Court rules in Mwase’s favour

The Industrial Relations Court (IRC) in Blantyre has ordered Football Association of Malawi (FAM) to pay former Flames coach Meck Mwase the full value of his salary and equate it with what expatriates get.

Delivering a judgement in a case in which the coach sued the association for unlawful termination of contract, redeployment and constructive dismissal yesterday, IRC deputy chairperson Edna Bodole said Mwase was treated unfairly.

“The complainant [Mwase] was discriminated against in terms of pay as he was placed on inferior wage scale as compared to the expatriates. The court will assess the compensation payable to Mwase as back pay,” she said.

Following the court ruling, FAM is required to pay Mwase for the entire 36 months of his contract with the same or similar wage scale as former Flames expatriate coaches Romanian Mario Marinica and Belgian Ronny Van Geneugden (RVG), who were his successor and predecessor, respectively.

Before his dismissal, Mwase was receiving at least K1.7 million (about $1 000) as his monthly salary while Marinica was getting $8 500 (about K14.4 million at the current exchange rate). RVG’s pay was at least $7 500 (about K12.7 million).

The court has since asked  Mwase’s lawyer David Kanyenda to file an assessment on the compansation, whose actual value will be determined later.

Nevertheless, should  Marinica’s pay be used as a basis for equating the salary, then Mwase is entitled to a total pay of at least K518 million.

Bodole said that it was not fair for FAM to refer issues of coaches’ contracts to the government after deploying a local one, but subject expatriates to direct contracts with much better pay.

“Whether one is a local or an expatriate, they all do the same job as national football team coaches. Therefore, there is no need for such a pay discrimination,” she said.

However, the court  declined to assume jurisdiction on Mwase’s claims as regards to defamation, inducement or breach of contract and some constitutional matters, referring them to the High Court of Malawi for resolution.

Bodole said  this is so because the employment relationship was between Mwase and the Malawi Government and not FAM.

Meanwhile, Kanyenda has described the judgement as a mixed bag.

“The judgement is mixture of salt and sugar. But we are happy because what we wanted most has been granted,” he said.

On his part, FAM general secretary Alfred Gunda yesterday said: “We are yet to hear from our lawyers on what has transpired. Once that is done, we will consult the FAM leadership to map the way forward on the determination.”

FAM fired Mwase with a year left on his contract in April 2022 at its executive committee meeting in Mangochi where they replaced him with Marinica, who was initially the technical director.

Later, FAM redeployed Mwase as Under-23 national football team coach, but the coach turned down the offer and resorted to suing the local football governing body.

Mwase guided the Flames to 2021 Africa Cup of Nations  (Afcon) finals in Cameroon before being ‘demoted’ to an assistant coach as Marinica took charge of the team. Mwase currently coaches e-Swatini top-flight league side Nsingizini Hotspurs .