Apply Nkwe to resolve Athletics Eswatini fiasco!
. . . The degeneration, flouting of constitution, personal vendettas that has marred the Athletics Eswatini is another sad case of a leadership conundrum that has bedeviled our sporting fraternity. It is time to save one of the country’s major sports NOW.
My dearest readers……..Magic Johnson, the legendary basketball player once made a poignant point at his time of need.
“When you face a crisis, you know who your true friends are!”
I don’t envy being Athletics Eswatini (AE) President Zakhele Dlamini right now. Everything around him in the Athletics fraternity is just falling apart. Falling down like dominoes, his Board members have resigned, leaving him with only his secretary Thoba Mazibuko in office. Athletics veterans, Sipho Vilakati, who was vice president, Dr. Zabenguni Mkhatshwa, Victor ‘Mavikana’ Dlamini, Sanele Manana, who looked after gender issues, are all the Board members who have since walked away from the burning Athletics house.
The situation is dire. Interestingly it was the Association’s Communications and Marketing Victor ‘Mavikana’ Dlamini, using flowery language, who described the situation explicitly when he resigned this week. Say your say Mavikana. “The Titanic has hit the iceberg, and I can’t sink with it. Firstly, I can say the reason behind this decision is that I was appointed to be Communications and Marketing officer for the association. So now with no executive or board who am I working for, leaving me with no choice but to also leave,”
Well said, Mavikana, well said. Let’s start from the beginning. Ever since Dlamini was elected President, some of the long serving officials within the Athletics fraternity some of whom had hoped to occupy the head honcho position were not happy. They made snide remarks on Dlamini being elected to the Presidential seat with some even reminding us that he was a football person through and through, having served at his beloved Moneni Buccaneers Management Committee and also as Chief Executive Officer of the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) where he did a commendable job. We dismissed it as sour grapes especially coming from those who had bitten the dust during the emotional presidential elections.
For some time, Dlamini steadied the ship to calmer waters, introducing a lot of good governance systems, securing sponsors and the sport no doubt was growing in leaps and bounds. It is not by coincidence that athletics is one of the major sporting codes in the country which is part of the podium performance programme (PPP) alongside the likes of boxing, swimming and taekwondo.
For the uninitiated PPP means investing and prioritizing in sporting codes who are likely to get us medals on the international stage. In that regard, Athletics has earned its stripes, with a podium finish even in the Commonwealth Games where Eswatini has been participating in since 1970. The country has only won four medals with three in boxing and one in athletics.
So, the turmoil which has marred the sport in recent times has touched even this grandson of Mlonyeni, who by the way, is a sucker for football. The shenanigans have even touched the cockles of my heart hence today I am on my knees, begging the Eswatini Sports and Recreation Council (ESRC) and the Eswatini Olympics and Commonwealth Games Association (EOCGA) to intervene as – to borrow Mavikana’s words – the titanic has hit the iceberg.
Yes, the whole fracas was triggered by the sudden suspension of Manzini Athletics Club (MAC) and their coach Muzi Mabuza who were slapped with a dozen counts for alleged misconduct. Mabuza and his team were said to have allegedly contravened the World Athletics (WA) Integrity Code if Conduct as read with Article 29 of the Athletics Eswatini (AE) Constitution. Mabuza and ten others had petitioned the office of the AE president demanding a special meeting, as the sport’s constitution. Mabuza and his team were subsequently found guilty on all 12 charges. The cast was die. The Athletics teams who were part of the signatory of the petition began to show open disdain of the Zakhele Dlamini-led Board, boycotting the Association’s events. In football parlance, it is safe to say the AE president, Zakhele Dlamini had “lost the dressing room”. This is where I was hoping the Sports and Recreation Council would step in to find a lasting solution instead of hoping the situation would sort itself out. But clearly the simmering tensions were still there as well as the big elephant in the room. The festering wound was bound to reach its suppurating abscess. This happened when the AE President had to called off a meeting last Saturday where the division within the association was clearly visible after the highly qualified Muzi Mabuza had been kicked out just before the start of the meeting. This did not go down with the members. AE president Zakhele Dlamini then called off the meeting.
With more than half of the 20 AE members having signed the petition demanding a special meeting it was pretty obvious the proverbial s#$ had hit the fan. Methinks, the AE president and his Board should have allowed the teams to have the Special meeting because this is in line with Article 6.3 of the AE Constitution which states that the AE shall provide the necessary institutional means to resolve any internal dispute that may arise between members, officials and athletes. But after the resignation of the Board members, leaving Dlamini and his Secretary General, Thoba Mazibuko in office, this now calls for the intervention of the Eswatini Sports and Recreation Council and even the Eswatini Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association. The centre can no longer hold. The Executive Board with two members cannot form a quorum. It is time for the Secretary General to organize the election of an interim committee to hold fort until a proper Board is elected.
I am not jumping to the defence of the AE president but the handling of some of the issues by the teams themselves in the quest to oust Dlamini has left quite a lot to be desired especially writing directly to the World Athletics Association without following the correct structures locally. It does not give the sport a good picture when protocol is ignored no matter how justified their concerns are. It will set a very bad precedent and would be akin to letting people take matters into their own hands when they are not happy with certain people in leadership. That’s why at this point the Sports Recreation Council needs to intervene and bring order to the athletics fraternity.
Granted, the members have clearly demonstrated they have lost confidence in the Zakhele Dlamini-led AE and with the Board members also stepping down, it is cul de sac. But the sport should not die. Let the sport not drown in the cesspool of the dirty politics at play. Today it is Zakhele being shoved out of the presidential seat, the next time it could be somebody else. It is time to save one of the major sports in the country. True His Majesty King Mswati III’s clarion call, the Eswatini Sports and Recreation Council and EOCGA abatsi ‘NKWE’ ngematubane (pun intended) and save the Athletics Eswatini (AE).
The titanic has hit the iceberg. Not my words.
Until next week, Thatha!
(Send your comments to: lwazid@ rubiconmedia.group or lwazid005@gmail. com)