Threats of a team boycott are still lingering in the Makhado league

By Kaizer Nengovhela

The Makhado Local Football league is facing a mini crisis as players’ registration cards were not finalised in time for the commencement of the league in the Nzhelele area. As a result of this, the league’s activities have been delayed for two months.

He emphasised that his mandate was to ensure that the team retained its ABC Motsepe League status this season after gaining promotion from the Safa Vhembe Regional League at the end of last season. Now that the team have moved clear of the relegation zone, they will use their two remaining league fixtures to prepare for next season’s campaign. United Artists will play against Musina United (home) and Giyani Happy Boys in their two remaining league fixtures.

Mr Ndou’s counterpart from XI Bullets, Mr Lufuno Ndou, was spitting fire after the game. He blamed the match officials for taking sides. According to him, the referee should have awarded them a penalty during the first half. He reckoned that while United Artists had scored a legitimate goal, the match officials were against their success throughout the game.

The goal that earned United Artists three significant league points came via Edzisani Mamphodo. He forced his way through the defence of Bullets and beat the keeper with a half volley towards the end of the first half.

The teams are unhappy about various matters, such as the unavailability of the registration cards, the fact that no prize money had allegedly been awarded to the winners in the 2021/22 season, the stiff fines issued to clubs by the DC and the removal of the elected general secretary of the league, Itani “Muraida” Netshivhulani.

Representatives from teams in the Nzhelele region held a meeting on 4 March at the Elias Resort to discuss some of the matters. SAFA Vhembe’s decision to remove Netshivhulani as general secretary came under scrutiny once more.

This issue seems set to split the association. Netshivhulani was elected to this position on 30 July last year during the congress held at the Makhado Show Grounds. A dispute arose as to Netshivulani’s home address. Netshivhulani has addresses in both Tshithuthuni and Siloam village. Whereas the first falls within the Thulamela area, Siloam is regarded as a soft boundary by the local football association. Netshivhulani’s team, Muraida FC, have their home ground at Sendedza village, which falls under the Makhado Local Municipality.

Mr Richardt Ramovha, the deputy secretary of the Nzhelele Soccer Concerned Group, said that some teams had already played six matches, but most teams had not been on the pitch for a single game as they still did not have registration cards. Some teams have also threatened to boycott the league. “We are also fighting the issue of our teams’ receiving stiff fines,” he said.

Makhado Local Football Association’s chairperson, Mr Freddy Phathela, confirmed that they had not finished processing registration cards in time for a smooth start to the league. He said that the delays were caused by a new registration system in use. Some of the players who were previously registered with other teams’ names were rejected by the system and they needed to request clearance from their previous teams.

Phathela added that they were at an advanced stage in finalising and bringing the registration cards up to date. Allegations that clubs were boycotting the league were strongly denied by Phathela. As far as the prize money issue is concerned, he said that teams had been requested to send their bank details to the league office and any money owed would be deposited directly into the accounts of the teams.