The Executive Committee had its ordinary meeting on the 19th of September 2021 at Mbolekwa Ground. This meeting was a postponed one since the originally scheduled meeting on the 12th of September did not materialise due to quorum not being met. During that meeting, the Chairperson, Vice-Secretary, Head of Football and Vice-Chairperson: Operations were present. The Vice-Chairperson: Membership and Governance was excused as she was on duty as the Fourth Official for a PSL Match at Makhulong Stadium.
It must be noted though that in the past, the Executive Committee meetings had taken the shape of being a talk shop. To correct this, we have been preoccupied with moving away from the talk shop mentality to that of an effective unit with performing individuals. This has however proven to be difficult. To date, there are still a number of actions from the March, April, May, June and July Meetings that have still not been attended to. This really diminishes the value from the Executive Committee and derails the association from realising its vision and values.
The Chairperson continues to urge members of the Executive Committee to invest themselves in being and remain members of the committee, otherwise if their value does not become apparent, they should cease to be part of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee is not a political structure, but rather a working body that drivers progress within the association.
This is still work in progress.
Performance Review, Recommendations and Decisions
The Executive Committee reviewed the performance of all the members through the Chairperson’s Executive Report. There are unfortunately some members whose performance is found to be below the acceptable threshold. Their performance either did not improve at this level from the previous review period, or has declined to below the acceptable performance threshold. The committee decided that, in the spirit of the Performance Management Framework, such members be given an opportunity to give reasons why they should not be dismissed, and at the same time provide their proposed remedial plans for improvement of their performance. They must do so in 14 days from the day of the meeting.
The committee also found that in the portfolios of the new members (appointed this year) there is a slight decline in performance. Such a decline requires an induction type of an intervention. The Secretary will set up an induction workshop with these new members, including those who are recently co-opted (reported here-below). The purpose of the induction is to ensure that new members understand what their role is within the current context, and to assist them by creating an environment that will enable them to improve in their performance for the benefit of the association at large.
All members must submit monthly reports, prioritise and attend Executive Committee meetings, and action their tasks within the stipulated timeframes.
Women Football
The Executive Committee has appointed Ms Francinah Lebelo as the Women Football Executive with immediate effect. Ms Lebelo is tasked with researching best ways to start and sustain women football at township-based LFAs, plan the implementation of the ladies leagues, and lead the commencement of Women Football within PLFA. We urge all Members of the association to support her in her new role. Her success is our success and vice versa.
Referees Structure
Mr. Magezi Honwani has as the Head of Referees with immediate effect. We urge all Members of the association to support her in her new role. Her success is our success and vice versa.
We will be hard to ensure that there is stability in the Referees department, and that no fixture goes without being officiated by the appointed Match Official. We trust that the appointment of Mr. Honwani will assist us greatly on that score.
The Soncini Games
The Soncini Games remain indefinately postponed. However both the Technical & Development Executive (Mr. Godfrey Mahlatse) and the Women Football Executive (Ms. Francina Lebelo) are urged to keep the readiness momentum going. Training must continue to take place. The list of players must also continue to be maintained. Members are urged to support the initiatives.
The Milo Event
The Association will in connection with Nestle Milo conduct intense match ups for the Under 11 and Under 13 leagues at the Masopha Grounds on the 24th, 25th and 26th of September 2021. All Members must arrange that parents of these players also attend the matches and to interact with Nestle Milo. Strict COVID-19 safety protocol will be adhered to on the days. During the week there will be a series of communications with more details on how the activities will unfold, including the fixtures.
The Milo Event will not by itself be a competition. It will be the continuation of the leagues, and will see clubs playing in all these days, covering the match days of three weeks. This form of intensity is aimed at creating excitement, engaging the players during the period, getting to interact with parents more, and closing the league gap. Members are therefore urged to support this initiative with all they have.
Affiliation Process
New Members are to be advised to get the Affiliation Process on the home page of the PLFA website (https://plfa.org.za). There they will also get the Registration Fees. On the affiliation process there is a link that will lead them to the Affiliation Form. Once the Affiliation form is completed, the association will send them the invoice in accordance with the teams they will register as in the Affiliation Form.
