THE Namibia Football Association (NFA) on Saturday expelled the Namibia Premier League (NPL) as a member for bringing the association into disrepute.
The 16th extra-ordinary congress held in Windhoek moved to terminate the membership of the Namibia Premier League and its executive committee members after the NFA executive committee’s proposal to expel them. The expelled persons are Patrick Kauta, Peter Nakura, Gabriel Tjombe, Bonnie Paulino and NPL CEO Harald Fülle. The votes by Congress were 19 in favour and 2 against.
Article 15 of the NFA Constitution empowers congress to expel a member or member of a member.
The protracted dispute between the NPL and the mother body dates back to the end of the last football season. The NPL was directed to retain the status of Civics and Orlando Pirates for the new season, but the NPL vowed not to implement it, which led to their suspension by the Fifa Normalisation Committee in October 2019.
The spat led to appearances at the High Court and Supreme Court of Namibia for the NPL with the courts citing lack of jurisdiction to hear the case, before the suspension was upheld by the elective congress held on 22 February 2020. The NPL has since registered the matter at the Court for Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.
Pressure has been mounting on the new NFA executive committee to deal with the matter amicably, but the intervention of the Namibia Sports Commission as well as the Ministry of Sport, has proved futile so far.
Haikali said that the NFA will embark upon a process to constitute a new top flight league with announcements in due course.
During the MTC sponsorship announcement to the NFA on 30 June for the flagship competition, the NFA Cup, Haikali promised a way forward on when football will resume in the country in the wake of Covid-19. MTC pledged N$13,5 Million to the cup for the next three years.
Others issues adopted by the extra-ordinary congress was the financial budget, as well as members of the various judicial committees of the NFA. There are the disciplinary, ethics and audit and compliance committees. The NFA also adopted the audited financial statements for the period ending 31 March 2019. – nfa.org.na
