Clubs vote to oust board

ASA asked to place provincial body under administration

KWAZULU-NATAL Athletics (KZNA) has been stuck in limbo thanks to boardroom battles but there might be a light at the end of the tunnel after clubs took matters into their own hands over the past week.

KZNA board has been embroiled in a tug of war with Athletics SA (ASA) in recent months with the provincial body’s clubs putting a stop to it a week ago.

The province convened a Special General Meeting at Moses Mabhida Stadium last weekend where 126 of 164 affiliate clubs decided to dissolve the KZNA board led by president Sello Mokoena.

ASA suspended KZNA’S executive in November last year and placed the province under administration pending investigations “into possible irregularities”.

ASA named labour lawyer and sports administrator Jay Reddy as the administrator for KZNA and was tasked with running the province in the interim which included the provision and sale of licence numbers.

The suspended KZNA executive won back control of the province last month after a Durban High Court ruling found the dispute should be resolved in arbitration.

But the clubs yielded control back to ASA and Reddy last week where it will be supported by a task team made of six representatives from affiliated clubs.

Steve Mkasi, who has been named as task team spokesman, on Saturday said an elective meeting would be scheduled for 2020 where a new board would be elected.

“The resolution of the meeting was a unanimous vote of no confidence in the KZNA Executive Board to represent the best interests of athletes and athletic clubs in Kwazulu-natal,” Mkasi said in a statement earlier in the week.

“The 126 clubs represented voted to remove the current Executive Board in its entirety, place KZNA under Asa-appointed Administration and stabilise the operations of the KZNA office and the relationship with ASA.”

Mkasi said they expected resistance from the board and said there may still be attempts to “declare the meeting and decision invalid” but it would be futile as they had a mandate from the clubs.

He said the chairs of the various commissions would remain in their positions to provide some continuity until the general meeting.

“All of the board members accepted their suspension (by ASA) save for three or four of them but as we speak (on Saturday) we are meeting with the chairpersons of commissions because they were not suspended in those positions,” Mkasi said.

“We are strategising the programme of athletics in the province and are moving ahead.”

Mkasi said the task team has been seconded by the clubs and they were looking to stabilise the running of athletics in the province.

“We have managed to issue 16 000 licences to date, we have received an additional 4 500 licences,” he said.

“We have assembled a selection committee that will by Tuesday publish a list of athletes who will represent the province at youth and junior national championships.

“The clubs have acknowledged the presence of the administrator appointed by ASA and want the task team to work with him until we go to the annual general meeting in 2020.”

Mkasi said they were aware of a meeting convened by Mokoena where they have elected an executive committee which was not supported by the clubs.

Efforts to contact Mokoena has proven to be fruitless before going to press.