By: Andrew Kathindi
Namibia football association (NFA) secretary-general Franco Cosmos says that the football body will select a new executive body despite the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA)saying that it still recognizes Ranga Haikali as president.
In a letter to FIFA SG, Fatma Samoura, COSAFA president Phillip Chiyangwa said the NFA had defied instructions from FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF) by going ahead with the ordinary general assembly.
Chiyangwa further said the decision to dismiss the entire executive committee earlier this month, including Haikali, was done without following due process.
“COSAFA has taken a position that it still recognizes Mr Ranga Haikali as the de facto president in line with FIFA/CAF’s resolve and wishes that Namibian parties to any dispute compromise in their dealings with this situation,” wrote Chiyangwa.
Cosmos, however, said that the NFA would not act on the letter as it was not addressed to them.
“I get the content of the letter, but it is not addressed to us, so where do we fit in? We have been writing to them. They’ve never responded to anything that we wrote to them,” he told The Villager.
He further said that the association notified FIFA, CAF and COSAFA when Haikali was suspended in August this year; however, none of the bodies responded.
“FIFA, COSAFA and CAF know about the dismissal. The entire executive body was dismissed. Why is only one person taken out? It’s not our letter. We can’t comment on that. Either call FIFA and talk to madameSamoura.”
He said FIFA or CAF should instead write an official letter to the NFA and express their dissatisfaction with how the ordinary congress was convened and prove that the dismissal of the exco was unprocedural in terms of the articles and statutes.
“We can’t comment on a letter that was written to FIFA, in all fairness. If the letter were written to us, we would have a leg to stand on to provide an answer.”
Quizzed on whether the association plans to go ahead with the elections of a new exco, Cosmos said, “Yes. We have an extraordinary congress coming on Saturday where the electoral committee will be appointed. That committee will have the responsibility to call for the election as per the electoral code and statutes of the NFA.”
According to the rules of the NFA, a new executive committee must be elected within three months of the previous dismissal.
“You can only count once that electoral committee has been established,” Cosmos argued.
Haikali was suspended in August by NFA Vice President Isak Fredricks pending an investigation after being accused of using the association to seal contracts for companies he is interested in.
One of these includes the IT company PC Centre. At the same time, the other is connected to fumigation services to Africa Personal Services (APS) at the NFA offices, where a COVID-19 case was reported. Haikali is also accused of attempting to get an overdraft through NFA from FNB, where he is also a director without consulting the exco.
Haikali last week told The Villager he could not comment on the dismissal of the exco as he was not invited to the ordinary congress he conducted the dismissal.
