Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Collin Matiza
10 July 2009
Harare — ROBERT Mutsauki, the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee chief executive, has lost in his bid to claim the influential post of Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa secretary-general.
According to reports from Abuja, Nigeria, where the three-day 13th Anoca elective general assembly was held from Monday to Wednesday this week, Mutsauki was beaten for the secretary-general's post by Khaled Zein Eldin of Egypt. Eldin, who is the secretary-general of the National Olympic Committee of Egypt, is reported to have garnered 20 votes while his closest challenger Mutsauki managed 13 votes in a hotly-contested race.
The other "strong" candidate in the race Rwanda National Olympic Committee president Ignace Beraho finished a distant third. However, sources from Abuja indicate that the elections were marred with bad politics and lack of transparency.
"There was lack of transparency and this was a big mistake for Africa because everyone was pissed off. "A lot of underhand politics was at play and there was no way that clean people like Mutsauki and Beraho could have won this election," the source that attended the election exercise said from Abuja on Wednesday.
Beraho was also reported to have cried "foul" over the way the elections for the Anoca secretary-general's post was conducted. The post of Anoca secretary-general had been vacant since the resignation of Angolan Gustavo Concecaio in November last year. The same source said that the other thing that might have contributed to Mutsauki's defeat in Abuja was the resignation of Concecaio as the Anoca secretary-general.
"I think delegates who were attending the Anoca meeting in Abuja, mostly those from west and north Africa, did not want the post to be filled by another administrator from the southern African region.
"They then came together and devised a plan or way to out-vote Mutsauki who had the support of members from fellow National Olympic Committees from the Southern African region as well as of those from the East African region," the same source said. Lassana Palenfo retained his seat as Anoca president after beating Cameroon's Hamad Kalkaba Malboum in a two-man race.
Allen Beatrice (Gambia), Aggrey Moussa Mahamat (Chad), Da Costa Alegre Manuel (Sao Tome and Principe) and Ghana's Benson Tongo Baba are the new Anoca vice-presidents. Manuel of Sao Tome and Principe was, in fact, retained unopposed as he was the only one standing for the post of third vice president. Nigeria's Ahmed Gumel Habu is the new treasurer.
But it was the manner in which Mutsauki lost in his bid to become the new Anoca secretary-general which left a sour taste in the mouth. There was horse-trading going a few days before the elections.
Nigeria's Banji Oladapo stepped down late on Sunday from contesting for the same office. After Oladapo's withdrawal, five persons were left in the race Oladapo is the secretary-general of the Nigeria Olympic Committee. The remaining contestants were Mutsauki of Zimbabwe, Rwanda's Beraho, Eldin of Egypt, Raymond Ibata of Congo Brazzaville and Senegal's Santi Sene Hagne.
Mutsauki was heavily tipped to win the elections but "dirty politics" was at play leading to the polls and the veteran Zimbabwean sports administrator found himself being beaten by Eldin by seven votes. This might have come as a big disappointment for Mutsauki who had been canvassing for this post since 2007.
The ZOC chief executive was aiming to become the second Zimbabwean since 1997 to become the boss of this powerful African sport organisation. Former ZOC president, Tommy Sithole, was the first Zimbabwean to hold this influential post when he was elected as the Anoca secretary-general in December 1997. Sithole later rose to become an executive committee member of the powerful International Olympic Committee.
He is now based in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he is currently working as the IOC's Director for International Cooperation and Development on a full-time basis.
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