Confederation of African Athletics orders Chitembeya and company against making comments on behalf of Athletics Malawi

CAA-SR president Zakhele Dlamini (right) with Malawi Minister of Sports, Uchizi Mkandawire 

* After he told the media that government would be forced to spend over elections now taken over by World Athletics

* We are not aware of such arrangements, and we do not know where and how did the said Mr. Chitembeya entered into such agreement with the aforementioned organizations without our knowledge

By Duncan Mlanjira

Former general secretary for Athletics Malawi, Frank Chitembeya and the rest of the former Executive Committee that was dissolved by Malawi National Council of Sports, have been instructed “to desist from making any public statements regarding athletics in Malawi pending finalization of the leadership turmoil”.

The former committee was dissolved following leadership wrangles, mismanagement and overstaying their mandate, which was in breach of the association’s constitution that forced Sports Council to oust the members.

But, led by Chitembeya, the committee was adamant, describing Sports Council intervention as government interference.

As the infighting continued, Sports Council sought the guidance of World Athletics, which mandated Confederation of African Athletics Southern Region (CAA-SR) to visit Malawi on a fact-finding mission to resolve the infighting.

The delegation from CAA-SR, led by its president, Zakhele Dlamini from e-Swatini and general secretary Tselinso Pheta from Lesotho met Minister of Sports Uchizi Mkandawire, Sports Council, Malawi Olympic Committee and concerned athletics officials at Bingu International Convention Centre last week, where it was announced that World Athletics has taken over to organise elections of Athletics Malawi scheduled for November.

Dlamini is quoted by the media as saying: “There was a disagreement on who was to conduct these elections after the appointment of the caretaker committee by Sports Council.

“But as World Athletics, we are clear on our positions as regards to that. We had to intervene and take over the organisation of the polls.

“We have given ourselves responsibility to conduct these elections to have new office bearers before the end of November,” he is quoted as saying, adding that they will observe 21 days notice for candidate nominations.

The delegation also noted several anomalies that included adoption of three constitutions and Dlamini assured the public that they are “committed to resolve these agreements for the development of the sport”.

On his part, Minister Mkandawire is quaouted as saying the role played by Sports Council on behalf of government is to create a conducive environment to develop sports, saying.

He emphasized that “as government we stopped the elections to ensure that all concerned parties agree before we proceed and when we realized we were not making progress, we referred the matter back to World Athletics for guidance”.

Chitembeya then told The Nation newspaper on Tuesday, October 3 that “Malawi Government will bear costs of the elections and accommodation of the delegates while World Athletics will cover traveling costs for the team”.

And this riled Dlamini who wrote a letter the same day addressed to interim leadership of Athletics Malawi, distancing itself from Chitembeya assertion, saying: “We are not aware of such arrangements, and we do not know where and how did the said Mr. Chitembeya entered into such agreement with the aforementioned organizations without our knowledge.

“Such public statements may not sit well with some of our stakeholders and in the process jeopardize our efforts to resolve the Athletics Malawi leadership wrangle.

“In view of the above, the Executive Committee of Athletics Malawi is instructed to desist from making any public statements regarding athletics in Malawi pending finalization of the leadership turmoil.

“Your cooperation and understanding is appreciated in advance.”

In April, former Malawi Athletics president, Godfrey Phiri defied Sports Council by representing the association at launch of Standard Bank Be More Race when asked if he was allowed to represent the association, Sports Council Board chairperson Sunduzwayo Madise’s response was an emphatic “No!”

Phiri, alongside general secretary, Frank Chitembeya, were first banned in February “from taking part in, participating in and organizing any athletic events in the country” and later the ban was lifted after both apologised to the sports mother governing body for their misgivings.

However, Sports Council Board chairperson Sunduzwayo Madise had emphasized that the two did not retain their positions since an operation committee was constituted that is running AAM’s technical aspects which was “working on logistics for regional and national elections after the constitution was adopted”.

Sources within AAM has been complaining that the association’s leadership had overstayed and that they were completely ignoring  Sports Council, citing government interference as justification for their defiance.

Two years ago, AAM suspended Chitembeya on several grounds including abuse of office and a vote of no confidence in him that was passed by the body’s executive committee during a meeting held on March 13, 2021.

The grounds of the suspension included open defiance and blatant disregard to AAM working rules and regulations and its constitution and working unilaterally without consulting the executive committee on critical issues affecting the corporate integrity of the association.

He was also accused of usurping the role of technical committee on athletes selection to international events as well as refusing to harmonise world athletics list of activities funded by the world body and was ordered to surrender all documents to the association’s president upon receiving the letter.

An internal audit report for 2017-18, exposed financial mismanagement at the athletics body in which about K50 million was unaccounted for.

But Chitembeya still bounced back as the association was in the process of amending its constitution, who held back the document till the end of its deadline for submission to Sports Council — forcing the country’s sports governing body, mandated by the Laws of Malawi, to intervene.

Most associations had not been adhering to their own constitutional obligations igniting the Sports Council to formulate management guidelines way back in 2016 but had still not been followed to the book until the mother governing body revisited and finetuned them last year.

They include most importantly the association’s own constitutional obligations of holding annual general meetings (AGMs); presentation of audited accounts; strong governance (high academic qualifications, physical offices and terms of office); local and international competitions participation; paying subscription fees to Sports Council — among others.

The Council — which is mandated by the Laws of Malawi — ordered all associations to submit confirmations that they have held AGMs in the past 12 months or intend to do so by the end of the 2022-2023 financial year.

The governing body brought together all the associations to a meeting at Malawi Sun Hotel in Blantyre to review and discuss whether they have held their AGMs or produced audited accounts and have paid their subscription fees as well as to be appraised of challenges they are facing.

Madise said at the end of the meeting that they were pleased that the majority of the associations have positively embraced the management guidelines.

Most of the associations seemed not aware that the guidelines were formulated some seven years back — an indication that on successions, new executive members do not find reports and paperwork of previous policies made because they do not have secretariats to keep records.

Thus Madise asked the associations to always prepare reports from every meeting they attend and file them for future reference — thus Council’s firm stance that each should have a physical secretariat for record keeping and professional management.