The Sunday Mail
Sports Reporter
JOE Mujuru is surprisingly calm for a man whose four walls look to be closing in on him.
With roughly two weeks left before the Basketball Union of Zimbabwe (BUZ) hold their elections, the union president has come under fire in recent weeks.
A slew of allegations ranging from tampering with the constitution and manipulating the voting process has been levelled against him and his administration.
At the centre of all the chaos is secretary-general Charmaine Chamboko.
She initially invited the ire of the basketball fraternity when she refused to step down after being elected a board member of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC) last year.
She survived by the skin of her teeth.
However, the fact that she is running for the same office again, this despite losing the nomination from her home province Harare, looks to have put her boss in the spotlight.
Mujuru, who is also running for the presidency again, has since, however, come out and rubbished all the allegations against him.
“Let me start of by just highlighting a couple of things about these upcoming elections,” said Mujuru.
“We received a total 23 submissions from eight provinces, which, unless my math is wrong, could be one of the highest numbers in the sport’s history.
“For me, this was a huge vote of confidence in the system, electoral process and current administration.
“Anything is nothing but ‘campaign talk’, which I don’t necessarily condone but understand,” he said.
He also addressed some of the accusations.
“To address the huge elephant in the room, yes, Charmaine Chamboko lost the nomination of her province.
“However, according the constitution, article 24.4 and 19.1b to be exact, there are provisions for outgoing members to either elect themselves or other people.
“This is what happened in the case of the secretary-general debacle,” he said.
Article 24.4 reads: “The retiring members of the Central Board are re-eligible. They are obliged to submit their candidature file, but they must comply with the one-month deadline to submit their candidature to the secretary-general of BUZ.”
Article 19.1b also adds: “A candidature to a position of the Central Board of BUZ shall be proposed by the association of the candidate or by the retiring candidate himself. The written nomination of the candidate shall be forwarded to the secretary-general of BUZ thirty (30) days before the proposed date of the congress prior to the elections on the agenda.”
But the SG debacle is a tip of the iceberg.
Mujuru indicated that the proposed amendments to the constitution will only begin after the elections.
“We held a strategic meeting sometime last week, during which we saw a few areas lacking in the way we do business.
“Three key arears like treasury, which was not involved in the policy-making process, was being neglected, so as the commercial and media arms.
“It was there and then we decided to add three key posts into the executive, namely the commercial commission, 3X3 commission and the treasurer-general.
“This is as far as our changes go.
“Any other changes to the constitution that have been proposed will not affect these elections, and will only be put into effect after the congress,” he said.
Of the three posts, the treasurer-general and commercial commission have since been filled.
The duo of Brighton Ncube and Simba Munamba were nominated unopposed.
It is set to be three-way race between Pendrick Ndlovu, Nash Majoni and Ignatius Yesaya for the 3X3 Commission.
Chamboko will have to fight it out with the duo of Sunny Mbofana and Sikhumbuzo Ndlovu for the office of secretary-general, while Mujuru slugs it out with David Pick and Allen Mavunga for the presidency.
Brighton Navaya and Tonderai Shasha are both vying for the Technical Commission, while the trio of Taurai Chitsinde, Johnson Shumba and Theoore Weale has been nominated for the Athletes Commission.
Tracy Phiri and Jacquelne Chironga are both going for the Women and Youth Commission, while Mthulisi Makhosana, Ndumiso Mabhena and Gideon Makopa compete for the Competitions Commission.
