Solly’s Take from Gladwyn’s Letter

The Solly4President Movement noted a letter penned by Mr. Gladwyn White, the former Vice President of SAFA, sent to most football leaders in the country on March 2, 2024. After reading this letter, we can state that there is nothing new mentioned in the letter. The principle of all things mentioned in that letter is known to most of us. When we say most, we mean most, like, SAFA Members (regions and associate members), NEC members, PSL, media houses, government, SASCOC (or Sports SA as it is known now), CAF and even FIFA.

We also post the unedited letter on this link for your convenience: https://tflm.org.za/2024/03/03/gladwyn-white-speaks/

Even Mr. White himself knew these things way before the above letter. We are of the view that he was a defender of the president to a certain extent at some point. We do not know where and when the fallout between him and the President started, but we know that he was intentionally snubbed for the continuation of his role as the Vice President of SAFA by the President.

Having said that, we, however, are not taking a posture that his letter is propelled by the sour grapes. We are just glad that he came out and confirmed some of the things we have been saying all along.

Let us get into some of the things he says in the letter.

Illegal postponement of meetings is now out of control at our Headquarters, and it leaves a bitter aftertaste to all stakeholders. May I remind you how wrongfully both back-to-back Congresses were postponed by dropping the good name of the President of CAF who to date is still to visit our HQ.

Taken from Gladyn White’s Letter

Congress is a meeting of the members, not the executive. The Executive does not control Congress, the Constitution does. There are mainly two types of Congresses, namely, the Ordinary Congress, and the Extraordinary Congress.

The statutes require that an Ordinary Congress be held once a year, primarily to 1) adopt the annual reports of the association, 2) make the necessary appointments such as auditors and judicial panels, and 3) consider amendments and proposals.  If 2) and 3) are not present, then 1) will always be a requirement. This then helps with filing those annual reports with the relevant bodies, such as the Department of Social Department, SARS, SASCOC, and other interested parties.

The important thing to note though is that there is a salient theme about the Ordinary Congress that has not been recognized at the national level, and that is to hold the executive accountable on matters of governance, performance, and position of the association. Data for this comes from the above-mentioned documents to be adopted as annual reports. These include the activity report, financial report (which should also include actual vs budgeted and projected), and audited financial statements. These reports must also include incidents, resolutions, and preventative measures. So this is the executive reporting back to the owners of the association, the members.

So once the date of the Congress is communicated, it must never be postponed. Ready or not, based on that date, the executive, members, and all the other guests must be at the venue of the Congress. The Congress can only be postponed if and only if a quorum is not present. Such postponement must be done in the presence of the members present and for seven days (or two weeks in the case of SAFA).

To show that postponement of the Congress is generally undesirable, the Constitution, in its sole trigger for postponement, requires that the Congress reconvene as soon as possible, that is, within one week (or two weeks in the case of SAFA National) without making any provisions for further considerations.

So, the NEC willy-nilly postpones Congresses by themselves. SAFA members have been too lenient and pliant over the years to allow fiducial powers to be removed from them. Two years in succession, Ordinary Congresses have been postponed by the NEC without any valid trigger by more than three months on each occasion. No one sees anything wrong with that.

Congress powers have been transferred from the members to the executive and ultimately to the president. What kind of an organization is that really?

Then he says:

In the March 2022 Congress, the delegates unanimously resolved to suspend the President of Tshwane FA, but the President as mandated by the Statutes failed to ensure that the suspension is effected as we saw Mr Molhabeng’s name featuring on the national ballot just a month later or so. On the buildup to the Congress elections, we heard of a NEC member, in his capacity as Vice Chair of Membership deployed to the Tshwane FA Congress to monitor proceedings on behalf of SAFA. It was embarrassing for the NEC to get a report from the representative reporting that Mr Mohlabeng retained his presidency unopposed.

Taken from Gladyn White’s Letter

In the above quote, Mr. White neglects that at the time of this “unanimous resolution to suspend the President of Tshwane FA”, such an item was not on the agenda of Congress. The statutes are clear (Article 26.8) that Congress shall not decide on any point not included on the agenda. Therefore, the resolution is invalid and unenforceable, unless by coercion, as is the case with many of the other things at SAFA.

As he puts it in the statement, he indicates that he too was bought by that resolution, and he did not see anything wrong with it. So are the rest of the then-NEC members. He should be thankful to the President for realizing that mistake and not rushing to be more non-compliant; otherwise, it would have been another event exposing SAFA to non-compliance to its statutes.

