Africa-Press – Eswatini. In an unprecedented move, there seems to be an element of instability within the Athletics Eswatini family.
The turmoil between the association’s President Zakhele Dlamini and club members has heated up, resulting in the resignation of Vice President Sipho Vilakati together with Sanele Manana, who was responsible for gender equity and Dr Zabenguni Mkhatshwa, who was an additional member of the executive.
The resignations mean only the president and Treasurer Bongani Ntjalintjali remain in the current executive of AE.
The resignation of part of the Board members came as a solution according to club members, who were present last week during the Annual General Meeting.
The meeting was cut short by the president, who cited that members were simply out of order, as they wanted the meeting to proceed according to their desired agenda instead of the constitutionally-stipulated one. He said he was forced as chairman of the meeting to halt it.
The decision by Dlamini did not go down well with members, which is where they opted for the other Board members to resign from the executive, leaving Dlamini with no powers to do much as he and the only remaining member, who is Ntjalintjali, won’t be eligible to make any decisions since they didn’t form a quorum.
They mentioned that as per the constitution, they were allowed to appoint an interim committee which will elect a new board and get rid of the President Zakhele Dlamini-led Board.
It was also reported that the members, through legendary athlete Gideon Mthembu and Eward Ndlangamandla, took a step further and wrote a letter to the World Athletics(WA), asking for their intervention in the matter.
Says part of the letter, “Subsequently, the president without a board resolution, instituted frivolous charges against a Muzi Mabuza, our national coach and his club Manzini Athletics Club. “The charges were all trumped up and an unlawful disciplinary committee was put in place to deal with Mabuza.
This victimisation was unnecessary. In this case, there was some kangaroo disciplinary court where Mabuza was subjected to. The president has further taken the same Mabuza to the High Court of Eswatini to enforce a ban on him as he tried to validate the ruling of his unlawful disciplinary committee.
This even precipitates matters as Mabuza is being victimised for sponsoring the first two petitions. “As we speak, the club and Mabuza are suspended for a period of five years or they pay astronomical fines never been heard of.
As further evidence of underhanded tactics, Zakhele obtained an interdict court order against Mabuza and his club to ban them from athletics in the country for five years.
Mabuza has since reported these shenanigans to the Integrity Unit for considerations, but has not received any feedback yet. As membership of Athletics Eswatini, we cannot allow anybody to abuse the office of the presidency in this manner. We have sought to ratify these bad decisions at our AGM.
“When the leadership then called for an ordinary AGM which occurred on March 16, 2024, we thought this was a window opportunity to address these issues. This was not able to take off because he blocked anything that was related. The membership pointed out to the fact they needed to address all the issues related to the Extra-ordinary Special Assembly petitions and the victimisations.”
Athletics Eswatini Public Relations Officer Victor ‘Mavikane’ Dlamini couldn’t be reached for comment by the time of compiling this report.
For More News And Analysis About Eswatini Follow Africa-Press
