Kika's FIFA investigation 'riddled with irregularities,' says his lawyer Chief Nonkonyama

16 October 2015 - 14:43 By Times LIVE
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Former Safa vice-president Advocate Mwelo Nonkonyana.
Former Safa vice-president Advocate Mwelo Nonkonyana.
Image: Dominic Barnardt / Gallo Images

Former Safa vice-president Advocate Mwelo Nonkonyana says the process which led to FIFA handing down a six-year ban on his client, Lindile “Ace” Kiki, has been riddled with irregularities.

It emerged in a radio interview that he had with Power FM Sport on Friday that Nonkonyama is heading up a legal team to challenge FIFA’s decision to suspend Kika, Safa’s former national head of referees.

 

A podcast of Chief Mwelo Nonkonyama's interview on Power FM

Kika was on Wednesday handed the six-year ban by Fifa’s adjudicatory chamber of the ethics committee chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert. Kika denies any involvement‚ saying he was the victim of a witch-hunt which sought to tarnish his good name.

“It’s interesting that this has been publicly communicated by Fifa before I was officially informed. I have not even seen a charge sheet as is standard practice with anyone who is charged‚” he told the Daily Dispatch on Thursday.

Kika vowed to challenge his ban from all football-related activities by FIFA and has since roped in Nonkonyama to head up a legal battle against his suspension.

Kika said he could not see how the international football federation decided to ban him without affording him an opportunity to state his side of the story.

Nonkonyama told Power FM Sports that: “As far as we are concerned, it (Kika’s six-year ban) is null and void. We have addressed a letter to FIFA seeking the record (charge sheet) and clearly telling them that we are challenging that decision to suspend Kika.

“In fact the entire process (of investigating Kika) has been riddled with irregularities. Our suspicion is that they want to really shield big fish that is enjoying itself in a big sea as it were at the expense of our client (Kika),” Nonkonyama said.

Kika was found guilty for his alleged role in a major match-fixing scandal with Asian betting syndicates before South Africa hosted the 2010 soccer World Cup.Kika‚ the former Safa director of national teams‚ was one of five football officials named in a FIFA report on match-fixing.

Nonkonyama was dismissed by Safa in October last year after he was found guilty by the FA’s disciplinary structures for not following appropriate communications protocols.

This was after he suggested in interviews with the media that former Bafana Bafana head coach Gordon Igesund should step down as coach if the national squad failed to impress in the CHAN tournament which was hosted in the country.

Nonkonyama is still appealing Safa DC's decision to oust him.

- Daily Dispatch

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