Football Association of Malawi (FAM) Disciplinary Committee says it considered a number of factors before suspending the association’s executive member Daud Mtanthiko for four months after pleading guilty to misconduct.
The FAM official was accused of entering a room of a female member of the Scorchers delegation to South Africa in April this year without consent.
The committee suspended him for four months, but he has since been cleared to resume his role having been on suspension over the set period.
Part of the disciplinary body’s determination, signed by its chairperson Felix Mipande, PhD, a lawyer, also states that Mtanthiko was cleared on the second charge of dishonesty.
Reads the determination: “The accused, having pleaded guilty to the first charge, the committee took a number of considerations before sanctioning him. First, the Committee considered the fact that the accused did not waste its time, as he pleaded guilty and he was remorseful.
“Second, the committee considered the fact that the complainant had deleted all the messages she had been exchanging with the accused and the deletion was on both ends so that the accused does not have those messages too.
“The committee finds this conduct suspicious as it means there is something the complainant did not want anyone to see about the nature of her interaction with the accused.”
“Thirdly, the Committee considered the fact that the accused [Mtanthiko] is a first offender and that he has been on suspension for over four months. Finally, the committee considered the fact that the accused has suffered social media ridicule, which the committee finds to be another form of punishment he has already received.
Malawi National Council of Sports chief executive officer Henry Kamata said: “Disciplinary processes are an internal matter of the association, so it may be difficult to comment because we are not privy to the proceedings.
“We will wait to hear from the results of the Malawi Human Rights Commission on the same matter as reported in the media.”
