South Africa
awaits the decision from FIFA, as to whether or not indeed Ethiopia will be
deducted the points in which they accumulated whilst fielding an ineligible player
against Botswana. Even before such a decision has been made, on Monday 24 June
2013, news broke out that Ethiopia’s governing body had voted out Ashenafi
Ejigu the general secretary of their football federation. The sacking was as a
result of an oversight which might possibly cost Ethiopia her best chance to
compete at a World Cup.
For a football
federation, no matter how small, someone ought to have been responsible for such
normalities. That person it would appear was Ashenafi Ejigu. Without wasting
any money and time on a commission inquiry, decisive action was taken. A clear
sign of accountability from the organisation.
The actions of
the Ethiopia federation, took me back some two years ago when South Africa
failed to correctly interpret CAF qualification rules for the AFCON. Bafana
Bafana, just played for a draw whilst in fact they needed a win.
The country was left humiliated.
Instead of our
SAFA seating down so as to reflect and take actions against those responsible
for such flagrant failure to equip our national teams; those at the helm had
the nerve to come out and promise the nation that they would do all they could
to appeal the results. Well that is yesterday’s news.
What I really
wanted to touch on was the principle of accountability. I for one would like to
believe that where an organisation places focus on accountability, that
automatically leads to an increased level of credibility with the stakeholders
and a stronger governance structures. These are all attributes which I can
sadly say are lacking within our SAFA. The stakeholders, being the soccer
loving public have at times been taken for granted and as a result a huge chunk of faith
has been lost towards on football governing body.
With arguably
the most damaging rumours, that of match fixing involving members of our association,
until today we have yet to get anything concrete. Sweeping under the carpet
like we always have done. Hanging over SAFA's heads is now the probability of
mismanagement of funds from the FIFA legacy fund. Rumours are what it is at
this point in time. However, until such time someone steps up, the nation and
the world will not know what to believe.
Considering our
comprehensive financial prowess and world class facilities I for one would have
hoped that by now we would be one of the most efficient governed soccer federations
in the world. Clear money is not everything. One would hope
that we can learn a thing or two from small footballing nations like Ethiopia.
That is accountability is key for any legitimate governance!
I would like to
think not, that the state of our football is a mirror image of the state of our
nation. As much I would not want to believe so, one can’t help but be swayed to
think so. This is after all the same country where textbooks are not delivered
to schools while half the year has completed, and the person at the helm of the
responsible Department keeps her job unquestioned. This is my friends, our
South Africa, where private jets of ‘ordinary citizens’ land in military a
base, and still those at the helm keep their jobs.
We live in a
country that still praises the times Oliver Tambo, in terms of leadership,
which would in football terms be analogous to our constant praise of the class of
1996, without being able to produce leaders nor sports persons of the same
calibre. Our educational systems is in disarray, as a result many children’s
futures look bleak. How different is that from lack of proper academies to
develop future Benni MacCathys?
One would like
to live in South Africa, that is and stop living in South Africa that could be.
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