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Troubled First Division North side, Mbalakalungu has moved swiftly to address the challenges that have of recent been be-devilling the Chobe side by calling a meeting of stakeholders in an effort to calm the ruckus that saw the club missing a fixture in Serowe against Miscellaneous last weekend.
The club, which is alleged to be embroiled in ugly ownership and tribalism brawls recently suffered a double blow when manager Tebogo Mokolwanyane and main sponsor Tony Mobile Safari called it quits.
Team Chairman Mwirima Jack Katanga confirmed that missing a league encounter against Miscellaneous was due to issues affecting the club but was reluctant to share more details. While he dismissed ownership and tribalism reports Katanga has however revealed that the team has called Dikgosi in Parakarungu, village elders, Chobe Regional Football Association (CHOFRA) among others for a meeting on Monday to deliberate on the burning issues.
“We called some Dikgosi, our sponsor Tony Mobile Safari as well as our team manager Tebogo Mokolwanyane to deliberate on some of these issues affecting the club. As a follow-up the chairperson later revealed that their meeting was fruitful and decisions were made that Tebogo Mokolwanyane be reinstated as the general manager while the investor (Tony Mobile Safaris) has been given up to end of the season to run business of the team.
Meanwhile, Debswana First Division North (DFDN) secretary Gosego Mogapi revealed that they will this week serve Mbalakalungu with a letter demanding an explanation as to why they did not turn-up for their match against Miscellaneous on Sunday.
Mogapi explained that should the team fail to give reasonable reasons for failure to turn for the fixture it shall lose three (3) points and two (2) goals, and may be liable to any other disciplinary action as per article 7.5 of the Botswana Football Association (BFA) rules and regulations.
He further revealed that article 7.6 indicate that if a match cannot be played on account of one team being prevented to arrive by a cause beyond its control (force majeure) the match will be set for another date at the same venue though the match official or competent BFA authority is the one to determine whether the cause was a force majeure or not and shall be reported soon after such occurrence or as soon as it is practically possible to report to one match official or competent BFA authority. The onus of proving force majeure shall lie with the party who alleges the same.
After their promotion, Mbalakalungu took the league by storm, collecting 24 points from the 14 games played out of which they won 6, registered 6 draws and two loses. But of late the team started showing a declining performance and this is alleged to be due to the reported infighting.
The ‘Green Giant’ is still in position 4 as of Sunday after failing to honor their fixture. Only two league matches were set to be played last weekend with Mbalakalungu against Miscellaneous and Sankoyo and Motlakase with Ngurungu winning the match with a goal to nil. Other matches were deferred due to the Orange FA Cup.
