Suspended FDN members miss out

Suspended chairperson of First Division North (FDN), Mpenzeni Sambandawe has said they will not be deterred despite controversially missing out on tomorrow’s Botswana Football Association (BFA) general assembly.

Sambandawe and the rest of his committee have been on suspension for almost two years pending a disciplinary hearing over allegations of failing to account for nearly P70,000.

The disgruntled members have been battling for their reinstatement, hoping that the matter would be concluded before tomorrow’s elective assembly but to no avail.

However, Sambandawe has said they will not rest until their names have been cleared of any wrongdoing regardless of who wins tomorrow’s elections.

“Let the best candidate win. But whoever comes in must know that there is an issue that they will have to deal with. We will not back down until our names are cleared,” he said.

He said it has been clear from the start that the issue was politically motivated.

He said their belief has been that they were sidelined because they were perceived to be aligned to a rival camp.

With Sambandawe and his committee still out in the cold, four delegates, Babuluki Bajiti, Keitumetse Dijeng, Lucas Modimana and Obvious Moyo would attend the assembly on behalf of FDN. However, Sambandawe said in their view the four are not supposed to attend the assembly since they run the office on an interim basis.

“Constitutionally, these people are not supposed to make decisions on behalf of the people who did not vote for them.

So in our understanding, they are not supposed to attend this assembly,” he said.

He added this is an example of things not being done right adding that if a candidate loses by a small margin they might query the results based on that.

The First Division North matter is still before the BFA Disciplinary Committee (DC) following a successful appeal by the association.

The suspended members were initially reinstated after approaching the BFA DC arguing that the association had failed to institute a disciplinary hearing for almost two years.

However, their return was shortlived after the Appeals Committee ruled that the matter be referred back to a fully constituted DC.

The Appeals Committee concurred with the association that the DC chairperson erred in dealing with the matter alone in the absence of other committee members.

Sambandawe also said they have been made to wait for a long time for a written judgment from the Appeals Committee.

He said even after receiving the judgment, they have now been sent from pillar to post with the association failing to avail itself for the matter to be heard again at the DC.

“Today their attorney is not available, tomorrow it is something else,” he said.