The SA Football Association [SAFA] is facing a potential legal showdown after a group of Limpopo-based ABC Motsepe League clubs threatened to take the governing body to court.
The clubs are infuriated by SAFA’s unprecedented decision to promote five teams from the fourth-tier league to the Motsepe League for the 2024/25 season.
As it stands, the 2024/25 ABC Motsepe league in the Limpopo province will have 24 teams, with 12 in each stream.
This has prompted an uproar from the clubs, who have questioned the mechanism used to promote the teams, particularly the promotion of Mohlabile United and Lebash FC from the Capricorn region. The two teams were disqualified after disrupting the promotion playoffs held in Nkowa-Nkowa in 2023/24.
Surprisingly, the two teams have now been promoted despite not being part of the recent promotion playoffs in Sekhukhune. The other three teams promoted via the provincial playoffs are Tlhotlhokwe Golden Syrup, Royal Pirates, and P&S Academy, bringing the number of promoted teams to five instead of the usual two per season.
SAFA THREATENED VIA COURT BY CLUBS OVER MASS PROMOTION
Some of the clubs have not only promised legal action against the football motherbody but have also threatened to disrupt and boycott the start of the season.
SAFA Limpopo deputy president and head of competitions Magabolle Thokwane has explained why the Provincial Executive Committee [PEC] made a decision to promote Mohlabile United and Lebash.
“When we were in Mopani, there were people that were pushing for Mohlabile when Lebash entered the field [to disrupt]. So they were saying the region had robbed them,” he narrated to FARPost.
“But we were left with no choice but to subject them to a DC. The DC found them guilty, and they went straight to arbitration and won. People are saying, ‘Why are you promoting Mohlabile and Lebash?’. We are not promoting them. It’s the order coming from the arbitration, not us,” he said.
SAFA REACT TO CALLS FOR BOYCOTT TO THE START OF THE 2024/25 SEASON
Regarding the threats of legal action, Thokwane insists the move is nothing unusual. However, he cautioned about the threats to boycott or disrupt the start of the season.
“South Africa is a democratic country. Every person has a right to exercise their rights. Any individual can take us to court, no problem with that,” he added.
“But I have a problem when a person says the league will not kick-start. That’s my problem; how do you say the league will not kick start when each club is owned by individual directors? “Unless all the clubs are saying they don’t want to play in the league. Then there is no problem with that. We can’t force clubs to play the league.”
There have been talks that other clubs have threatened to take the matter as far as FIFA for intervention if they don’t find joy in the local football motherbody.
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