wrong should be docked POINTS. This will bring direction and sense to the whole league.
On the issue of costs, I rule that each party should bear its own costs. I now hand over the copies of my detailed judgment to the parties. However, if each party desires to appeal the judgement it is at liberty to do so.
(Honourable Judge Lwazi Dlamini hands over copies to the court clerk)
COURT CLERK: My Lord that marks the end of today’s roll.
JUDGE LWAZI: The court adjourns!!!
(Send your comments to: sports@times.co.sz or lwazid005@gmail.com or WhatsApp 76149806)

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