Friday, March 29, 2024

Interim measures against MTN Zambia and FAZ imposed for Anti-competitive and restrictive business practices

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Competition and Consumer Protection Commission
Competition and Consumer Protection Commission

The Competition and Consumer Protection has in the interim directed Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) and MTN Zambia (MTN) to allow City of Lusaka Football Club to use the Woodlands Stadium until investigations commenced by the Commission have been concluded. Further the Commission has allowed Woodlands Stadium to be used for other football fixtures such as cup tournaments with immediate effect.

The decision to place interim measures allowing the use of the stadium was made by the Technical Committee of the Board on 20th October 2017 in Lusaka. This interim measure undertaken by the Commission is provided for under section 62 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act no. 24 of 2010. This section allows the Commission to offer relief to a party of an ongoing investigation of an alleged anti-competitive conduct. The Commission had received allegations on 24th August 2017 that the FAZ and had issued a letter to City of Lusaka F.C. that prohibited the use of Woodlands stadium for any Super League matches due to the presence of Vodafone Zambia (Vodafone) paraphernalia and branding within the stadium.

It was also reported that FAZ advised City of Lusaka F.C. to find an alternative venue for their remaining home fixtures for the season as the branding by Vodafone was allegedly in violation of the sponsorship agreement between FAZ and MTN.

The Commission instituted investigations and wrote to FAZ and MTN on the above allegations on 6th September 2017, and to-date has not received any response from FAZ, while MTN responded stating that they did not make the decision to stop Vodafone from branding the stadium and evicting the club from the stadium as the decision was entirely made by FAZ.

Investigations thus far have revealed that City of Lusaka and other sponsors have from the 24th of August 2017 to the 4th of October 2017 incurred an estimated total loss of three million seven hundred and thirteen kwacha (K3,713,000) and are likely to lose sponsorship if the status core continues.

Therefore, based on these facts, the Technical Committee of Board put in place interim measures allowing the use of the stadium with immediate effect, until such time as full investigations are completed by the Commission.

The Commission will continue to get necessary information regarding this matter to enable a thorough investigation and the Media will continue to be updated on the findings and course of action.

Issued by:
Mrs Namukolo Kasumpa,

Public Relations Officer,
Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.

11 COMMENTS

  1. Toxic FAZ needs to allow fair business play in the sport so as encourage investment. Finger piinting as usual won’t help your image.

  2. That loss of revenue will definitely by borne by FAZ. See,MTN has distanced themselves from the decision made by FAZ not to allow Vodafone to brand Woodlands Stadium

  3. The problems at faz will never end bcoz the leadership at faz put their interest first. Look at the poor quality of Jersey that was won by Zambia during the Algeria game. That is day light robbery by bena kamanga where did they buy such substandard jersey. Zambia to develop patali

  4. FAZ did not consult widely, i can see them paying City if their cards are not played well. before a decision was made, they should have consulted from legal brains and CCPC or ZIM, then make a decison. the decison they made is very unfair from every angle you look at it. this is becoz it simply nmeans if say zanaco is sponsoring the league then no other bank will brand any football activity or premises. but we have seen in England teams sponsored and or branded by standard chartered bank playing in the Barclays league. if trully the MTN sponsorship barred other player i n similar business to do as Vodafone did, then the MTN deal was flawed.

  5. City are a community based team and will always need money to run the affairs. They’re not like Zesco United who are always benefitting from tariff hikes. If FAZ think City should not have sponsors then let FAZ fund all functions at City. Otherwise let clubs be free from interference. And why has FAZ kept quiet about KCM billboards at Nchanga and Konkola?

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