The Namibia Football Association (NFA) has 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 some of 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 Fuller. The votes by Congress were 19 in favour and 2 against the expulsion.
Article 15 of the NFA Constitution empowers Congress to expel a member or member of a member.
This 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, to which the NPL vowed not to implement which led to their suspension by the FIFA Normalisation Committee in October 2019.
This spat led to blows in the High Court and Supreme Court of Namibia for the NPL with the Courts citing lack of jurisdiction to hear to case, before the suspension was upheld by the Elective Congress held on 22 February 2020.
The NPL has in since the registered the matter at the Court for Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.
Pressure has been mounting for the new NFA Executive Committee to deal with the matter amicably with the intervention of the Namibia Sports Commission, as well as the Ministry of Sports, proving futile thus far.
During the MTC sponsorship announcement to the NFA for the flagship competition on 30 June 2020, the NFA Cup, President Ranga Haikali promised a way forward on when football will resume in the country in wake of the COVID-19 Regulations provisions. MTC pledged N$13.5 Million to the Cup for the next three years.
NFA will embark upon a new process to constitute a new top-flight League with announcements in due course.
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 he Audited Financial Statements for the period ending 31 March 2019.
Source: www.nfa.org