Most people think that the Congress, being the highest decision-making body of SAFA, is also above the Constitution. We have seen this belief even at the regional and local levels. This practice is wrong and needs to be corrected. This is where leadership is needed. Congress is subject to the Constitution, not the other way around.

Another thing that needs to be corrected with Congress is that the leaders must lead the people. If people are driven by a desire for certain things to happen, right or wrong, the leaders must bring sanity to the situation and always guide according to the statutes. The moment leaders fail to do that, which was the case in 2022, then the reality is we don’t have leaders.

Indeed, Solly Mohlabeng was elected unopposed. No shenanigans, no machinations, just a pure extension of the mandate by the SAFA Tshwane members. Solly is regarded by most in Tshwane as the spark that will trigger the saving of football in South Africa. Not necessarily by taking over as president, but by fighting the status quo and leading to change. The time is coming when football will return to the hands of the people.

Mr. White says it was ‘embarrassing for the NEC to get a report from the representative reporting that Mr Mohlabeng retained his presidency unopposed.” What would lead to the embarrassment? Could it be that they mobilized that Tshwane would not elect him, and the mobilization failed? This would make sense because there may be elements now deployed by external forces to destabilize SAFA Tshwane, but even those elements will not succeed. The people of Tshwane see this and will act when required. SAFA Tshwane will continue to prevail under the leadership of Solly Mohlabeng.

Of course, he has received a letter of suspension pending the disciplinary hearing scheduled for March 11, 2024. We ask ourselves:

1. Is the suspension only meant to bar him from participating in SAFA national activities? SAFA National cannot suspend a person from a different organization. SAFA Tshwane is an organization in its own right and has jurisdiction over its officials. SAFA National does not.
2. As what will SAFA national discipline Solly Mohlabeng? Solly is not an official in any of the SAFA national’s bodies. So can one organization take a person from another organisation to their own disciplinary hearing?

Be that as it may, we are looking forward to the 11^th of March. We will be there in droves.

Then he goes on to say:

Lastly, the current Statutes at our disposal are not the Statutes approved by the Congress of March 2022 as we were informed that the wrong copy of Statutes was signed by the President. The President refused to explain where he got the wrong copy from as there was only one copy considered by the Congress.

Taken from Mr. White’s Letter

Over the years, the SAFA National Constitution has been chopped and changed for one purpose: to take the power from the Members and give it to the Executive and ultimately to the President. All the preoccupation with eligibility to stand as candidates and the structuring of power was the focus in 2022, all to ensure that certain people cannot stand for the elections and to ensure that the NEC has sufficient numbers to sustain the president, even if those numbers breach good practices from all over the world (including FIFA recommendations). But some of the motivations and actions here are part of the dispute that Ria Ledwaba and Solly Mohlabeng are having with SAFA, which SAFA refused to establish an Arbitration for, which led to the Court Case whose appeal is underway, and which leads to the Disciplinary Hearing currently instituted against Solly.

All in all, we appreciate the voice from Mr. White, and we agree with most of the things he said. May he be alert that his letter will be forgotten in a month’s time and everything he mentioned will prevail unabated.  But if he wishes to make a meaningful impact consistently until change is achieved, he needs to organise himself with those who want the same change, even if it is just until change happens. He needs to continue contributing to this melting pot in his efforts to bring about change. This message goes out to all those who believe there needs to be change.

If one gauges the public sentiment on SAFA, one gets that SAFA does not have public support, precisely because of how it has been governed. However, those in SAFA with the power are slick enough to know that what keeps them in power is to control the members, particularly the regions. By controlling 40 out of the 52 regions, that is, if counted in delegates, 120 human beings, they defeat the sentiment of over 10 million (human beings) football supporters in South Africa.

They have also changed and chopped the Constitution to transfer power from the Members to themselves and ultimately to the President. With this power, they believe they can do anything, including suspending and disciplining officials of other organisations. Those at SAFA who hold the power are truly powerful. Conventional methods of holding them to account will not work. Extraordinary means are required.

Moreover, change is required. Football needs to be taken back into the hands of the people of South Africa. The sentiments of South Africans need to be reflected in the local football associations (LFAs), regions, provinces, and even the national structures and leadership of SAFA. Football belongs to the people.