MAXWELL SCOOPS TOP SADC TENNIS POST

MBABANE – History was made by Eswatini this past weekend during the AGM- Conference and Election for the Confederation of African Tennis in Madagascar.

Eswatini was voted the SADC, Regional Tennis Association Secretary General which falls under Zone 5 in the continent.
By virtue of being the president of the local association, ENTA, Maxwell Jele assumes the role of being Zone 5 Secretary General.  

ENTA Secretary Nqaba Mkhaliphi said there were 31 countries that attended the conference from all parts of the continent.
“As we are divided into Zones, Eswatini is in Zone 5 -SADC. We first had zonal meetings on Friday afternoon which ended very late. Saturday was the conference followed by election for all the zones. Tarak Cherif retained the Presidency of Tennis in Africa,” said Mkhaliphi.

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He added that the Zone 5 elections were so interesting such that Eswatini was carrying hopes of the two countries, Botswana and Mauritius, who were candidates for the hot seat of being President of Region 5.

“When the votes were counted, the house went quiet as if there was no one in the house except the one shouting the votes. When the votes were 3:3, it was a deal breaker as both countries did not know who Eswatini would vote for,” he said.

Mkhaliphi and Jele considered a lot of factors before voting. “We decided to vote for Botswana and the reasons being that they invite us in their big tournaments such as the Botswana Open, our juniors frequent in Botswana AJC tournament and The Region 5 tennis development office originates from Botswana so they have contributed a lot in our tennis development programme technically and otherwise, they are an English speaking country as opposed to Mauritius who are French. Mauritius was then voted for vice president,” he said.

Botswana’s Nelson Amanze was then voted the Zone 5 president.
Mkhaliphi also disclosed that when they left the country on Thursday, they had no intention of contesting in the election because they always voted for their big brothers.
“We contested to be secretary general in the region and we made it. As an association we are very grateful for this achievement as we made history in tennis. The president of the association will be the one handling the new Region 5 position on our behalf,” he said. On other note, Mkhaliphi and Jele had a brief meeting with Botswana on their way back home and in less than two months, they (Botswana) will visit Eswatini and then sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) as it recently happened with Mozambique.

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