BDF XI ignore deadline to appeal points� deduction
Thato Kala | Thursday April 24, 2014 11:21
BDF XI initially failed to follow procedure when submitting their case to the sports National Appeals’ Board (NAB) last month.
The appeal was supposed to be lodged 30 days after the initial judgement. The deadline had long passed but the club is not deterred. It seeks to stop the final games from going on before their issue is resolved.
Botswana Premier League chief executive officer, Bennett Mamelodi dismissed the BDF XI case saying that it is time barred. “The process of appeal has its time frame and it is 30 days.
This is not procedural. They had ample time to lodge the appeal properly,” Mamelodi said. BDF XI chairman, Boikanyo Addanes would not comment on the step they had taken, referring all questions to the NAB.
NAB secretary, Lincoln Goitsemang said the delay in the case came because they had not received the appeal fee from BDF XI. Instead of paying the fee to NAB, BDF XI gave the money to the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC).
Goitsemang said questions on the new appeal should be directed to the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture.
The ministry’s public relations officer, Kristian Mmusi referred the matter back to NAB where Goitsemang confirmed that BDF XI appealed on Tuesday and paid the mandatory P50 fee.
He said there was a possibility the new appeal would be looked into. BDF had forwarded their appeal and the accompanying P2,000 to BNSC instead of NAB, thus causing delays in the case.
BDF was docked six points and fined P10,000 for taking a football dispute to court in February. The club pleaded guilty to the offence.