BFA faces stern test against Mamelodi

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BONGANI MALUNGA

The Botswana Football Association could be in line for a stern test against dismissed Botswana Premier League Chief Executive Officer Bennett Mamelodi. This is based on a previous Industrial Court judgement in which former BPL accountant Bosenogile Mpiwa and the BFA whereby a judge ruled that the chairman of the BFA disciplinary hearing panel was biased and unfit to sit in the disciplinary process and should henceforth be removed.

The aforementioned case lends credence to Mamelodi’s fears that he would not get a fair hearing with the BFA when they were pursuing a disciplinary hearing against him weeks before dismissing him, a close source has claimed in an interview with Gazette Sport. Fears were raised as Mamelodi’s camp as they believed that the association had already hand picked the participants of the panel, a claim that has categorically been denied by the association.
Mamelodi’s camp is hell bent on clearing the former BPL CEO’s name after filing a court application accusing the local association of being in contempt of court orders, they have also sought to set aside Mamelodi’s termination as this publication previously reported last month.
His camp has argued that the association had already drafted his dismissal letter in December before the said forensic audit investigations took place. They have reportedly sought to find out the main players in the former BPL chief’s demise last month.
The Mamelodi camp is reportedly of the view that the BFA’s top brass went against the National Executive Committee and the BPL Board of Governors when they dismissed him without following due processes such as furnishing the mentioned bodies with the full audit.
“The BFA’s top brass’ proposal to fire Mamelodi and ban him altogether from football were rejected by the NEC as they awaited to ratify the audit. The BFA leadership then went on to instruct the dismissal of Mamelodi without any authority, the dismissal went against  against the BFA Constitution. Those powers rely solely on the BPL Board, which has to recommend the BFA NEC to make the final decision as they are the final arbiter in the matter,” said the source.
“The forensic audit does not give any opinion, it simply concludes that there are allegations of mismanagement but does not make any factual findings on those allegations nor does it give any recommendations on what basis he was called for a hearing in the first place,” the source concluded.
Despite the source’s remarks the BFA is adamant that they followed the right procedure when parting ways with Mamelodi. They also dismissed the comparisons to Mpiwa’s case as they stated that the cases are different and should not be compared.