THE Bible teaches us on the need to obey those in authority.
Hebrews 13:17 states that: “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. “
This means we all should be submissive to the governing authorities. However, there are others in our society who prefers to go against such clear biblical teachings.
Unfortunately, such misdemeanours have not spared the world of sport.
Some time back, the Sports Council of Zambia (SCZ), the body that runs sport in the nation on behalf of Government, directed all its affiliates to hold their annual general meetings (AGMs) by March 31.
The majority of the affiliates obeyed the instructions from the sport’s governing body and held their respective AGMs within the stipulated period.
But shockingly some of the SCZ member affiliates failed to keep the promise and for whatever reasons decided not to convene the council meetings.
The annual council meetings are critical in shaping the destiny for all sporting disciplines as the councillor’s brainstorm and share ideas on how best to develop sport.
Obviously, there are other officials, who deliberately delay the holding of the AGMs so that they can cling on to office.
Others claim they cannot bring together their members to chart a new course because those associations do not have resources for such an undertaking.
Failure to hold AGMs in guise of lack of money also just shows that some of those people holding office are also failures.
The  warning   by  SCZ chairperson, Mwamba Kalenga  of stern  action against the  non abiding associations should not just end at that, but we want to see the perpetrators being punished.
It is through taking such punitive measures that sanity can prevail in sport.
It is shocking that while FIFA, UEFA, CAF and other football bodies have been preaching against racism, the vice still seems to be rife in the beautiful game.
For example before each European match, UEFA reminds the football fraternity with its message: Respect and No to Racism.
But this message and many others do not seem to be heeded to some extent.
The racial abuse suffered by Brazilian defender, Dani Alves in Spain during Barcelona’s La Liga match against Villarreal last Sunday was typical example that war against racism is far from over.
A Villarreal fan threw a banana in the direction of Alves during the match and the Brazilian responded by eating the same fruit.
Spanish police managed to arrest a suspect, David Campayo, who if found guilty faces between one to three years in jail.
In recent times, we have heard of racists chants and throwing of bananas at mostly black footballers in some European countries.
There is need to fight this vice with any kind of aggression until its eradicated. Email: malungaf@gmail.com.