The 2020 National Olympic Committee of Zambia (NOCZ) Annual General Meeting was finally held on November 21 at Mulungushi International Conference Centre.
22 sports federations, among them Zambia Athletics (ZA), Zambia Judo Association (ZJA), Zambia Boxing Federation (ZBF) and Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) were in attendance both physically and virtually to discuss matters which were mostly constitutional in nature.
The constitutional review held on October 31 this year at the same venue had set the tone for the AGM and most of what was required was to adopt what was agreed upon during that meeting.
But before tackling the elephant in the room, approval of Teqball federation’s membership to NOCZ was the first item on the table, something to which members voted unanimously in affirmation.
In that regard, Teqball which was launched in Zambia in January this year became the latest member of the local multi-sport committee after Stake-boarding which was instated at last year’s AGM.
The new sporting discipline headed by Mr Dickson Jere as President has already set ground in establishing itself locally and the executive have started procuring equipment for its development in the country.
With that matter settled, the next big item on the agenda was the tenure of office for the NOCZ board.
There was an issue of whether to have an open ended term of office for the board which would not be limited by the number terms one had served.
To this, the participants also unanimously voted for the introduction of a two term system meaning that as of 2021 and in future, one would only be elected twice on the board, with one term being four years long.
The resolution was passed on the premise that this would encourage inclusiveness and grooming of leaders to take up positions in the board.
NOCZ President Alfred Foloko expressed pleasure in the turn of the voting conducted by delegates adding that it was an emphasis of democracy and good governance that the board has been campaigning on.
“We live in a democracy and democracy has to prevail and this is what has happened. We campaigned on the issue of good governance and this is the governance that we are providing to our people, to ensure that we amend the constitution so that we suit to the modern happenings around the world.
One of those is the term of office, the majority have spoken,” he said.
The matter of tenure of office for the board proved to be the most contentious with delegates deliberating for some minutes before the vote was finally passed.
That would be the only item requiring a vote.
"Participants unanimously voted for the introduction of a two term limit system as of 2021, one would only be elected twice on the board."
Among other decisions passed was on the emphasis of gender equality to allow for more diversity in future where deliberate policies would have to be passed in a case where there was an imbalance in terms of men and women who would be elected to sit on the board.
Participants also resolved to ratify the position of Secretary General as a non-elective position. This would entail that as of next year, the position currently held by Mr Boniface Kambikambi who was elected in 2017 will now be employable and not elective, with the successful candidate to be a fulltime employee in charge of the secretariat but with a sit on the board.
It was also resolved that sports federations that are not recognised by the International Olympic Organisation (IOC) would only carry one vote at elective councils and would not hold any electoral positions.
In view of this, Netball, Chess and Lawn Bowling federations would only carry a single vote come future elections like the one slated for 2021.
“It was a successful AGM and everything we went to discuss has been achieved despite it not having met everyone’s expectations. NOCZ has done and we had full participation even through the Zoom plaftorms,” Zambia Volleyball Association (ZAVA) general secretary Gift Chesekela remarked after the meeting.
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