EFA AFFILIATES MUST WAKE UP, SMELL THE COFFEE

In a few months’ time, the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) will be going for the much-awaited elective annual general meeting (AGM). 

This is the same meeting where a new football leader is expected to be ushered into power. It is anticipated that incumbent president Adam ‘Bomber’ Mthethwa, the man regarded by many as a walking dictionary of local football, will finally cease power after a close to 30-year reign at the pinnacle of the local football leadership. 

This is after he accepted nomination for the Eswatini Olympics and Commonwealth Games Association (EOCGA) presidency and the elections for this position will be held in about two weeks’ time. If ‘Bomber’ wins this election race, he will be constitutionally compelled to relinquish the EFA presidency, providing opportunity for a new leader to take charge of the local game.  

Then the mind-boggling question is, who will replace him if he eventually leaves? EFA affiliates, who hold the ace with the crucial votes ahead of the elective AGM likely to be held between June and August, have made choices that brought football to where it is today. If they don’t like where the game is, then they must make choices that will take the game where they want it to go and this calls for them not to react but act.

develop football

They must keep in mind that the goal during an elective AGM must always be to develop football, not to impress others and they should never worry about those who talk behind their back because they are behind for a reason. Knowledge should make the affiliates unfit to be made football slaves.

The affiliates should not be afraid of being different this time around but should be wary of being the same. They should thrive to walk towards the light so that the shady dealings we hear about when it is elections time in local football fall behind. They should not repeat the same mistakes.

In life generally, when you talk, you are only repeating what you already know but if you listen, you may learn something new. We must never give up on local football because there are always tough times, regardless of what you do in anything in life. The important thing is to be able to push through those times and maintain the goal. 

After all, success is not overnight but it is when everyday you get a little better than the day before. You never grow when things are easy but you grow when they are difficult.  We cannot dream about professionalising the local game especially if corruption is the working capital. 

My sincere message to the affiliates is that when the past calls, they must not answer because it has nothing new to say and this will require them to step out of their comfort zone.  The new EFA president must be a leader who will make football people see the sun where they once saw clouds. The EFA delegates must let the past be their lesson, the present their gift and the future their motivation. 

stronger mortar

During elections of this nature, there is usually no stronger mortar between individuals than honesty. It is unfortunate that when votes have been bought ahead of elections, it becomes difficult even for a bee to convince a fly that pollen is better than rubbish because the fly would not understand. 

Life will not allow the affiliates to go back and fix what they did wrong in the past, but the next AGM provides them with the opportunity to make things right. After all, they have complete control over their minds, and they have power to feed it whatever thought impulses they choose. They should use this power constructively to achieve prosperity during that important general assembly. 

Build-up to elections is usually characterised by gossip, but this dies when it hits a wise person’s ear.  Being honest does not normally get you a lot of friends but it will always get you the right ones. Honesty is therefore important for the affiliates as they decide who to vote for EFA presidency and they should know that the only impossible journey is the one we never begin. 

likes to talk

For me, if a leader does not match his actions with his words, then he is not a leader but just a man who likes to talk. Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody is going to know whether you did it or not.

Let us not forget that the administrators who are considered as oppressor in local football would not be so strong if they did not have accomplices among the oppressed. The truth is what has been happening in local football over the years has not been different from watering a dead flower. 

The EFA affiliates have a moral responsibility to disobey unjust football laws especially those inspired by personal interests. They must be very careful who they trust in the build up to the elections because salt and sugar look the same sometimes. 

The wise will always say that the first method for estimating the intelligence of a leader is to look at the men he has around him. If he is surrounded by bootlickers or rubber-stamps, then you cannot expect to see progress.

compliments

A good leader must also accept both compliments and criticism because it takes both sun and rain for a flower to grow. The affiliates have been assigned this mountain (changing EFA leadership) to prove that it can be moved. They should not vote for financial gain but to transform the local football administration at the highest level. It is unfortunate that history has taught us that in local football, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The next time, I will take a closer look at the individual candidates for the EFA presidential seat.

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