PLFA Congress Done, Down to the Business of Football

The PLFA’s 2020 Ordinary Congress is now water under the bridge. We are busy with the complete closure of this event, resultant actions including the compilation of the following:

1. Minutes of the Congress, which must be shared with the Members within 30 days of holding the Congress; and
2. Complete Annual Report with the Congress reports to be shared with the Department of Social Development, SARS, SAFA Tshwane and Members.

Attendance and Compliance

It goes without saying that we thank the very few members who went out of their way to ensure compliance with all the Membership requirements, and be present at the Congress to make the Congress a success. Without this effort, the Congress would not have succeeded. We say this at the backdrop of prevalent and growing non-compliance from many members of the association.

The Congress was attended by 10 “Active” Members, and among them, 5 “In Good Standing” Members. This is against 30 Members, 9 of which and 4 of which was dormant. See the Dashboard here-below:

Suspension of Members

Members who owed the association and did not remediate their Membership obligations on that aspect were confirmed as Suspended by the Congress. These Members have been given up to the 29th of February to remediate their debt, and failure to do so they will be automatically expelled. These members are:

• Bakwena Football Club;
• Blackburn Rovers Club;
• Brazzaville Football Club (3rd Vice Chairperson);
• Deep Six Football Club (3rd Vice Chairperson);
• EC Manchester Football Club (3rd Vice Chairperson);
• Happy Fighters Football Club (3rd Vice Chairperson);
• Moroka Swallows Football Club (3rd Vice Chairperson);
• North Gauteng Football Club (3rd Vice Chairperson);
• Shinning Stars Football Club (3rd Vice Chairperson);
• SSS United Football Club (3rd Vice Chairperson);
• The Young Levites Football Club (3rd Vice Chairperson);

Note that amongst the above list Members, two Members needed to still be officially admitted as Members still during this Congress as they joined after the previous Congress. They also appear on the list of the Admitted Members.

Expulsion of Members

The Congress expelled two Members, that is Blue FC Eagles and Mamelodi Sundowns FC due to being dormant and not showing signs of needing to reactivate their participation. Two more members who are dormant are FC PUBS, who last play in the middle of the year last year at the SAB League and since sold their status of FC Ma-Lions, and Young Gunners FC who have since shown an interest to reactivate their participation.

Dismissal of Bodies / Person(s)

The dismal of two Executive Committee Members by the Executive Committee was confirmed by the Congress. These Office-Bearers were dismissed due to their performance impacting the running of the association. These Office Bearers were Jabu Maselela who used to be Head of Football, and Ricard Sithole who used to be the Treasurer.

To close the gap, the Executive Committee had co-opted Bushy Makgopa to look after the Football operations, and Sizwe Nkosi to look after the Treasury function. Bushy used to be Head of Referees. He needed to vacate that role, and Kelebogile Lefhiedi was put in charge to caretake the Referees whilst still performing her role as Vice-Chairperson: Membership and Governance. Sizwe Nkosi continues to be the Chairperson of the Association.

At the time of the Congress, the Executive Committee had found a suitable person to take over the Treasury function, but he has since recused himself due to other commitments. Therefore Sizwe Nkosi continues to caretake this function.

Adoption of the Minutes and the Reports

The Congress adopted the previous minutes, Annual Report, Financial Reports, and Audited Financial statements as is.

Appointment of Auditors

Nameng Inc Chartered Accountants, who have been auditing the books of the association since 2014 have been appointed yet again for another two years. This means they will audit the books of the association for the 2020 and 2021 financial years. Nameng Inc has accepted the appointment.

Budget Approval

Financial Projections with the projected income of R355,480.00 and the projected expenses of R320,057.80. This is more than the current income and expenditure by a little more than one fold.

The Executive Committee has committed itself that it will go out an find that money to fund the many developmental programmes planned for. However, within these projections are the review of some of the fees charged to Members and other stakeholders for different services and privileges. These include, but not limited to:

1. The use of Mbolwekwa Ground as a Home Ground to some teams;
2. The use of Mbolekwa Ground as a Training Facility for some of the teams;
3. Competition Levies and Referees Fees for Competitions;
4. Interest Charge on overdue Payments;
5. Player Registration beyond quantity 25 per team;
6. Transfer of Active Players within the Season; etc

These changes will be workshopped with the Members, Stakeholders and the Municipality in March as part of the Implementation.

Amendment of the Constitution

The Congress approved the amendment of the Constitution to allow the Executive Committee to co-opt members thereto and for such members to serve until the end of the term of the sitting Executive Committee.

Before this amendment, the Constitution required that vacated positions must go for elections at the next Ordinary Congress, including positions where replacement members have been co-opted. This means that if a member is co-opted during the year, at the Ordinary Congress they vacant the post again to allow for the elections into that very post.

The Executive Committee deemed this provision too cumbersome and counter productive. The progress posture on this activity was then proposed to the Congress, and the Congress approved accordingly.

