By MOSES CHIMFWEMBE
COPPERBELT Amateur Athletics Area Board (CAAAB) secretary Lewis Mwenya has claimed that Zambia Amateur Athletics Association (ZAAA) president Elias Mpondela directed the board to impose a life ban on Samuel Matete.
But CAAAB chairperson Bolton Mulendema says it is a big betrayal for Mwenya to accuse Mpondela of having engineered Matete’s ban from organising any athletics event in the province.
CAAAB recently banned Matete from all athletics activities on the Copperbelt but Mwenya surprisingly distanced himself from the move by claiming that it was an instruction from Mpondela who wanted to get rid of the former 400m hurdles world champion from the limelight.
However Mulendema said in an interview yesterday that the ban slapped on Matete was a popular decision and Mpondela had nothing to do with it.
“I had wanted to be aloof from these issues but in a nut shell, when we met on account of the activities that Matete was doing without informing the area board, as chairman, I allowed all the members to have their say on the matter and everyone including Mwenya resolved that Matete be stopped from carrying out his activities.
“It’s a big betrayal by our secretary (Mwenya) to turn around and start bringing in this issue of Mpondela, who was not even on the Copperbelt when we had the meeting. He (Mwenya) has put us in an awkward position because we gave him the mandate to speak for us, it’s unfortunate,” Mulendema said.
In contrast, Mwenya said in a separate interview that Mpondela was behind Matete’s ban owing to the latter’s interest in the ZAAA presidency and further called upon the Sports Council of Zambia (SCZ) to help restore sanity in ZAAA.
Mwenya alleged that Mpondela instructed CAAAB to hold an emergency meeting for the purpose of banning Matete.
“Can the Sports Council of Zambia come and help us because we are tired of these wrangles. Why should people be going through unopposed during elections, I think there is need to allow all members, including Matete to contest for various positions in the ZAAA elections,” Mwenya said.
When contacted for a comment, Mpondela referred all queries to Mulendema as he does not sit in CAAAB meetings.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of African Athletes (CAA) has released a circular to member associations warning individuals, who organise athletics events without involving the national federations, of stiff punishment.
CAA general secretary Faty Lamine said the continental body was informed about the organisation of road races in some countries by some people, who act by ignoring the national federation.
Lamine said this practice, which breaches the statutory provisions of the International Athletics Association Federations (IAAF) and CAA, is to be banned and must be stopped immediately.
“However, the CAA welcomes any form of partnership or convergence of views between interested parties and the national federation in the strict respect of the prerogatives of the latter which remains the sole interlocutor of the CAA or the IAAF.
Therefore, we call upon the collaboration of all stakeholders for the respect of the rules of our discipline which remains open to put all national and international efforts together for its development and influence,” read the circular.