The Sunday News
Phineas Mukwazo Talking Sport
SO the still respected Ernest “Maphepha’’ Sibanda is no longer a jolly good fella but an unrepentant crook who is out to incite an “ignorant’’ bunch of Highlanders followers to cause mayhem at the Highlanders AGM at the team’s clubhouse, this morning. Really?Lest we forget!
Maphepha, a former Highlanders player, was the Highlanders chairman in 2006 when the club last won the championship and it was during his tenure that Highlanders last beat Dynamos. Furthermore, it was during his time at the helm that Highlanders purchased a team bus.
We said “ignorant” because any sane person can conclude following Highlanders board chairman Mgcini Nkolomi’s insinuations that Maphepha was up to no good and was “inciting’’ them (members) by crying foul over the decision by the nomination court to bar him from contesting for the chairmanship ahead of next week’s elective meeting.
To incite is described as action of provoking unlawful behaviour or urging someone to behave unlawfully. The only thing unlawful in all this was Maphepha’s disqualification?
There is a common phrase which says those who live in glass houses should not throw stones, which means that people should not criticise others for faults that they have themselves.
Something smells rotten here.
It is there in the air, Maphepha’s disqualification has triggered deep-seated emotions from club members who say the whole process was flawed from the start.
Sibanda was disqualified leaving Peter Dube to retain the post unopposed.
In fact, questions are being asked why Maphepha and Corlsen Mabeza, both former players were disqualified, where others in similar positions before were given the thumbs up?
The electoral court, headed by the “usual suspect” Luke Mnkandla, said they had disqualified Sibanda under Article 10:6 of the constitution which reads: “The Nomination Court is empowered to receive nominations of candidates, to vet them, approve or disqualify any candidates and in doing so it shall be guided by the provisions of Article 9 of this constitution.”
Article 9 of the Highlanders constitution deals with the qualification for executive committee positions and has three sections. Article 9:1 — A prospective candidate for any position in the executive committee must be a current fully paid up member of the club who has been so for an uninterrupted period of at least 2 (two) years, immediately preceding his nomination.
Article 9:2 says: “Such prospective candidates for any position in the executive committee must not be an unrehabilitated insolvent and must not have been convicted in the 10 years immediately preceding his nomination of any crime involving dishonesty for which he has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment without the option of a fine or to a fine exceeding $50 000 or to both such fine and such imprisonment.”
10.8 The decision of the Nomination Court made in terms of this Article shall be final and shall be subject to no appeal.
Sibanda’s agent Archer Ncube said of the disqualification: “I do not know how I can put this, but his (Sibanda’s) disqualification must not bring disharmony to the club.
It must not bring disharmony despite the clumsy way in which it was handled. There are a lot of things which could have been avoided.”
True!
Before the Nomination Court’s decision to bar Maphepha, board secretary Jimmy Ncube had alluded to the fact that he (Maphepha) could contest for any post.
But prior to that precedent had been set and looking back, it is not the first time that a person has been sanctioned by the club.
During the time when Ndumiso Gumede (now Bosso CEO) ran the club, there were the likes of Lazarus Sibanda who admitted taking money ($1 700) from the club, Luke Mnkandla who allegedly ran the club down to insolvency, Odiel Nkomo whose $14 000 replica jerseys issue is yet to be solved to this day, Andrew Tapela who was suspended for four years by Zifa, but still came back at Highlanders, and Peter Dube, who still has to account for the $25 000 for the bus which he said he gave to Highlanders’ long-time benefactor Tshinga Dube.
All the above-mentioned people, we are told, were brought before the Highlanders members who pardoned them and the club moved on. None of them were ever sanctioned by a court of law. So was Maphepha, whose case was presented to Dumisani Sandi, then Highlanders board chairman, who acknowledged that the matter had been dealt with and was water under the bridge.
Nhlanhla Dube (former Highlanders secretary) brought it up again in 2009 when Themba Ndlela was voted into office and again the electorate was told that Sibanda had been pardoned by the board.
Now the pertinent question is: why was Maphepha’s nomination fee collected if he was not clean.
Ironically, Sibanda was sanctioned for issues that happened close to 10 years ago, while the person he was supposed to challenge, Dube is still to account for the $25 000 for the bus.
In fact we understand that Maphepha had to pay back $3 000 over the Tarumbwa issue not the $25 000 which has been constantly thrown around.
Ernest “Maphepha” Sibanda wants an explanation on his disqualification from the Highlanders chairmanship race and is demanding that club members, and not the board and Nomination Court, decide his fate at the annual general meeting today.
The fact that Maphepha was disqualified at the alleged behest of the board, the fact that Highlanders appointed their current coach allegedly under undue pressure from the board, the fact that a board chairman can call a Press conference, to berate a disqualified aspiring electoral candidate instead of the chair of the Nomination Court, points to an institution with two centres of power.
The Highlanders members at today’s AGM should rein in the board, which not so long ago, they had given the thumbs down.
Highlanders is known over the years as the most democratic football institution in this country. And that record appears to be in danger.
The ball is in the court of the bona fide Highlanders supporters to arrest the problem before it goes out of hand.
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