The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has cleared Daud Mtanthiko, an executive member, charged with sexual misbehavior within the Scorchers’ camp.
Mtanthiko was the delegation leader when the scorchers where in South Africa to play Banyana Banyana in a friendly match.
It was during the same engagement, that he was accused of sexual misconduct against a media female member Hanzi Mbizi.
Thereafter, the FA instituted a commission of enquiry headed by FAM first vice president Madalisto Kuyera to probe the matter.
The enquiry established that Mtanthiko indeed visited the room of the lady where he stayed for three minutes.
Monitoring it on Wa Ganyu Facebook Page, FAM president Fleetwood Haiya said their findings have established that it was the victim who gave Mtanthiko access to her room.
“The accused and the complainant have been chatting on WhatsApp way before the Scorchers assignment and the complainant admitted to deleting all messages at both ends.
“The commission is of the view that those messages could have helped our investigations and helped the determination.
“The accused at first refused saying that he never visited her room, but changed after the CCTV footage.
“So, nobody gave evidence [of the misconduct] because players who were closer to her room did not hear anything and could not give evidence,” said Haiya adding: “The complainant failed to follow the right procedures to complain, not even telling the safeguarding officer who could have been the appropriate officer.”
“The Lady Did Not Know Why Mtanthiko Visited Her Room”- Haiya.
According to the report, Mtanthiko acted in a manner not befitting as the head of delegation, hence the FAM will proceed to discipline him.
“We recommend that the accused remain on suspension and the matter of misconduct and dishonesty be referred to the disciplinary for determination.
“We have our guidelines to do our investigations but there are other independent investigations happening with the Malawi Human Rights Commission,” he said, adding that FAM has adopted the report.
When asked if FAM tried to check the accused phone after realizing that the woman had erased messages, Haiya replied that the commission never did.
When asked if she really brought Mtanthiko to her room and if she really asked him for money so she could go shopping, Haiya replied that the woman informed the commission that she had no idea why Mtanthiko had come to her room.
According to Haiya, it was not their duty to ask other interested parties if they could recover messages.
