MBABANE – The unprecedented Eswatini Football Association (EFA) court case, between its President Peter ‘Samora’ Simelane and his deputies got underway yesterday.
It transpired at the Mbabane Magistrates Court that ‘Samora’ was getting threats from members of the public implicating him in malpractice.
This is the case in which Samora got an interdict against his two Vice Presidents, Steve Horton and Mashumi Shongwe, after they questioned his operations as EFA president.
The latter went to court last month to stop the duo from writing him letters or meeting over his name, claiming they were harassing him by so doing, as they challenged his working in isolation and his car purchase, among other things. His lawyer from Sandile G. Attorneys yesterday told Acting Senior Magistrate Thembela Simelane that his client had since started receiving threats from the public, through phone calls implicating him in malpractice. It was submitted that ‘Samora’ feared, that the threats would persist which is why he wanted the interdict to stand, contrary to his deputies who are against the interdict as they expect responses on the letters they wrote to the president.
“It is a constitutional right of the applicant to be protected from harm which also haunts his family. What they are doing is their tactics to undermine his status as he has a right to dignity and not be harassed. The interdict will assist in curbing the possible harm,” said his lawyer. Meanwhile, Magistrate Thembela wanted to know if the there was any case opened with the police and recordings.
Opposed
He said the court needed to at least have evidence to base its reasoning on, as opposed to hearsay particularly because this was not even reported to the police. In addition, the respondents Lawyer Ayanda Mamba from A S Ndwandwe & Company felt that they the applicant should have also included the public harassment in his court papers. “The argument he is raising is not substantiated. It ought to be at least included in the papers and fortunately cellphones do keep records and calls are recorded somewhere, which I believe could help us with the allegations they are raising,” responded Shongwe and Horton’s lawyer.
‘Samora’s lawyer argued also that the actions of his deputies were a personal attack and invasion of his privacy. The applicant felt that as much as they meant to hold him accountable, they are forcing him to work in isolation of the whole executive. On the other hand, Shongwe and Horton prayed that the case be dismissed with costs. They felt that the president rushed to court without exhausting the internal channels within EFA to address the matter. There was confusion when ‘Samora’s lawyer presented that the issues raised by his deputies in an eight-page letter were removed by the duo in a March 2, this year during an EFA Executive Committee meeting.
It was also submitted that ‘Samora’ felt addressing the matter with the duo instead of the executive would be similar to working in isolation which they accused him of. However, the respondents argued that the matter was removed from the agenda on agreement that they would address it with him, which has not happened yet. They said the issue had been pending in most of their meeting agendas. Upon hearing the argument, Magistrate Thembela reserved the judgement and postponed the case to next week Friday, with the interim interdict in place.
