Durban - The SA Football Association eThekwini Region is embroiled in a battle with the national football association that has now been referred to the Federation Internationale de Football Association’s legal division (Fifa).
In the midst of this battle, Safa eThekwini on Thursday launched two separate high court applications against their bank, FirstRand Bank Limited, to have their bank account unfrozen and almost R300 000 transferred back into this account.
In court papers, Safa eThekwini’s president, Alpha Mchunu, said they learned from their bank branch that this was done on instruction from Safa’s head office.
The bank’s attorney, Jason Michael Smith Incorporated Attorneys, on Thursday confirmed to the Daily News that they were not opposing this application and had complied by re-instating the account and transferring the money.
According to Mchunu’s affidavit in the separate court matters, the bank account was frozen at 11.59pm on April 23 with no communication to indicate why.
The eThekwini region had opened this account in 2006 and Mchunu said it operated without hindrance until April 24.
He said it was only after a meeting with the branch business manager that they learnt the bank was acting on instruction from Safa head office.
Further, after a visit to the bank on May 5 by Mchunu and Safa eThekwini’s vice president, Erik Smith, to try pay their staff salaries, they learned there was no money in the region’s account.
A few days later, and after a back and forth of communication between the bank and Safa eThekwini’s lawyer, they learned the bank transferred the funds into a new account on the instructions of Safa national.
The bank branch manager apparently also said this money was then moved into the bank’s suspense account until the issue of the frozen account was finalised.
Mchunu explained the possible reason their bank account was affected was because of their current dispute with Safa.
He said his branch held a quadrennial congress in August last year and their regional executive committee was elected. This included the election of a branch president (Mchunu), vice-president and general-secretary.
Mchunu said there were no complaints raised during these elections, but Safa sent a letter to their branch stating it did not recognise this quadrennial congress “implying that any decision taken at the congress was null and void”.
He said Safa did not provide any reasons for their decision but said that after a national emergency meeting, it was decided the eThekwini region was not functional and was placed under administration.
The region replied saying this decision was “unknown and unconstitutional”.
With no response, Mchunu said they wrote another letter declaring a dispute with Safa and called on them to “desist from interfering” in their administration and affairs.
However, Mchunu said in January the nationally appointed administrator convened a meeting at the Elangeni Hotel with members of the region and in April convened an “extraordinary congress” electing a parallel regional executive committee.
“What was strange about this was the fact that the members of the regional executive committee were not notified (of this congress) and that Safa called the regional executive committee members to its headquarters in Johannesburg on the same date as the congress,” read Mchunu’s affidavit.
He said they travelled to Johannesburg only to be told when they arrived that the meeting could not proceed.
“Obviously, the idea was to ensure that the regional executive committee was not part and parcel of the extraordinary congress.”
Safa then apparently sent out a letter congratulating the newly elected executive committee and said they would provide the new leadership with support and encouraged stakeholders to do the same.
It was then that the eThekwini region escalated the matter to Fifa and soon afterwards, Mchunu said, their bank account was frozen and the money was transferred out of the account.
Mchunu argued that Safa had no power to instruct a bank on the financial affairs of a regional structure and said the bank should not have taken instruction from a third party.
Daily News