CCPC allows City of Lusaka to use Woodlands Stadium

The Competition and Consumer Protection commission has n 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.

The Commission has further allowed Woodlands Stadium to be used for other football fixtures such as cup tournaments with immediate effect.

In a statement, CCPC Public Relations Officer Namukolo Kasumpa says the decision to place interim measures allowing the use of the stadium was made by the Technical Committee of the Board on 20^th October, 2017 in Lusaka.

She says this interim measure undertaken by the Commission is provided for under section 62 of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act no. 24 of 2010.

Mrs Kasumpa explains that this section allows the Commission to offer relief to a party of an ongoing investigation of an alleged anti-competitive conduct.

She says the Commission had received allegations on 24^th August 2017 that 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 paraphernalia and branding within the stadium.

Mrs Kasumpa says the Commission instituted investigations and wrote to FAZ and MTN on the allegations on 6^th 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.

She states that investigations thus far, have revealed that City of Lusaka and other sponsors have from the 24^th of August, 2017 to the 4^th 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.

She says 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.