Ground-breaking judgment in Botswana: it's unlawful to terminate a contract because of an injury
The Botswana National Dispute Resolution Chamber (NDRC) has delivered a ground-breaking judgement in favour of Lesego Galenamotlhale against one of the Botswana Premier League teams, Orapa United.
The judgement comes after a marathon case which was lodged by Footballers Union of Botswana (FUB) in which it challenged the unlawful termination of the player’s contract after a career threatening injury Puso Motlhabane, FUB head of legal says the judgement is a great victory for all Botswana players as it will now be used as case law.
“From time immemorial, it has been the norm for a club to terminate a players’ contract on the basis of a player being injured and thus not being able to render services to the club,” he said. This is notwithstanding, Motlhabane says such injuries would have been suffered in the players course of duty. “As a union we are incredibly pleased that the NDRC has thru this judgement sent a deafening message that players’ rights should be respected by the clubs even when the player is deemed to be of no use,” he said. The jubilant Galenamotlhale could not hide his feelings after his victory against Orapa United.
“Firstly, I want to thank FUB for helping me through this most difficult period. During the period of the case, I had no source of income and winning this case is a huge step for all players who have been abused by their clubs,” he said. In its ruling, the chamber ruled that the termination of the player’s contract was wrongful and ordered Orapa United to pay the player six months of outstanding salaries, a balance of his signing on fee and a three months compensation.
The chamber concluded by emphasising the need for teams to adhere to the approved standard contracts at all times and not disadvantage players.
The original article can be found here.
