By: Andrew Cane Chilapondwa
The Lilongwe High Court has blamed Super League of Malawi (Sulom) for not hearing Dedza Young Soccer’s complaints about the body’s decision to conduct promotion playoffs in order to identify the 16th team in the upcoming season.
During the interparty hearing between the two parties, Justice Charles Mkandawire demanded Sulom to set a date where the body will hear Dedza’s grievances before coming up with a decision on whether to have the playoffs or not.
Soon after announcing dates for the playoffs, the complainants appealed against the decision to Football Association of Malawi (FAM) where they were also given a cold shoulder by Malawi’ soccer governing body.
The situation forced Dedza to obtain a court injunction which was served soon after the first game of the playoffs between Wizards FC and Airborne Rangers on 11th March 2016.
The restraining order forced Sulom to postpone the remaining games as they were hoping to vacate it on time but all the efforts to remove the order proved futile as Dedza defended it before Justice Mkandawire. Last week, Justice Mkandawire called for an interparty hearing where he told Sulom to hear Dedza’s grievances before proceeding with the playoffs.
He also told Sulom to stop blaming Dedza for taking football related issues to ordinary courts contrary to FAM’s article 67 saying the country’s top flight tier administrators made a mistake by not hearing the plaintiff’s grievances.
Sulom’s legal expert Gilbert Mitawa confirmed that the body has been told to hear Dedza first before making a decision.
He also added that his body is yet to announce the dates for the hearing. Dedza fill that they deserve an automatic place in the top flight having finished on 13th position with 29 points.
However, it is still not known whether the playoffs will still go ahead even if the issue is sorted out.
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