Silver lines up grounds of appeal to FAM
In a letter of appeal against Sulom’s Appeal Committee verdict addressed to FAM general secretary Suzgo Nyirenda on Monday, Silver Strikers argue that Sulom are implicated in the Balaka incident, therefore, they cannot judge on the matter.
“The Balaka incident faults Sulom and police in organisation of the match. In this case, Sulom were party to the case and have its legal adviser heading the disciplinary committee; they made themselves judges, prosecutors and witnesses in their own case.
“We feel Sulom and the police contributed significantly to this violence. Sulom, therefore, is party to the problem and cannot ignore their own role when making judgments,” reads part of the letter signed by the club’s general secretary Mike Tembo.
Tembo said they also have reservations with Felix Tambusi chairing the appeal committee.
“Since Tambusi is the adviser to Sulom, he had a hand in the disciplinary hearing before the appeal and, therefore, rubber-stamped the disciplinary recommendations as they vetted them before releasing them to the clubs,” said Tembo in the letter.
Silver also said they have problems with the first charge which implicates them to have caused the abandonment of the match and links it to “the cautioning of player number 19, Chawangwa Kaonga for unsporting behaviour in the 61st”. Tembo says they have evidence which disputes this charge. “This is not correct because Chawanagwa was cautioned nine minutes before the violence and live commentary recordings, video recordings of the match which were tendered confirm this,” reads the letter.
Further, Silver argue that when the appeals committee decided to breach the Exchange Control Act and fine Silver in Swiss francs, the same should have applied to Mighty Wanderers.
Silver also accuse Sulom of overstepping its jurisdiction by banning the club from all football activities when its authority is limited to Super League games.
The club also said Sulom has flouted the Exchange Control Act by fining Silver in foreign currency.
