WHO GETS INTO PLE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE?

Sports Editor

“Good leadership skills comprise more than one or two traits, and there is more to leadership than just knowing the technical aspects of how to manage a team. 

Effective leaders are many things; determined, ethical, innovative, passionate, kind, curious, focused, confident, collaborative, courageous, wise and empowering,”

That’s not me saying it but one essayist, Robert Half. 

As the 26 members of the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) Board of Governors prepare to attend the elective annual general meeting (AGM) at Happy Valley Resort on Saturday morning, it is crucial that they understand what casting any vote truly means.

It is not a popularity contest. It has far reaching consequences on the future of the sport and the organisation. 

It requires serious thought because whosoever gets to be in the PLE structure has to be, in the words of Half, “determined, ethical, innovative, passionate, kind, curious, focused, confident, collaborative, courageous, wise and empowering,”.

Never mind those vying for the chairmanship, do the seven people already nominated for the four positions in the PLE Executive Committee have all these good leadership qualities? 

Can the people already nominated take our football out of the abyss all the way to the Promised Land of milk and honey like the biblical Moses?

We all know their strengths and weaknesses. Some of the nominees have been on the forefront, others have been there for a long time while others would be new in a set-up like the executive committee but they feel this is the opportune time to make a meaningful contribution. Well and good.

But one thing is certain. In the PLE Board of Governors structure, which is a cut and paste from the South Africa’s Premier Soccer League (PSL), the executive committee is the MOST important structure. It is effectively the decision-making structure of the PLE. 

The Board of Governors formulates policies which are then enforced by the executive committee on their behalf. 

The executive committee works closely with the organisation’s chief executive officer (CEO), who by all its intent and purpose, is the driving force of the organisation. Then you have the chairman who oversees everything and he works with the executive committee and the CEO. Ordinarily this is supposed to be the organisational structure of the PLE.

But all things considered, our organisational structure has many teething flaws. 

The major one being that, a majority of the PLE Board of Governors – unlike in SA – are not owners of the club. They are either in that position on secondment as MC members or representing the club chairman. Therein lies the rub. 

They cannot take binding decisions in those meetings and still need to consult other people or structures. 

This has caused a lot of consternation within the PLE Board of Governors structure, forcing some opportunists to even call for its disbandment.  

Of course this is gobbledygook. It would be counter-productive and knee-jerk reaction on something that could be modified.

It is very important therefore given this technicality to find people who can breathe life into the executive committee so that it can re-define its major role into the PLE structure and map a way forward for the organisation in all areas. 

That’s why we need a very strong executive committee to sort out the maladministration, the glaring lacking marketing shortfall of the organisation and the legal issues which have cost it an arm and a leg.

It is important, therefore, that the members of the PLE Board of Governors understand what electing people into this important structure means. 

If Eswatini football is to make any progress, turn its lemons into lemonade, these are the people who have the power to do so.  

So dear Board of Governor, I repeat, this is no popularity contest. Think long and hard before casting that vote. 

You have the power to either change Eswatini football for the better or take it down the drain. 

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