HomeSportI am disappointed: Leuta

I am disappointed: Leuta

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Moorosi Tsiane

BANTU president, Leuta John Leuta, has said he is disappointed in the manner in which the case involving his side and Lioli was handled by the Lesotho Football Association, Disciplinary and Protests Committee (DISPROCO) and the Appeals Board.

The DISPROCO found Bantu guilty of registering four more than the stipulated five foreign players, namely Thabo Selisa, Itumeleng Falene, Pheko Molaoa and Phumoha Matsipa in their December 2017 match against Lioli.

Lioli subsequently protested and won the case and were eventually awarded the three points and three goals from the game.

Bantu reacted by lodging an appeal and argued that Lioli had fraudulently acquired the evidence used in the case.

The disciplinary committee said it had found that the four players are South Africans who had previously been registered and played for teams in the Free State province.

The Appeals Board recently ordered that the four players be de-registered from Lesotho football and that disciplinary processes be launched against the entire committee of the Mafeteng outfit.

“The appeal is dismissed and Lioli is awarded three points and three goal goals,” the statement from Appeals Board reads.

“All these four players (should) be de-registered. Disciplinary process (should) be launched against the entire committee of Bantu.

“Costs of this Appeal are awarded to Lioli FC in the amount of M3000.”

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Express recently, a fuming Leuta said he was battling to understand how they lost the case when no one had challenged the authenticity of the four players’ Lesotho identity documents.

This comes after a South African Home Affairs official got into trouble when he wrote an affidavit conceding that he had fraudulently issued the South African birth certificates of the four players. He later withdrew the initial affidavit.

This publication is in possession of the two affidavits.

“I am very disappointed to say the least because I can see where this is going,” Leuta said.

“We registered these players legitimately with their Lesotho documents and I am surprised that no one challenges those documents as fake but we have lost the case and the judgement says Bantu should be investigated,” Leuta said.

Leuta said the South African documents produced by Lioli were fake and they have evidence from the person who produced them.

“We investigated and found that there apparently is a South African Home Affairs official who was bribed to fraudulently produce these documents and he made a statement at the Lady Brand Police wherein he concedes that the documents were fake.

“Yes, we are aware that there is another document from the same person refuting his first confession and that is where the confusion starts. Here is a case with two different statements from the same person, why make the judgement without doing thorough investigations?

“Why was that person not taken to the police to confirm the authenticity of those two proclamations? We know who is doing all this and we will study this judgement as the committee and wait to see what happens. That SA Home Affairs official confessed that he was paid by certain people to produce those documents,” said Leuta.

The Bantu boss said A Matšo Matebele was a big brand and they would do all they can to protect it from those bent on destroying it.

“People should work hard to ensure their teams grow and stop cutting corners through sabotage,” Leuta said.

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