Henry Basie Hungry Lions founder and manager. Picture: Neville Motlhabakwe
Hungry Lions FC were due to appear before a South African Football Association disciplinary committee on Monday afternoon to face charges of allegedly fielding a player without clearance in several of their Glad Africa League games.
Safa prosecutor Zola Majavu released a video on Thursday (June 23) in which he acknowledged that he was in receipt of a complaint from Glad Africa club Jomo Cosmos. Majavu said Jomo Cosmos has lodged a complaint against Hungry Lions and in it alleged that Hungry Lions fielded a player irregularly in at least two matches against them.
The player in question is Tshepo Mohlala.
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Hungry Lion’s management were not on hand to answer media queries. According to other media reports on the matter Mohlala was apparently first enrolled as a Kaizer Chiefs development player. He then took part in MultiChoice Diski competitions as a player as far back as 2014.
The reports indicate that Mohlala had stayed at the Kaizer Chiefs development side until recently when Hungry Lions came asking for his services. According to the reports Kaizer Chiefs had then issued a loan clearance certificate to Hungry Lions.
The reports further indicate that Jomo Cosmos claim Mohlala as their player on the strength that they had registered him as their member under their Local Football Association team in Johannesburg.
Apparently, Cosmos have registration documentation proving that the player was registered with their Soweto LFA team for 2015 - 2016 and have produced team sheets in which Mohlala was featured as part of their playing squad.
Jomo Cosmos had recently been relegated from the National First division’s Glad Africa league. They finished in 15th position in the 2021/22 season and were relegated.
Hungry Lions ascended to the National First Division in 2021. They ended their first season in the league at position 11 with 36 points.
Should Cosmos win their disciplinary complaint against Hungry Lions then the points for the two games played against Cosmos may be deducted from the Hungry Lions credits.
That eventuality spells danger for the Postmasburg side and with it may threaten the hopes of the Northern Cape football followers who are desperate for professional football in their neighbourhood.
The hearing was set down for 5.30pm on Monday, June 27. Majavu has pledged to similarly publish the outcome of the disciplinary hearing on his video blog (vlog) asap.