SRC board holds first 2016 meeting

Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
THE Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) board will hold their first meeting of the year this weekend where disciplinary cases involving various sports associations will top the agenda.

The country’s supreme sports body last year summoned 10 national sports associations to answer charges of failure to comply with provisions of the SRC Act, chiefly section 29 (8) and (9), which require the national sports associations to submit their audited financial statements and activity reports to the SRC.

Commission spokesperson Tirivashe Nheweyembwa confirmed the board meeting to be chaired by long-serving commissioner Edward Siwela, who has been acting since the shock resignation in early 2014 of Bulawayo lawyer Joseph James, now late.

Seven associations have already appeared before the disciplinary committee.

“The process (disciplinary hearings) had not yet been completed as of December last year. However, the SRC board is meeting this week and the hope is that they will deliberate on the findings of the disciplinary committee,” said Nheweyembwa.

Commissioner Aisha Tsimba chaired the disciplinary hearings and was assisted by fellow commissioners Dave Ellman-Brown and Miriam Mushayi.

“Disciplinary measures against the national sport associations are a last resort having engaged them without success. Going forward, the SRC will continue to enforce compliance with the SRC Act as a way of encouraging good corporate governance,” said Nheweyembwa.

“One of the key challenges that our sport is facing is lack of investment. This is as a result of poor corporate governance, among other reasons. We therefore implore the leadership of the national sport associations to comply with their own constitutions and the provisions of the SRC Act so that they may attract meaningful investment in their sport codes.”

He said the action was taken to ensure that sport is transformed and well run for the purposes of making it a key economic driver. This, he said, would only be possible if it adheres to good tenets of corporate governance.

However, the SRC board has come under attack from some sections of the populace who view its members as paper tigers for failing to deal with errant associations promptly.

This week’s meeting could be the last for members of the SRC board as their term of office constitutionally comes to an end next month, unless the Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhosini Hlongwane re-appoints them.