Times Of Swaziland: GOVT REJECTS  PLE MEETING REQUEST

GOVT REJECTS  PLE MEETING REQUEST
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 BY SABELO NDZINISA on 29/05/2020 13:14:00


MBABANE – The request by the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) to be granted
permission to hold a special meeting, has been rejected by Government through
the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs.
The PLE requested the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) to seek the permission
of the country’s authorities to hold this meeting that constitutionally should
have taken place by now, as per the petition delivered to the PLE executive
committee, some days ago by the Board of Governors.
The PLE executive had 14 days to convene this meeting and the deadline was on
Monday, but the latest developments mean that the organisation will now have to
look at other alternative means to hold the meeting.
Information gathered by this publication is that government has made it clear
that the PLE will not be allowed to hold a meeting of more than 20 people, as
stipulated in the COVID-19 rules and regulations.
However, this does not mean the PLE cannot hold the meeting if the numbers are
less than the 20.
The PLE executive committee members were informed of government’s stance
during a meeting yesterday at the EFA Technical Centre in Lobamba.
Worth noting is that EFA President Adam ‘Bomber’ Mthethwa paid a courtesy
call to this meeting and was given the chance to address the members present on
issues affecting football in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to informed sources, the president gave an assurance to the PLE
executive that elite league teams will be given the chance to make their
contributions on how best they feel the situation surrounding the virus can be
handled.
meeting
Apparently, the meeting started at 11am and finished at around 4pm.
“Following government’s decision, the executive committee explored other
options of holding this meeting and in the end, it was agreed that since we have
26 members of the PLE, the meeting can be broken into two groups of 13 members.
“These are means to ensure that we meet the 20 people allowed to gather by
government,” the source revealed.
PLE Chief Operations Officer (COO) Pat Vilakati was contacted for comment but
his cellphone rang unanswered last night.