Approval of this amendment effectively meant that there needed to be no elections for the vacated positions, and those who have been co-opted will serve in those position until the end of the term of the current Executive Committee (or until a vacancy is created).

Affected by this amendment are:

1. Zakhele Ntuli – Secretary;
2. Bushy Makgopa – Head of Football;
3. Godfrey Mahlatsi – Head of Coaches;
4. Sifiso Mokale – Treasurer (has since vacated to position).

There are still vacant positions at the Executive Committee, and these are:

1. Vice-Chairperson: Commercial and Marketing (a candidate is found and is being engaged);
2. Treasurer;
3. Head of Referees; and
4. Associate Member Representative;

People who are interested are urged to contact the Chairperson. There is no preference expect for the ability to perform the duties aligned to the respective roles and commitment. Chairperson’s email address is sizwe.nkosi@plfa.org.za.

New Football Competitions Policy

The Executive Committee proposed the adoption of the new Football Competitions Committee, which was duly approved by the Congress.

This policy will provide the framework of who gets to host competitions within the PLFA’s jurisdiction, how they are engaged, mandatory requirements, and commercial requirements. This policy will be duly published on our websites, and all applicants for competition hosting will have to familiarise themselves with the policy prior requesting permission to host.

The Leagues and Competitions Committee, potential Football Partners, Municipality and other relevant stakeholders will be workshopped on the policy to ensure that they support the implementation and the enforcement thereof.

The purpose of the policy is to ensure the following:

1. Compliance with SAFA Statutes in the promotion of association football;
2. Effective Control of the jurisdiction in controlling the filter of hosts and participants; and
3. Initiatives to give back to the continual development of football in Phelindaba;

The policy is effective immediately.

Registration as NPOs, NPCs and Legal Entities

A proposal was presented by Pretoria Cardinal to have all Members registered as Non-Profit Organisations, Non-Profit Companies and other relevant Legal Entities. The Congress approved the proposal.

This registration will be added in the Constitution as well as in the Administration and Communications Policy as one of the Membership Compliance requirements. A Circular to implement this will be released between March and April will all the steps to be followed by the association and by its Members.

The rationale of the registration is quiet simple. Football Club deal with public money and need to be affixed to an accounting mechanism. Registering as an entity ensures that there is that accountability towards government. This is however a secondary requirements.

The primary requirement is to ensure that at the very basic level they are eligible for funding from various channels, including grants, donations, sponsorships etc. This is definitely a step forward for football.

Disciplinary Capacity

The Congress approved that the Executive Committee use the Disciplinary Hearing capacity from other LFAs. This after the association failed dismally to manage the disciplinary issues of the previous year mainly due to unavailability of the appointed Chairpersons of the hearings.

The Executive Committee can approach LFAs directly to seek assistance following this approval, but to seek to streamline the process by laiasing with SAFA Tshwane to also create a repository of DC Chairpersons of the LFAs which they can facilitate for use by PLFA from time to time. This will assist with unpredictability in terms of who will chair any hearing at any point in time, increasing credibility of the process.

The Executive Committee wants to reduce the Corrective Action Request processes to 60 days (with ruling and sanction).

Elections of new EXCO Members

The Elections of new Executive Committee members did not take place due to the approved Constitutional amendment to allow the Executive Committee to co-opt members who will serve until the end of term of the sitting Executive Committee. The co-opted members remain in their positions.

Admission of Members

The Congress approved the admission of the following Members:

1. Football Club Ma-Lions;
2. North Gauteng Football Club;
3. The Bees Football Club;
4. The Young Levites Football Club;
5. Umkhonto United Brothers Football Club;
6. Relebogile Development Club; and
7. Fighters Football Club

Arcadia Eagles Football Club was not admitted because the questions that the Congress had could not be answered, plus, the representatives thereof were not present. The Executive Committee will engage within this club to map the way forward.

You will remember that two of the above Members were are also on suspension, these being North Gauteng Football Club and The Young Levites Football Club. The reasons are mentioned in the earlier part of this report.

Way Forward

• Members who are suspended are being engaged to remediate their omissions;
• Members who are not in GOOD Standing are being engaged to complete their compliance requirements;
• Members who absented themselves are being issued with Corrective Action Requests to answer for blatant absenteeism to such an important meeting;
• Year End Reports are being prepared for the Members and Stakeholders of the association, including the Department of Social Development, SARS, SAFA Tshwane, etc;
• Workshops are being planned for the implementation of policies and provide orientation to new Members;
• SAFA Tshwane will be engaged on the Peer (LFA) Disciplinary Capacity Sharing Mechanism (in the meantime engage LFAs directly to deal with the disciplinary backlog);
• Already started with the Find That Money Programme – to seek funding for the operations and programme of the association.

For enquiries, email info@plfa.org.za or call Secretary on 082 309-2523.

Sizwe Nkosi (Chairperson)

END