Footballers’ trafficking case jolts Lesotho FA to action
A court in Lesotho is hearing a case in which a Nigerian is accused of trafficking one of the country’s amateur footballers to the United Arab Emirates, writes Tlalane Phahla.
The Nigerian Sikuru Rasheed allegedly posed as an agent and trafficked his social football team-mate and neighbour Mohau Majara to Dubai.
Two weeks ago, Majara from Ha Seoli gave a chilling testimony at the Maseru Magistrates’ Court of how Rasheed tricked him.
The Nigerian allegedly told the 25-year-old Majara, who he used to play social football with, that he had found him a team in Dubai.
The two neighbours left Lesotho for Dubai last October and when they arrived there, Rasheed and his compatriots rendered Majara into a puppet for five months.
Majara told the court that the Nigerians used him to open bank accounts, take out instalments, rent luxurious flats and got him married to a woman he had never met before.
With the case still in court, the Lesotho Football Association (LeFA) has since moved in to rollout player agency programme to crackdown on bogus player agents.
On Wednesday, during a consultative briefing with elite league clubs in Lesotho, LeFA secretary general Mokhosi Mohapi said clubs that hold contracts with players are compelled to enter such details into a registration system.
“If you are holding a contract and you have not entered that information into the system, such agreements shall be deemed amateurish and will expire at the end of the season,” Mohapi said.
“Those that are registered and contracted, are free to discuss with any team six months before their contracts expire and can sign pre-contracts.”
He said this protects players who are not given copies of their contracts and are, in most cases, clueless about the duration of such deals.
Mohapi told the clubs that they will receive a list of licensed agents and warned those who have illegally acted as agents to stop, adding that club officials cannot also act as agents.
Furthermore, LeFA will now be demanding clubs registering foreign players to provide proof of either residence permits or work permits.