. Kalenga

By YVONNE SAKALA –

THE Sports Council of Zambia (SCZ) has directed all its affiliates to hold their annual general meeting (AGM) by April monthend failure to which punitive action would be taken.

SCZ chairperson Mwamba Kalenga said at a press briefing held at the National Sports Development Centre (NASDEC) in Lusaka yesterday that all the associations should hold their AGM by April 30 failure to which the council will take necessary punitive measures.

Kalenga said as the supreme body mandated to govern sports in the country, the SCZ would not relent in seeing to it that associations held their AGM in good time, adding that it was important for affiliates to appreciate the need to hold general meetings.

He said associations that would fail to hold meetings within the first quarter of the year without valid reasons would be deemed to be in bad standing with the SCZ and their activities would be considered illegitimate.

Kalenga, however, urged the affiliates to put their houses in order to avoid wasting time during the meetings and that all executive committees should ensure that their reports where in place to render successful meetings.

“Our main concern recently as the council has been that our affiliates are not aligning themselves to the Sports Council policy of 2012 as outlined by the Ministry of Sport which entails the formation and promotion of new member clubs,” Kalenga said.

Kalenga also warned that the SCZ would not entertain the tendency by some associations to suspend and ban members prior to them holding elections. He said associations should offer a level playing field to all its members to contest any position they wanted.

“This tendency of suspending innocent members as result of pending elections will not be condoned by the council and any under hand methods brought to our attention by electorate will render such elections null and void until investigations are concluded,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kalenga said the SCZ has extended the period for associations to pay their affiliation fees by a month after only 16 out of the 42 associations managed to fully pay their debts.

He said the council was supposed to hold the AGM next month, but could not do so because half of its affiliated members had not paid their affiliation to the council.

“We have given associations that have not paid the affiliation fees up to April 30,only 16 associations paid out of the 42 registered members, so we have extended to give them time to source for funds pay their arrears,” he said.

Among the associations that have paid their affiliation fees include Zambia Amateur Swimming Union (ZASU), Zambia Volleyball Association (ZAVA), Cycling Association of Zambia (CAZ), Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) and Zambia Amateur Athletics Association (ZAAA).

Others are the Zambia Judo Association (ZJA), Zambia Ladies Golf Union, Zambia Tennis Association (ZTA), Zambia Sports Fishing Association (ZSFA), Scrabble Association of Zambia (SAZ), Zambia National Equestrian Federation (ZNEF), Zambia Polo Association (ZPA), Zambia Motor Sports Association (ZMSA), Zambia Polo Cross Association and the Zambia Cricket Union (ZCU).