Bishoti off the hook in Safa-BC wrangle

Mdantsane Local Football Association (Mdalfa) has distanced itself from the ongoing wrangling between Safa-Buffalo City and EL Central.

The association do not want to get involved, nor are they taking sides in the long-standing impasse, Mdalfa president Mnyamezeli Bomeni said.

Mdalfa vice-president, Xolani Bishoti, launched a scathing attack on the regional football body at a EL Central end-of-year function last week, but because he was speaking in a private capacity, his views were not considered those of Mdalfa.

Bishoti by agreeing to speak at the weekend gathering at the North End Stadium clubhouse, where he painted a picture of a region in tatters, sided with ELCLFA who are long-term rivals with Safa-BC.

Bomeni added that as far as Mdalfa was concerned, Bishoti was not in hot water for criticising the region at the function and action would not be taken against him.

“Nozulu informed me before the event in question that he was invited to be the main guest speaker in his capacity as Buffalo City Sport Council and therefore Mdalfa has nothing against him,” said Bomeni..

“On behalf of Mdalfa, I agreed and, therefore, whatever he said there was on behalf of the Sport Council not Mdalfa, so there is no problem about it because the institution he was speaking for does not report to Safa.”

Bishoti also echoed Bomeni’s statement, saying he was not speaking on behalf of Mdalfa as he had not been mandated to do so by the association.

“I was invited in my Sport Council capacity and not a member of Mdalfa executive,” he said.

Bomeni said Mdalfa had made a conscious decision not to get involved in politics involving the region but to focus on the LFA and its football programmes.

In this regard, they were not prepared to comment on issues that did not affect Mdalfa directly.

It was for this reason, that although Mdalfa noted the leadership squabble between the region and ELCLFA, they were not ready to talk elections yet. The succession talk ahead of the region’s next elective congress next year was still on ice as far as Mdalfa was concerned.

Therefore they could not disclose whether or not they would be backing the current leadership structure or a new one, until closer to the elections, albeit within the constitutional Safa framework.

Said Bomeni: “This is our stance because we have our own issues and a history of divisions within Mdalfa, therefore we cannot just approach issues recklessly, in so doing jeopardise our unity for the sake of football development in our LFA.

“That is the business we are in to return our LFA to its former glory.”