16 Jul 2015

The Court of Appeal (CoA) has dismissed Notwane Football Club's appeal against a High Court ruling, which dismissed the club’s urgent application to stop a playoff match between themselves and FC Satmos.

The July 16 CoA verdict meant that Notwane would play in the first division south league after approximately two months of dispute between the club, Botswana Football Association (BFA) and Botswana Premier League (BPL).

Notwane dragged BFA to the High Court in June in an attempt to force postponement of their relegation playoff against FC Satmos pending resolution of their appeal against the docking of Sankoyo Bush Bucks points after Sankoyo was found guilty of fielding a defaulter.

The High Court case was dismissed on June 10 and Notwane went on to lose the match 6-4 the same day at Serowe Sports Complex.

Sechaba then lodged an appeal to have the court decision and the result of the match nullified. But Justice Isaac Lesetedi of CoA dismissed the case today (July 16) explaining that the matter could not be considered urgent because Notwane had taken a long time to lodge its appeal. The appeal was lodged on June 29.

Notwane attorney, Tshiamo Motsumi, argued that the matter needed to be heard urgently before commencement of BFA leagues in August.

He said should both the premier league and the first division commence before the case was heard, it would force Notwane to play in the first division.

He said Sechaba proceeded to face FC Satmos even though they were unhappy with the court ruling because BFA had threatened the team with punishment were it to fail to turn up for the match.

BFA attorney, Mike Rasetshwane, on one hand argued that by playing the match in question, it was clear that Notwane was adhering to the court ruling. He therefore said the appeal must not be entertained. Ends