Moorosi Tsiane
THE country’s most successful football club, Matlama, is likely to face disciplinary action for allegedly contravening section 59.1 of the Lesotho Premier League and A Division rules and regulations in their league clash with Bantu a fortnight ago.
Tse Putsoa were on Friday 22nd February asked to ‘show cause’ why disciplinary measures cannot be taken against them for charging M30 entrance fee for the match in question instead of the normal M20.
Section 59.1 reads: “The league shall decide the admission fees … and such decision shall be addressed to all the clubs in the form of a circular”.
According to the Premier League Management Committee (PLMC) spokesperson, Moeketsi Ramakatsa, Matlama decided to charge M30 for the royal stand in their match against Bantu without consulting the mother body as stipulated by the regulations.
The PLMC has now written to Matlama demanding an explanation as empowered by clause 45.2 of the same rules and regulations which reads: “Should it appear to the League that a violation of the Rules and Regulations has occurred, the Management Committee shall draw this to the attention of the alleged offender, ask for written submission within 48 hours, and thereafter decide whether to refer the matter to the Disciplinary Committee, or deal with the matter summarily”.
Ramakatsa said they gave Matlama seven days to respond to the letter.
“Of course, we have written to Matlama because we feel they were on the wrong but we are still awaiting their response and it is only then that we can map the way forward,” Ramakatsa said.
Matlama secretary general Liteboho Tlebere confirmed receipt of the letter on Thursday and said they immediately responded on Friday.
“Of course we received the letter but unfortunately we had some technical problems and we only received the letter on Thursday this week but on Friday we submitted our response to them.
“Apart from that ‘show cause’ we had already received another letter inviting us for a meeting with the PLMC on the 6th of March this year,” Tlebere said.
On why they increased the entrance fees without consulting the PLMC, Tlebere said they consulted but only after an application for electronic tickets to Computicket.
He said because of the magnitude of the clash with Bantu, they anticipated there was a likelihood of a stampede also compounded by the rains which would force people to crowd the royal stand beyond its capacity posing a serious danger.
“We wrote to the PLMC but unfortunately that was after we had already applied for electronic tickets from Computicket and the PLMC said it couldn’t attend to our issue because we had already made our arrangements without its consent,” Tlebere said.
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