By: Refilwe Sebola
The Nedbank Cup preliminary round for ABC Motsepe league clubs is experiencing a delay in commencement due to the ongoing altercations between the SAFA Provincial Executive Committee and club owners.
The club owners are protesting the PEC’s decision to endorse the idea of increasing the number of clubs in the league from 18 to 20. They expect the Limpopo SAFA PEC to follow the usual procedure of relegating four clubs to make way for NFD relegated sides Black Leopards and TTM, plus the two newly promoted sides Nkowankowa Continental of Mopani and Sunrise of Waterburg. However, SAFA instead chose to relegate only two bottom of the log teams, Mikhado from stream A and Phinnet from stream B and retain two other relegated sides PJ Stars of Waterburg and Musina United of Vembhe.
The decision triggered a hostile reaction from club bosses who took the matter to appeal and then escalated it to arbitration after failing to reach a consensus. Therefore, the Nedbank Cup preliminary round for Limpopo ABC Motsepe league clubs initially planned to commence this weekend will not take place until the arbitration verdict is released.
Our efforts to speak to SAFA Limpopo Provincial Charperson Jack Malulele and Provincial Secretary Refilwe Khosa drew blanks as both of them did not answer our calls.