The High Court of Malawi has upheld an Industrial Relations Court (IRC) ruling that Football Association of Malawi (FAM) discriminated against former Flames coach Meck Mwase by placing him on a lower-paying government contract while offering lucrative deals to expatriate coaches.
In a judgement delivered by Justice Michael Tembo on May 8 in civil appeal case Number 12 of 2025, the court dismissed most of FAM’s grounds of appeal.
The judge ruled that FAM failed to justify why Mwase was treated differently from Belgian coach Ronny Van Geneugden and Romanian tactician Mario Marinica.
“This court believes that the applicant was discriminated against based on colour or race,” he said.
Mwase. | Courtesy of FAM
Tembo observed that FAM recruited Mwase and paid him allowances and salary advances, but later referred him to a government contract carrying inferior benefits while foreign coaches were directly employed by the association on better terms.
“The fact of the matter is that the appellant discriminated the respondent on prohibited grounds of race and national origin,” the judge stated.
The court further said FAM failed to produce convincing evidence to justify the wide disparity in remuneration packages between Mwase and the two expatriate coaches.
“It was incumbent upon the appellant to discharge their statutory burden in the court below through credible evidence,” the judgement further reads.
However, the High Court partially allowed FAM’s appeal on the assessment of compensation, faulting the IRC for “boosting” the award using inflation adjustments.
Instead, the court ordered a fresh reassessment of Mwase’s lost salaries, gratuity and benefits using the US dollar value attached to the expatriate coaches’ contracts.
The reassessment will be conducted by the IRC.
The original compensation award stood at about K440 million.
Mwase’s lawyer David Kanyenda said he expects his client to get not less than K500 million.
He said: “Our preliminary computation shows that the amount of compensation shall exceed K500 million.
“We have also been awarded 70 percent of costs and our preliminary estimates reveal that costs shall be in the region of K100 million.
“Our adversaries [FAM] have emerged from the appeal in a worse off position than they were initially.
“The judgement amounts to a major step towards attaining equal and fair wages for local coaches in the football ecosystem.”
FAM lawyer Luciano Mickeus said they will review the judgement and map the way forward.
