A Football Association of Malawi’s (FAM) disciplinary hearing against its affiliate Super League of Malawi (Sulom) failed to start on Saturday in Mangochi after the top-flight league runners successfully raised preliminary objections.
Sulom is accused of defying FAM’s order not to schedule an FDH Bank Premiership opening match between Mighty Wanderers of Blantyre and Karonga United at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre on April 25 on the basis that the facility was not fit to host elite matches.
When the hearing of the case was set to start, Sulom, which was represented by its legal adviser Gomezgani Mchawi and private practice lawyer Wapona Kita, argued that the charges should be struck off “due to duplicity and multiplicity”.
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In an interview on Saturday, FAM disciplinary committee chairperson Dr Felix Mipande, a lawyer, said: “The hearing didn’t start because Sulom raised a number of technical issues and they were not furnished with all the relevant documents.
“So, I agreed to the adjournment [sought by FAM] because it was only fair that Sulom should be furnished with the documents. The case will only start when FAM does that.”
Mchawi confirmed raising preliminary objections.
He said: “First, they [FAM] cited section 99 of FAM Disciplinary Code of Conduct which asserts that the burden of proof lies on the party that brings up the matter and in this case we argued that FAM was supposed to present the case to Sulom and we wondered as to why FAM was not present, but instead sent their secretariat personnel comprising [operations director] Gomezgani Zakazaka, [human resource and administration manager] James Sangala and [competitions and licensing manager] Clement Kafwafwa.
“Furthermore, FAM failed to provide trial bundle to enable Sulom prepare for the case.”
Mchawi further said they denied all the charges and submitted that they be struck off due to duplicity and multiplicity.
He said: “In essence, our legal team noted that for count one, which accuses Sulom of failing to support FAM by not taking appropriate steps to prevent infringements of FAM statues, directives and decisions, we argued that the charging section is not in the Sulom Constitution as indicated.
“Some of the charges pertain to women football and we wondered what that has to do with Sulom.”
In an interview, Zakazaka said: “After Sulom raised the preliminary objections, we said we would need time to respond to the issues raised and that is why we requested for an adjournment.”
He said FAM will file its response by tomorrow, but Sulom told the committee that they will need seven days to respond .
Also present at the hearing were Sulom vice-president Ronald Chiwaula, general secretary Williams Banda and chief executive officer Faith Mzungu-Vilakati.
