A PLAN HATCHED IN HELL

My dearest readers ... For entertainment value, the aborted Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) Annual General Meeting (AGM) would have put many mundane soapies like Generations, the Legacy, to shame.
The whole well organised chaos would have been funny if it were not tragic. The shameful events which played itself out prior to the meeting on Saturday, the lack of proper planning and adherence to corporate governance standards like submitting financial statements at least 14 days before, are a true reflection of the leadership poverty in our football.

For a moment I was reminded of Dr. Wamuwi Mbao’s stupendously brilliant review of Adam Habib’s book, Rebels and Rage: Reflecting on #Feesmustfall.
The review carves through the book like an obsidian knife through tuna steak and like the events on Saturday, in Mbao’s words, “it felt like I was watching the Normandy beach landings – there were so many take-downs,”

That is even putting it mildly. Let’s unravel this unscripted soap-opera which was drama in real life this past Saturday. I have been struggling with wrapping my tiny brain around why the PLE, under the stewardship of Peter ‘Touch’ Magagula failed to provide the financial statements of the organisation 14 days before.
The baloney excuse that the financial statements would then be leaked to the media before the meeting is A-grade hogwash and, in my books, aimed at undermining the intelligence of the board members.

advertising

Many corporation organisations actually buy advertising space and publish their financial statements. What is the point of giving the members financial statements to deliberate on at the AGM that was scheduled to be held within two hours as per the COVID-19 meeting regulations?

It does not make sense at all. But what is more shocking is how an organisation that handles so many millions of Emalangeni could not provide minutes of the last AGM. The drivel that the minutes were stuck in erst while CEO Simanga Nhleko is again another drivel by the current leadership at the PLE.

Minutes of meetings should be sent to all the members immediately after the meeting or at least within a week. The last meeting was held over a year ago, for crying out loud. Again, those minutes are for the organisation – not Nhleko’s. Why does the PLE not have a laptop of its own where these records can be kept?

This is a shocking lack of administrative standards within the PLE and it goes to show the leadership poverty which has seen the organisation limping from one financial blunder to another.
Then you have reports of some members of the Board going out of their way to try and get the financial statements from the auditors.
I still believe this is gobbledygook and if it did happen, then those members need to be named and shamed.

I am beginning to sense a clear strategy of smear campaign by some members of the Board in the quest to lay their hands on the levers of power. They are hell-bent on tainting other people’s names and they will not stop doing so until they get to have things their own way or their own preferred candidates occupying the seats in the Executive Committee.
This destructive fictional smear campaign aimed at dislodging other members within the organisation has left not just the football fraternity gobsmacked, but the captains of the industry worried sick about their investment to the people’s game.
Instead of the three-year contracts which were signed amidst pomp and glamour, some of the sponsors are now content in signing one-year renewable contracts to safe-guard their brand image interests.

screaming

That some Board members can even go to the extent of screaming money-laundering without any tangible proof clearly shows the calibre of people who want to take over the running of the game are using unorthodox means.

I am not defending the chairman, ‘Touch’ Magagula and his merry men. If there is any shred of evidence that any funds have been mismanaged, then Magagula and his band of merry men must face the music.
But the propensity to simply make wild accusations all in the name of winning an election is not just inhumane but damaging to the image of the sport.

Believe you me, accountability is important on everybody’s part but let the members not get into the habit of throwing shade and making false accusations in the quest to unseat the current Executive Committee. In the end, this is not about ‘Touch’ or whosoever.

It is about the brand image of the PLE and how it reflects to the captains of the industry who must be worried sick of mudslinging and destructive fictional smear campaigns which have dominated newspaper headlines.

The brand image of the PLE has taken a huge knock and whosever gets to be elected chairman on Saturday will clearly have his work cut out re-branding the organisation to the squeaky clean image it once had.
By the time of the postponing of the meeting on Saturday, it was clear that the chairmanship race will be between ‘Touch’ Magagula and Mark Carmichael.
The other candidate, Sicelo Mkhonta looks as interested as a lion is in devouring grass.

As the Board members prepare to return to the AGM again, let it be clear that these fictional wars are not good for the game.
This is still a sport. The people involved have families and kids. What is the point of painting someone dark for you to remain clean when you also have your own skeletons in your closet?
Some of us have been in this game for too long and know almost all the role players in this election.

We know what they are capable of doing and what they are not capable of doing.
We know their strengths and weaknesses. You cannot clean your neighbour’s roof when your own doorsteps are full of dust.
It is very important to raise pertinent issues with a modicum of respect – not this smear campaign driven by the insatiable desire for power.   

election

In the end, after this election, the organisation has to survive, rebrand and reshape itself.  Without fear of contradiction and sounding like a stuck record, I want to repeat this.
We need to draw the line in the sand.
We must relocate, re-define and re-set 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.
If I had things my way I would insist for Saturday’s AGM continuation, that each Board member should wear Vaseline-filled latex gloves like Curley from Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men 24/7, to keep their hands soft and supple in the event the issue over the financial statements of the organisations descend into a fist-fight.
But most importantly, 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.
Those peddlers of cheap smear campaigns must hold it right here. They do not say, ‘a plan hatched in hell has no angels as witnesses’ for nothing!
The PLE AGM soap opera continues on Saturday with all the leading casts – same place, same time.
Phew!

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