The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube Sports Correspondent
HIGHLANDERS’ former vice-chairman Sikhanyiso Moyo has urged the club’s members to guard against being blinded by emotions when it came to sensitive issues.
Moyo said some of the football club’s members were being driven by a misconception that the chairman had the sole discretion of choosing a coach when in effect it is a collective decision made by the executive committee in consultation with the board.
He said he was dismayed by members who were agitating for an extra-ordinary annual general meeting to force the change of the AGM date from end of January to the end of this month, which could lead to elections being held before the end of the year.
Moyo, who was vice-chairman from 2010 to 2013, said there was no crisis at Highlanders and the club only suffered the misfortune of performing poorly in the second half of the season but added finishing mid-table in the Premier Soccer League was nothing new.
“There is a misconception among members that we have to vote in a new chairman who will be responsible for the appointment of a substantial coach, but what people do not know is that the chairman can’t make his personal choice of a coach without consulting other members of the executive and the board.
“I was the vice-chairman and I know that decisions are arrived at through a majority vote and all members of the executive have equal votes. For example in the current situation if three members of the executive want Beefy (Philani Ncube) to take over as coach but the chairman, Peter Dube and one other member want Mkhuphali Masuku then it is Ncube who will be hired after consultation with the board.
“It is not a personal decision that the chairman makes alone but a collective one because that is what the Highlanders constitution stipulates,” he said.
Moyo said during his tenure with Ndlela as chairman, they had made a decision to make Amin Soma Phiri the senior team’s assistant coach as the executive but the board said he would serve the team well as manager leading to Soma-Phiri being given that post.
He said the board urged them to give the position of assistant coach to young former Bosso players hence the decision to hire Bekithemba Ndlovu as Kelvin Kaindu’s subordinate.
“I still think it is ridiculous that the term of the chairman should be aligned with a coach. It is ridiculous for people to think that a coach hired by one chairman will not have a good working relationship with another chairman. If at any company a new manager is hired should he fire staff and bring in his own workers whom he relates to well? Can’t a chairman and coach build a good relationship on the understanding that they are pursuing the same objectives in relation to the club’s success?
“When Dube came into office, we had hired Kaindu and he worked with him and went on to renew his contract again. If, as some say, they were not in good books why did Dube renew Kaindu’s mandate at the club? We need to think deeply about certain issues before reaching certain conclusions,” said Moyo.
He added that Dube and his executive had every right to appoint a substantive coach before the beginning of 2015 as their term is still in force and failure to do so would be dereliction of duty.
Moyo tore into the idea of changing the constitution because of the appointment of a coach saying altering the club’s charter can be initiated at an ordinary AGM.
“I think the backers of this petition have a sinister motive because why is there a sudden rush and interest to call for elections why didn’t they think of this long back? Maybe they want positions that is why they are calling for an immediate AGM that will be followed by elections, where they hope the current executive will be booted out,” he said. wades
Meanwhile, the bid to have the Club hold its AGM at the end of this month is gaining momentum amid reports that 70 members have signed the petition which seeks to amend Section 16 of the constitution.
