TIME TO DRAW THE LINE IN THE SAND

My dearest Board of Governors memberS…….Writing open letters is one of my sentimental hates but it gives me singular pleasure to pen this love letter to you this Tuesday morning. 

This weekend, to be precise on Saturday, at Happy Valley Hotel, at 11am, you have an opportunity to be part of a gathering that could shape the future of Eswatini premier league football for the better or worse. You hold the vote, all 26 of you, that could determine whether the gains we have accrued over the years disappear like morning dew at the face of the sun. You have the power that will determine whether the sacrifice, the money, the determination and the building block laid by the path-finders of the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) many moons ago, were not in vain. When I talk about the path-finders who laid the foundation, I am talking about the great sons of the soil, in Seedwell Lukhele, Dick Eyeighton, Desmond Oswin, Moses ‘Mkhulu’ Motsa, Victor ‘Maradona’ Gamedze, Sidumo Mdladla, Khisimusi Ndlovu, Veli Dlamini, Celani Shongwe, Martin ‘Internash’ Dlamini, Masotja Vilakati, Musa Masuku, Charles ‘Ace’ Jele, Henry ‘Tum’ Du Pont, Henry ‘Shushu’ Mthethwa, Zakhele ‘TZD’ Dlamini, Dumsani Gumede, Sandile ‘Chief’ Dlamini, to mention but a few.

Sacrificed

These great men sacrificed not just their time and money but they planted a seed which gave a tree that provided shade and comfort which even led to the league rated the top 14th in Africa. But this lovely tree is wilting away. This tree, which was supposed to grow into a forest, is being chopped daily by maladministration, greed and numerous other destructive tendencies.

Destructive fictional smear campaigns aimed at dislodging other members in the organisation has left not just the football fraternity gobsmacked but the captains of industry worried sick about their investment in the people’s game. 

Instead of the three-year contracts which were signed amid pomp and glamour, some of the sponsors are now content in signing one-year renewable contracts to safe-guard their brand image interests.

Something has to give in. We need to draw the line in the sand. We must relocate, redefine and reset the football button so that the sponsors and the followers of the game can have confidence in the leadership of the PLE AGAIN. 

We cannot forever be looking with nostalgia on the good work the late chairman, Victor ‘Maradona’ Gamedze, did. Gamedze ran his mile and he ran the organisation his own way and nobody can replicate how he did it. 

Let him rest in peace. Myekeleni aphumule. Someone must take the organisation forward now. 

Articulate

Writing in the South African, Sunday Times over the weekend, African National Congress (ANC) Deputy President David Mabuza was articulate in reiterating the calls by the president, Cyril Ramaphosa, that the “organisation needs to draw the line in the sand against corruption, practice of recalling leaders without having conducted any assessment of their contribution towards the implementation of the popular mandate, but merely for the advancement of factional motives.”

Dear Board of Governor, you have the power to do the same on Saturday when you cast that vote. This is not a popularity contest. We need decisive leadership. We need someone who can bring order and direction. We need someone with a vision who can unite the organisation, re-build its image and restore it to its original glory. 

We have three musketeers within the PLE Executive Committee in current chairman Peter ‘Touch’ Magagula, Mark Carmichael and Sicelo Mkhonta, who are vying for the chairmanship position of the organisation. 

All three men have their strengths and weaknesses. All three have been there and worked under Gamedze’s stewardship. But all three have to be captain of their own ship. 

All three are capable. But for me, it is the Executive Committee and the Chief Executive Officer, in the current structure, who is more important than the Chairman. By design or default, this is supposed to be the case with this Board of Governors structure which was a cut and paste from the more efficient one of our neighbours, the Premier Soccer League (PSL). The difference here is that the Board of Governors, most of them, are not owners of the teams yet in South Africa, the Board of Governors are owners of teams. 

Therein lies the rub.

This has brought a lot of challenges into the administration of the organisation as a result of this glaring mishap. 

That’s why it is very important that under the circumstances, the Executive Committee is made up of clued up individuals who can drive the mandate handed to them by the Board of Governors with the assistance of a CEO and the chairman overseeing it. 

So dear board member, it is not just a Chairman who is important in this structure but it is the Executive Committee and most importantly, it is the CEO.

Promised

Dear Board of Governor, if the PLE is to grow as an organisation it needs a CEO who has the know-how, experience and skills to drive it to the Promised Land. It needs an Executive Committee with members who have the skill to cover issues of marketing, legal and administrative so that it is stable. It needs a chairman who can oversee all these as a figurehead of the organisation.

Unfortunately this grandson of Mlonyeni does not cast a vote, you hold that power. 

Please do the right thing – vote for someone who can bring change and direction to the organisation; someone who can take it forward.

Whether it is ‘better the devil you know than the angel you don’t know’ or whether ‘a new broom will sweep cleaner or the old broom is better because it knows the nooks and corners of the house’?  

The voting power is with you. Please do the right thing. We are not asking for too much, are we?

Very interesting times indeed…..

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