E1.5M ALLOWANCES FOR COSAFA EXEC

MBABANE – The Confederation of Southern African Football Association (COSAFA) will host its AGM on Saturday, under a cloud of E1.5 million spent on the Executive Committee allowances.

The country will be represented by the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) President Adam Bomber Mthethwa and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Frederick Mngomezulu, in the annual general meeting (AGM) to be held at the Southern Sun OR Tambo Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Perks

Member associations are said to be unhappy with the huge perks that the executive headed by Philip Chiyangwa received, amounting close to E1.5 million, while the organisation is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. EFA is partly a member of COSAFA.

Among other complaints are the honorarium payments, that it is above the prize money given to the team that wins the COSAFA senior men’s football tournament. Winners of the COSAFA senior men  flagship competition of the organisation, receive a paltry E500 000, while the runners-up get E250 000.
The financial details are contained in an audit report done by Baxters and Co, which were also carried by zimbabwe.shafaqna.com, which was circulated to member associations including EFA, ahead of the COSAFA AGM.

The audit shows that the executive members got E1 429 400 in allowances last year, a massive increment from the R857 064 they received in the previous year.

“And all that money was paid in a year the organisation posted a record loss. How do you justify paying one person allowances that are above the winning prize money for your main competition? It’s unacceptable. We will want that to be debated at the AGM. There will be fireworks this year and heads will certainly roll,” a president of one of the member associations wrote to News Day Sport last week. It is alleged that former COSAFA President, Patel Suket, who was deposed by Chiyangwa, left huge cash reserves of more than E13 million, which have since been reduced to E3.8 million.

It is alleged that some members of COSAFA are infuriated after realising that one of the items on the agenda was a proposal for an annual contribution by member associations to competition funds. “We will totally rebuff such. The executive wants the member associations to pay money so that they can get more perks. If they can avoid paying huge allowances and the so-called honorariums, they will be able to fund competitions easily. Eswatini COSAFA Competitions Chairman and a member of the executive, Timothy Shongwe, said they would wait for the AGM and see if the allowances issue is indeed an issue in the first place.

“Allowances are approved by the organisation and members and if there is a matter we will get to hear it on Saturday during the AGM,” he said.

Bid

The association last year unsuccessfully made a bid to recall Chiyangwa as the president of the 14-member regional body.
EFA Communications and Marketing Manager Muzi Radebe confirmed the president and the CEO will be representing the country’s football mother body in the AGM as they are members.

The Federations of International Football Associations (FIFA) through the FIFA Forward Programme is now the major funder of many COSAFA programmes in particular the youth tournaments.

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