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Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter—
DISQUALIFIED Highlanders FC chairmanship candidate Ernest “Maphepha” Sibanda wants the club’s members to have a final say on whether he should be allowed to stand or not during Sunday’s annual general meeting. Sibanda, who was challenging incumbent Peter Dube, had his papers thrown out by the electoral court on Monday with returning officer Luke Mnkandla saying reasons for his disqualification would be explained to members at Sunday’s annual general meeting.

Mnkandla was diplomatic in responding to questions from the media after vetting saying, “In essence we found Sibanda not in good standing and it’s really sad, quite sad indeed.”

Sibanda called for a Press conference yesterday and expressed shock at calls that he was not in good standing as he had no criminal record at all.

He believes that he is of good standing as according to Article 9 of the club’s constitution on qualification for the executive committee position.

● 9.1: a prospective candidate for any position in the executive committee must be a current fully paid up member of the club who has been so for an uninterrupted period of at least two years, immediately preceding his nomination.

● 9.2: such prospective candidate for any position in the executive committee must not be an unrehabilitated insolvent and must not have been convicted in the 10 years immediately preceding his nomination of any crime involving dishonesty for which he has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment without the option of a fine or to a fine exceeding $50,000 or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

The ghost of Obidiah Tarumbwa’s transfer to Cercle Brugge FC in 2008 is haunting Sibanda after the former allegedly misrepresented to the club that the player had been sold for $40,000, yet it was $65,000.

The club got $40,000 with $25,000 deposited into a Botswana account without the club’s knowledge.

Sibanda was found guilty of depriving the club “a huge chunk of the transfer of Obidiah and he did succeed in doing so having re-routed the money and converting it to his own use,” read part of the judgment.

He eventually repaid the money in full, “albeit in drips and drabs”.

Yesterday Sibanda said he served his punishment and as such was free to contest.

“Yes, I got the judgment in 2010 and two years after that I was pardoned. My current card was not stopped (sic) and was given back my card. On Asiagate I was cleared. Go to the courts, police and find out if I have a criminal record. I don’t have any so why then deny people an opportunity to turn me down through voting?” he said.

“I would have loved to go there and lose but I was never given a fair trial. That is why I want people to be the ones who turn down my candidature because I cannot take football matters to court. As long as Highlanders members say I mustn’t be in a position for life I will accept that with dignity.”

He questioned the composition of the electoral court which had three board members Mnkandla, Jimmy Ncube and Elkanah Dube.

“I respect the Highlanders constitution and I’m not fighting anyone. What I want is to build Highlanders. I’m disappointed because I feel a lot of things didn’t go the way they should. I respect the constitution and I know it says that the decision of the electoral court is final but I feel they were supposed to let the people decide whether they want me or not. I questioned why there were three members at the electoral court instead of six. Maybe the other three could have given me thumbs up,” Sibanda said.

The former Bosso chairman feels that the decision by the electoral court was pre-determined because they read to him “a long sheet” with reasons for his disqualification which he believes could not be written in seven minutes.

He also questioned why the court didn’t sit on Saturday the day they submitted their papers.

His appeal to the board is to allow bona fide Highlanders members to decide his fate during Sunday’s annual general meeting.

Sibanda took a dig at the board who he accused of being unfair following a post on Facebook by one Dumisani Nyongolo Nkomo who claims Mnkandla told him that one of the candidates would be disqualified.

“If we have people in the board taking sides that is not fair. I saw on Facebook that the chairman of the electoral court had told someone in Nkayi that I will be disqualified. Is that really fair for football? I have heard that there are rumours that some of the board members are saying that if I stand and win they will resign. If they are doing so then surely there’s something wrong,” he said.

“Our school was in the field of football and that is where I got my degree. That board must have someone with football knowledge. We have to dilute the board and have someone who thinks about football instead of having academics only.

“I won’t go to a surgery or lawyers and say I want to do that case because I’m not qualified but I can make a difference here in football.”

Sibanda believes some of the board members seem to have a bone to chew with him after turning down his appointment as the team’s manager for 2015.

He said it was after that he decided to challenge Dube.

“Two weeks ago the executive wanted me to be the team manager for the 2015 season but the board disqualified me from that position. After that, I then decided to see where do I really stand at Highlanders and decided to go for the chairmanship. I’m 57-years-old now and if Bosso doesn’t need me, then I can move on with my life. I was also motivated to go for the chairmanship after seeing that the board is now running the affairs of the club by overriding the executive’s decisions. I had agreed to the manager’s job because I’m a football person and will serve the club in whatever capacity where my expertise is needed. Please note, I never applied for that job,” Sibanda said.

Mnkandla has refuted allegations on the Facebook post.

“When was that because I’m not a permanent returning officer? This must clearly be a mad person who must go and die. For your information l like Ernest and this is why I even told you this other day that it was indeed quite sad that he got disqualified. I’m so disappointed by such unfounded claims. I have no time to respond to such nonsense,” said Mnkandla.