Members who have already affiliated for 2021 need not affiliate again. This link is only for new Members. However, to be eligable to play for the Super League, they will be sent the Estimates (Quotes) for the registration. Once accepted, they will be invoiced and they need to pay the Registration Fees as instructed.
Affiliation Fee for new Members is R500.00. They will also be requested to pay an affiliation fee of R750.00 next year (2021) along with all existing and the then new Members.
Please share this information with the potential Members.
Super League Kick Off
Super League will kick-off on the 15th of October 2021. Prior to this there will be a Workshop held on the 10th of October 2021. More information about the workshop will be communicated. Part of the workshop will be to induct new Members, and largely to align with all Members on the direction of the association.
Registration Fees
The Executive Committee reflected on the creation of the multi-tiered streams and has once again given support for the progressive transformation. The committee also reflected on the Registration Fees and concluded that these can be made better by sponsorships.
A Sponsorship that spans for a number of year will gaurantee the dropping of Registration Fees for those number of years. Efforts to get Sponsorhips will be intensified. However the committee does appeal to Members to advise of anyone who can play the marketing role for the association as this requires a specialised skillset.
Be that as it may, the committee also reflected on the realities of club funding, and that it is completely wrong for club owners to run their clubs from their pockets, especially for junior football clubs. Club funding is the solution for the rising costs of football in all types of societies. The point that we live in poor communicaties, and therefore players join clubs for free, is no longer a valid argument. If comparison is made between PLFA and FAP or any other LFA, the difference should rather be the difference between what FAP players pay for registration fee, and what PLFA players pay for registration fee. It must not be that FAP players pay for registration fee and PLFA players dont.
Registration need to be set by clubs, but must be made as affordable as possible. In addition, communication between clubs and parents should be constent and transparent. Therefore, clubs must be responsible by ensuring that there is sufficient cashflow througout the year so that they do not ever get to be suspended because of obligations (debts).
Clubs are therefore urged to think about this transformation for funding their clubs. The Vice Chairperson: Membership and Giovernance will schedule meetings between the Executive Committee, Club Management and Parents per club.
Clarification About the Maintenance of the Grounds
There may have been communication that home teams must line the grounds. This information is not accurate and must be clarified.
All the grounds that belong to the municipality must be lined by the association, not the clubs. These are: Mbolekwa, Masopha and Matxshiga. Work still needs to be done to clarify the Makhaza situation as there seems to be a community claim to the ground.
Clubs that choose to use Non-municipal grounds as their home grounds will be required to line those grounds at their cost. However, this too the association must take over at some point, especially where there is no community claim to the ground.
Preparation of the ground is the role of the Vice Chairperson: Operations. He must be contacted about anything that has to do with the grounds, whether those are municipal owned or not.
Meetings with the Legends, Masters and Higher League Members
The Executive Committee has attempted a number of times to have a meeting with the Legends, Masters and the Higher League Members to no avail. There currently is a alignment gap between the Executive Committee and these Members and the meetings seek to start with the closing of that gap.
Legends, Masters and Higher League Members must realise that they too are the Members of the association, and they need to adhere to the requests of the association just like all the other Members. It does goes without saying that the levels of engagement are different and there needs to be a little of advocacy from both sides to sustain the relationship. As we make another attempt for the meeting to take place, we urge these Members to oblige.
We also need to work on the closing of the gap between these senior Members and the developmental Members so that there can be a greater benefit to football development and promotion as a whole.
Campaigning for the Elective Congress
There is in issue of premature electoral campaigning that is currently underway, which is already starting to create significant damage to the cohesion, unity and the operation of the Executive Committee. Whilst campaigning is a democratic right of the Members, it must be done in a responsible manner only after the electoral process has been opened.
We therefore appeal to all Members to desist from such campaigning and publishing of slates, but rather get involved in solving the problems of the association and demonstrate their value. Let the current set of leaders continue to perform their duties without being made that they are not wanted.
Also, leaders do not nominate themselves, but they get nominated by the Members through correct processes and when the time is right.
When the time is right, the association will open the electoral process by pronouncing the process of nominations to be open. At that time, a nomination process will be published and forms made available, preferably electronically. During that time, we trust that the Members will do the responsible thing by nominating people with the requisite skills and who are willing to put themselves into the organisation and continue with the preservation of its progress made so far, and even make more improvements.
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