PETER-ULES EFA!

EZULWINI – There is a new football sheriff in town.

His name is Peter ‘Samora’ Simelane, who yesterday at the Happy Valley Hotel during the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) presidential elections attained 33 votes to become the new president. Simelane, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SwaziMed, beat his competitors Mashumi Shongwe and Comfort Shongwe hands down. Mashumi Shongwe, who then got a seat as vice president, managed to get 15 votes while Comfort Shongwe had a terrible day in the office as he failed to record even a single vote in both the presidential and vice presidency election race. Simelane replaces long serving EFA president Adam ‘Bomber’ Mthethwa who officially stepped down on April 4 following his election as Eswatini Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association head honcho on March 7.

endorsed

Simelane had also led with five nominations ahead of the elective Ordinary General Assembly and indeed, this proved to be the case as 33 of the 48 delegates endorsed his name, which equated to a 68.7 per cent victory. The Ordinary General Assembly was overseen by CAF Executive Committee member Maclean Cortez Leshwiti, who is also President of the Botswana Football Association (BFA). From as early as 9:30am, as the delegates made it into the modest venue, they were confronted by the sight of picketing Hhohho FA teams who had tried to stop the election and lost with costs in the High Court on Friday. About six of them were stationed next to the venue entrance, carrying placards outlining their distaste for the state of football and calling for the delegates not to proceed with the election.

It was a mini climax to a day when football was to finally end Adam ‘Bomber’ Mthethwa’s combined 24 years grip on the country’s most popular sport. After the 14 agenda items had been covered, the most crucial moment came at 1:45pm when Chairman of the Ethics Committee Senior Magistrate Siphosini Dlamini took over proceedings, outlining how the elections would be conducted.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: