Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) has allegedly admitted that they committed an error by sending the wrong set of Rules and Regulations to teams at the beginning of last season.
This was revealed in court during the submission of their attorney Sidumo Mdladla from Sidumo Mdladla & Associates, who is representing the organisation the on-going matter between them and two clubs, Milling Hotspurs and Rangers FC.
The matter was before Judge John Magagula at the High Court yesterday, and during both parties’ submissions, the PLE said they allegedly sent the wrong documents to elite league clubs. The case emanates from a contention by the two clubs that the 2021/2022 MTN Premier League Rules and Regulations compiled and presented by the PLE before being approved by the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) on October 28,2021 state clearly that two clubs shall be relegated at the end of the season.
“The two (2) clubs that have the least number of points on completion of the league and or positioned 15th and (16) in the final log standings shall be relegated from the Premier League to the National First Division League.
In determining the clubs to be relegated, the format provided in Article 11(13), 11(4), 11(15), 11(16) herein shall be used,” reads Article 11.7 of the Rules and Regulations in part.”
However, Mdladla argued that the rules and regulations used to implement the decision to relegate the four teams were the amended ones. He said the decision was further implemented after the association’s AGM in which all clubs agreed to use the amended rules.
In response while representing Rangers FC after being instructed by Linda Dlamini Associates was Advocate Mduduzi ‘Tsotsi’ Mabila, who questioned why the PLE had taken over a month to send the amended documents, having received notification from the EFA that the rules were wrong.
He cited an email allegedly sent to the PLE, dated October 29, 2021 with the PLE only sending the amended rules to teams on November 12, 2021 with the league already underway.
He wanted to know as to which rules and regulations were being used to govern the league once it had started. He said there were also no official minutes or records to show that the amended Rules and Regulations had been adopted by teams once they were released.
After hearing both submissions, Judge Magagula said the court would reserve its ruling to a future date. Meanwhile, Rangers are set to kick off the new campaign against Hlathikhulu Tycoons this afternoon at the King Sobhuza II Stadium.
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