Judge Dambe Slams GU Factions
Kabelo Boranabi | Monday September 12, 2016 15:10
She has previously heard the Township Rollers case where two factions were also involved in ownership wrangles.
“I do not understand why this (GU) matter is before the court now. I believe the club has a constitution, which helps run the team.
As attorneys your duty is to advise the members of the teams in legal matters. This case should have not been before court,” Dambe said when the GU factions appeared in court for the first time. A group of supporters represented by Uyapo Ndadi is challenging the legitimacy of the current executive committee led by Rapula Okaile.
The group says an Annual General Meeting (AGM) that took place last year where Okaile was voted into office was unconstitutional because the attendees did not form two-thirds of the club’s members as per the constitution. “A quorum is fundamental for any meeting. We would like the court to decide whether the GU AGM held last year formed a quorum. If the meeting did then, we do not have any business here in the court.
But if it did not, then we would like the court to pronounce that the current committee is not legitimate as per the constitution,” Ndadi said.
He added that the club has 900 registered members. However, around 290 members attended the meeting and the number did not constitute the required two-thirds as per the constitution.
He also argued that whatever decision taken at the meeting should be ruled as null and void as the AGM was unconstitutional. Appearing for Okaile and the current committee, Lore Morapedi said there is no evidence on the numbers of the supporters who attended the meeting.
“In the absence of evidence on the numbers we cannot stand here wasting the court’s time,” he said.
Dambe told the court that the matter would be decided on January 27.
Meanwhile, Rollers’ matter would be heard again on March 9, 2017. Rollers’ factions have been at each others’ throats for four years over who runs the club.
The court had previously ruled that all the affairs of the club should be run by a society rather than a commercial entity, Township Holdings, which is owned by Shah and Somerset Gobuiwang. However, the fracas would not be ending anytime soon as the group led by former executive committee members have challenged that Shah is still running the company rather than the society’s executive committee as per the court’s ruling last year.