Motlakase drag Zim club to FIFA over player

THATO KALA
Correspondent | Friday June 28, 2013 00:00

Although Creven Banda never kicked a ball for the Palapye side, the club cla ms they bought him from Hwange in August 2011. The Palapye outfit recently took their charge to Zimbabwe's Premier Soccer League and FIFA's Compliant Section after spotting the player on Supersport9 in action for Hwange. The case is registered at the FIFA Compliant Section as Creven Banda Transfer Matching System (TMS) Case 0502. Motlakase chairman, Mangisi Segadimo, would not say much about the issue; only confirming the matter was being handled by FIFA. 'We took it up with FIFA, but we are still discussing it with the club,' Segadimo said. In Zimbabwe, the Premier Soccer League (PSL) has reportedly barred the coal-miners from using the player. In fact, the coal-miners could be docked points from the games they fielded Banda should they be found guilty.

Hwange’s response to Compliant Section of FIFA Transfer Matching System was that the player is properly registered and licensed under the auspices of Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) and PSL. The club, however, admitted they once entered into negotiations with Motlakase over the player. 'Creven Banda is a Hwange Football Club player and is duly registered and licensed under the auspices of the Zimbabwe Football Association and Premier Soccer League regulations. Some time in August 2011, Hwange FC entered into negotiations with Motlakase Power Dynamos FC and it was agreed by the two teams that the latter was to institute registration formalities especially on work permit related issues while negotiations were in progress,' read part of the response. The coal-miners further contended that Motlakase did not peruse conditions on the agreement of sale. According to the Zimbabwean club, no proof of payment was received for the two installments from Motlakase and Banda automatically reverted to being a Hwange player. 'As far as Hwange FC is concerned, no transfer fees were paid hence no transfer was done through the TMS system as the Botswana team did not show any willingness to proceed with transfer procedures as earlier indicated on transfer draft documents. No International Transfer Clearance was issued for the said player hence there was no correspondence from Zimbabwe Football Association regarding this issue,' further read Hwange's response on the matter.

Hwange secretary general Burzil Dube confirmed in a telephone interview that they were talking to their Botswana counterparts to break the impasse.He added: 'We sent our response to PSL and the Compliant Section of FIFA's Transfer Matching System. The player is ours and we couldn't have afforded to cut corners and every detail about the player is captured automatically courtesy of modern technology,' said Dube. This is not the first impasse between a local and Zimbabwean club. FC Platinum clashed with Mochudi Centre Chiefs last year over Joel Mogorosi. The club threatened to take up the issue with FIFA, but seem to have dropped the idea.