CAPE TOWN - Former SA Football Association (Safa) boss Leslie Sedibe says there “isn’t anything for Fifa to celebrate” as he plans to head to the Constitutional Court to challenge a ruling over the football governing body’s bid to reclaim its trademarks.
Sedibe was in 2016 banned by Fifa’s Adjudicatory Chamber of its Ethics Committee for five years for his alleged role in the match-fixing of four international friendly matches against Bafana Bafana ahead of the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
In August 2018, Sedibe approached the high court for, and was granted, an order attaching all the trademarks of Fifa in order to review the decision of the committee, which is based in Switzerland.
Fifa had submitted that South African courts have no jurisdiction over Fifa to set aside decisions taken in Switzerland.
In 2019, it was dealt a blow when its attempt to reclaim its trademarks fell flat in the high court in Pretoria.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) this week found Sedibe was not entitled to the order granted by the high court.
While Fifa did not respond to requests for comment on the judgment by deadline yesterday, Sedibe said at the time when he launched the proceedings to attach the Fifa trademarks, Fifa had no offices in South Africa, and so the purpose of the attachment was to allow him an opportunity to bring review proceedings against the decision taken in Zurich.
He said he was currently busy with his legal team, drafting his review application which will be served on Fifa shortly.
“I am considering filing an appeal with the Constitutional Court as the SCA’s decision in my view was wrongly decided. My rights enshrined under the Constitution of our country are far more important than the trademarks and this is something the court completely overlooked and misdirected itself.
“As you no doubt aware, Fifa relied in its case on international conventions but as the Constitutional court has recently found, South Africa’s international obligations are subject to South Africa’s own Constitutional obligations to its citizens.
“The Constitution is the supreme law of the Republic and, in entering into international agreements, South Africa must ensure that its obligations in terms of those agreements are not in breach of its constitutional obligations.
“So, it’s a no-brainer to me but a hollow victory for Fifa. The sun will continue to rise in the east and set in the west and one day I will live to see justice in the land of the living. The Pretoria High Court twice ruled against Fifa and Fifa appealed to the SCA and like Fifa, I also have a right to appeal to a higher court which is the Constitutional Court in this case. So, I don’t think there’s anything for Fifa to celebrate,” Sedibe said.
Cape Times