MILLING IN NAMIBIA CLUB CONSTITUTION SHOCKER

MBABANE – They allegedly have no locus standii (right to appear in court).

Relegated Premier League outfit Milling Hot Spurs and Rangers, appeared before the High Court as second and first applicant, respectively, against the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) yesterday challenging their relegation from the elite league to the National First Division (NFD). The teams are represented by Advocate Mduduzi ‘Tsotsi’ Mabila while yet another top lawyer in Sidumo Mdladla of S.V. Mdladla and Associates, represents the respondent (PLE).

The matter did not proceed yesterday before Judge John Magagula after Mabila asked for postponement due to ill health and the respondent’s late supplementary answering affidavit. Mdladla had no issues with that but did tell the High Court that he did not know what they were in court for because the matter was a waste of time and money and a mere disruption.
“Our approach is that the games continue as this is about which set of rules was applicable last season and also, the first applicant has already registered for First Division and even registered a player of September 1, 2022. I don’t know what we are doing here,” Mdladla said as the PLE had released the new season’s MTN Premier League fixtures starting this Saturday.

The judge postponed the matter to Friday but before that, he had remarked that after going through the papers of the case, he realised it was only a question of whether there were written rules on the relegation and which set of rules were applicable. Ahead of the case on Friday, where it is expected to resume and enter argument stage, it transpired that the PLE and its lawyer were ready to take on their two members. Just as the lawyers and journalists left the court, it was learned that among the papers filed by Mdladla there were some seriously damaging annexures attached to them, particularly the constitutions of Rangers and Milling Hot Spurs. It is Milling’s constitution that lawyer Mdladla may want to say a thing or two about in the case as the statute after a brief comment on it with regards to CAF Club Licensing outside of the court, as noted in PLE Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kenneth Makhanya has shortcomings.

Required

The constitution is one of the required documents for the CAF Club Licensing.  Makhanya even stated in his opposing affidavit that; “The issue of second respondent is worse because it appears that it does not have a constitution. Annexure PLE 10(b) purports to be a constitution of the second applicant at face value yet the contents indicate that they are for a team called Acadia Football Club, which falls under the Namibian Football Association. It is therefore denied that the second applicant has any locus standii.” As for the first applicant which is Rangers, Makhanya submitted in his opposing affidavit that their constitution allegedly did not allow them to sue or be sued in its own name. “The first applicant’s application is improperly before court. The applicant is a voluntary association, however, it is not universitas (treated as indivisible whole in law). This means that is cannot move or bring any court action in its name. I am advised and verily believe that its constitution does not give it the capacity to sue and be sued in its own name. This is fatal to the application. The first applicant is ‘alive’ by virtue of its constitution, which attached hereto as Annexure PLE 10. It cannot operate outside its constitution,” Makhanya submitted in the papers.

He went on to say that at the very least, the applicants were enjoined to bring the application through its office bearers. Accordingly, the application in its current form stood to be dismissed with costs as the first applicant had no locus standii. “Regrettably, for the second applicant, its application is based on the first applicant’s application which is defective,” Makhanya submitted.

Challenged

It is worth mentioning that the time factor of the two teams’ urgent application was also challenged by Makhanya in his opposing paper as the clubs knew about their position in June this year but waited until now. Meanwhile, Makhanya also cited the MoMo Cup as one tournament the two sides are partaking in but as NFD teams and also applied for CAF Club licence to play in that league. In the end, the CEO stated in his paper that the actions of the applicants were ‘egregious, insensitive and they fell within those matters wherein the court could grant a punitive order for costs. However, the veracity of all the claims is yet to be tested in court as matter was postponed to also allow the applicants to respond to the supplementary answering affidavit. The applicants based their matter on the fact that two sets of rules in the 2021/22 season were release; the first set spoke about two teams to be relegated and were used for match-day one but before match-day two, the EFA had realised its mistake and corrected it with another set of rules, now providing four teams to get relegated at the end of the season.

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