Sydney this, Sydney that - welcome back, sir!

Dear Sydney Simelane,
PLS CEO

Writing open letters is one of my sentimental hates but it gives me a singular pleasure to pen this one on an Easter Weekend in particular on this beautiful Sunday morning.

To me, this day is special in many ways. Not only is it a blessed Sunday but someone special, the one who makes my heart sing like a canary, was born on this beautiful day.
But this is not about me, Mr. Simelane, it is about football, which we both appreciate is bigger than any individual. I would be stating the blindingly obvious if I said events of the past week or so, have reflected badly on the organisati-on, PLS and football as a whole. To argue otherwise would be a baffling perversion of logic. You exercised your right to step down because – in your words – “the conditions some board members are creating are too embarrassing to football,”.

Then shortly afterwards, your chairman, Henry ‘Tum’ du Pont followed suit stepping down and offering no reasons. It left all of us, who still care about the game, baffled, confused, gob-smacked, shell-shocked – you can pick the one adjective that tickles your fancy but the bottom line is that we all wondered what has gone wrong at the PLS office.
Then you withdrew your resignation. Hmmmmmmm … my flies on the wall tell me that you were convinced by some of the Board members. That’s beside the point, anyway.

I don’t want to say what withdrawing your resignation letter after telling everyone who cared to listen you were done with football and in your own words - “It is best to leave you with your football. I am better off doing other things,” says about the kind of person you are. That’s a subject for another day.
But in this world, they often say, it takes a great man to change his mind. I will look at this matter on the positive outlook. You did the right thing – both as an individual, an administrator and a family man.

Your decision to withdraw the resignation letter also clearly tells me, you are man enough to face the problems affecting your office and ready to deal with them. It shows you are not a coward and perhaps, you are not to be bullied. That’s the kind of CEO our football needs. From the onset, many people raised the issues of self-inflated egos, serving of own selfish ends by members of the Board under the current structure, which truly is unavoidable.

No club owner would sit in a meeting where his own team is being disadv-antaged and let it go on without putting up a fight or lobbying some of his friends in the Board to support him even if the decision is bad for the game. Therein lies the rub. As CEO, you then have to strike the balance and come up with a working tool that will ensure the game progresses and football is the winner. It is not an easy task, I fully agree. Like I said last time you when you took up the posts, you would be expected to play violin by urinating on it or in the words of the ‘Iron Duke’ of South African football, Dr Irvin Khoza, “dancing to the beat even if you don’t like the tune,”.

I think that’s wh-ere Mr. Simelane you also need to understand that as a profes-sional you are in an unprofessional set up. To change those men in silky suits, reputable busines-smen and family men to understand this, is a daunting task. In any case, you cannot teach old dogs new tricks. How you strike the balance will certainly show how good an administrator you are or can be.

It has to start with a change of attitude and approach from your side. Your hatred for the media (or maybe ‘hatred’ is too strong a word), your dislike of the media, for starters, has to come to an end. We need a truce. Yes, you may person-ally believe some of the journalists are not learned or enlightened enough to spe-ak to a learned and profes-sional like you – and they can only produce birth certificates if they were to be asked to produce academic qualific-ations – but hum-ble yourself, Mr. Simelane in order to be exalted. I have not gone thro-ugh the bible with a fine tooth-comb but I know it’s written somewhere in the holy book.

You may not like the journalists but you need them to market your product. Humble yourself for the sake of the sport because in the end, this is not about your ego or personal feelings. It is about football. It is about the sport we all love with a passion. It is about getting things done. We may not like each other, but we need to work together. Nobody is bigger than the game, Mr. Simelane.
Secondly, perhaps a little bit of lecture on how the media work would do you a world of good.
You really cannot blame the journalists for writing stories, having sensitive information straight from the Board meeting or expressing their opinions. Attacking journalists for that is a bit like attacking an Olympic sprinter for running too fast!
Personally, on the opinion issues, let me assure you that judicious use of crudity is an essential part of a columnist’s arsenal and while I deploy it rarely I don’t flinch when the time is right. Let me enlighten you, Mr. Simelane. If sensitive information always spirals to the media, then surely there are leaks within your Board and it is your duty to find out – not to shoot the messenger!
You need to tighten the screws within your Board and make the flow of information freely by feeding the newshounds with every information that is fit for public consumption immediately after a Board meeting to avoid the newshounds from sniffing around.

This will ensure the information that comes to the public gallery is factual, not distorted. You need to be proactive not be reactionary.
Mr. Simelane, you don’t live in an island. So, taking advices from other peo-ple would not make you an intellectual inv-alid.
You will still take the credit and keep your academic qualifications even if they are as long as psalms. It will not make you less human to accept when you are wrong, take people’s advice – that’s what real men do.
The legendary King Sobhuza II even once rema-rked that you must listen to a drunkard beca-use what he might say in his drunken stupor could be the gospel truth. The mere fact that you hold a public office, rest assured you cannot please everyone. You will be criticised – sometimes unfairly – but you have to take it in your chin. To throw your toys out of the cot and sulk will not do anyone any good, neither the sport.

Now that you have bounced back, identifying all the wrongs that have happened leading the sport to another potholed road would be the first thing and then sorting that out would be the second because the first and the wisest way of correcting a mistake is to acknowledge it.
You need to sit down with your Board and outline what makes your job difficult to do and what can be done going forward. I am sure once you have ironed out those differ-ences and what they expect of you, we will be on the road to recovery.

I have already bid your chairman, Henry ‘Tum’ du Pont goodbye and to paraphrase your damning SMS when you resigned, “best wishes to the next guy!”
Otherwise, enjoy your sumptuous breakfast and Happy Easter week-end!

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