So much has happened leading up to the selection of the Mpumalanga Schools Chess team to represent the Province in the National Schools Sports Championships in the Cape. Starting from the age-groups confusion that we faced in the earlier stages when we were informed that the U/18s were not taking part; to the later exclusion of the U/13 and inclusion of both the U/15 and U/18s only.
Even after all this,
we still had to battle with the placing of players in relevant age-groups since
the South African Schools Chess Association has placed limits in the ages of
players in each category.
E.g. U/13 (2010,2011
and 2012), U/15 (2007,2008 and 2009), U/18 (2006,2005 and 2004)
Take note of this as it later became a bigger issue than we had anticipated. (much later, in the third article of this series)
This article will focus on the selection of the entire Mpumalanga Chess contingent, the events leading to the elections and the consequences suffered by the children (the Chess players)
On the 28th
of May 2022 I was the Chief Arbiter at the Ehlanzeni District Schools Chess
Selections when both the then President (Chairperson) and Secretary of the Mpumalanga Schools Chess Organization
asked to make an announcement to the teachers in attendance before giving out
the results.
The announcement was
that this was election year for the Mpumalanga Schools Chess Structure and that
they would need help in retaining the two crucial positions they held as a
district (Those being the Chairperson and secretary positions).
The Secretary
reiterated the matter when she took the platform and emphasized the
significance of having had these positions in the region. She stated that this
meant that the district got to be the first to receive information and act on
time thus enabling their kids not to miss out on opportunities.
She then apologized
with some regret, that she would not be running for office this time around
since she has too many commitments on her plate; she then strongly urged all in
attendance to do all in their power to ensure that the region does not lose
their chairperson and support him as he will be running again.
The event went on and
we announced the names of the players who would represent the district in the
provincials on the 11th of June in Middelburg. Later on an
announcement was made that on the 10th of June there would be the
elections that were spoken about and each district was to bring 10
representatives to vote and also to be voted for in the new committee.
The president of the
structure asked me as the appointed Chief Arbiter for the Provincial Schools
Chess selections, to travel with them to assist in the preparations and
set-up of the playing venue, have a
sleep-over in Middelburg so we are the first to arrive at the playing venue and
start as soon as players arrive.
This meant that I got
to be the fly in the wall as all this unfolded and did not get asked to declare
any form of confidentiality, verbal or signed. I am sharing this right now
because I do not wish to see something similar to it happen in the future. Also
because I believe that there needs to be an improvement on how elections are
done for such crucial positions that affect the future of many of our children.
In the transport on
the way to Middelburg for the elections on the 10th of June, early
in the morning, the president and secretary started the discussion with the district
representatives. It came out during the
discussion that the president has had some discussions with the regional
leaders of Gert Sibande and Nkangala District and they had arranged that the
chairperson of Gert Sibande will be given the Secretariat while Ehlanzeni would
retain the Chairperson and Nkangala would take the Treasury (of a structure
without funds). Bohlabela was not involved in the discussions and would be
engaged in the meeting on arrival.
The Secretary
vigorously expressed her disappointment with the arrangement; she was
disappointed that the president did not consult with her first before giving
her position away to Gert Sibande, and in particular, the current chairperson of
the Gert district whom she felt was not up to the task of being Provincial
secretary. She suggested that they make some serious changes to this
arrangement of she will not stand by it when it is time to vote.
The President reminded
the Secretary that it was her who gave him the greenlight to make arrangements
to at least retain the Presidency for the region even if it meant giving up the
secretariat; it was her who said she did not want to get involved in the
arrangements since she did not intend to run and thus wished not to be a part
of the discussions. He also explained to the representatives that the secretary
never gave him any conditions for the trade-offs and that is why he was
surprised to see her expressing concern in any possible outcomes.
The secretary then
uttered a shocking statement backed up by some unrecorded complaints she
received from teachers and parents in the previous schools nationals which took
place in Bloemfontein this February 2022. These complaints pointed out to the
incompetency of the Gert Sibande candidate according to the Secretary. We all
wished she had communicated those complaints to some structure as that falls
under her role as Secretary; then everyone would share her sentiments and
understand why she would say the following :
“I would rather stay as secretary than allow
that man to lead our province to ruins. We will rather trade-off the Presidency
that lose the Secretariat to Gert”
After having uttered
these shocking words, the mood changed and the whole district was now divided
in half, everyone uncertain as to whom they would vote with when it all comes
down.
The whole meeting was
chaotic as it had to be run by the two of them. They could not work together
and everyone in the room could sense the tension and the lack of respect. The
secretary would speak while the chairperson was still addressing the room;
either making a point of correction without permission or addressing someone
across the room without regard for protocol.
It was all chaotic
until one attendant suggested that they both leave the chairing to a MPUSSO
(Mpumalanga Schools Sports Organization) representative so they could facilitate the elections.
MPUSSO came on and
suggested that regions quickly hold a caucus so they can have a unified
decision. They were also to decide if they preferred to vote as regions or as
individuals.
It was decided that
members in attendance would vote as individuals and each region was to bring
ten voting members. It turned out that Bohlabela was the only region that
brought ten, while Ehlanzeni brought seven, Nkangala six and Gert Sibande
brought only three members, thus shooting itself in the foot.
The Secretary then
spoke to the Bohlabela members and promised them the Presidency if they voted
her in as Secretary. It turned out that the only necessary arrangement to
determine the steering of the Mpumalanga Schools Chess Structure rested on this
single arrangement. Voting was done and the fate was sealed.
A new president was
elected and the Secretary still remained the same. Everyone else left after the
elections and only myself and the former president remained to prepared for the
games the next day. Later that day we attended a meeting reporting on the state
of readiness to the provincial officials with the former president; then on the
day of the tournament, he was still very much hands on in ensuring that
everything went on smoothly.
As soon as the
selections were done and it was time to select the coaches, managers and
officials to travel to the Cape, the incoming President and the Secretary held
a meeting together deciding who to
select. It was chaos once again. Everyone wanted to go; everyone felt as if
they deserved to go!
I remember in my
opening remarks as Chief Arbiter for the event, I had introduced to the players
and teacher, a number of highly talented out-of-School young Chess players who
had accomplished so much for the province in Chess. I did that in order to
assist the leaders in their task of selecting coaches.
All the players introduced are well-known in the
provincial chess circles; they were Mayibongwe Khoza (MD), FM Banele Mhango,
Adolph Nkosi and Lindokuhle Bhila, all of whom had represented the province in
the Nationals and all had previously won medals both as individuals and as a
team. All of whom understood clearly the pressure of competing in the name of
your Province and could help the players both in preparation for matches and in
the post-match analyses. They had the players’ respect as role models.
In my previous
experience of this types of selections, there used to be order for the
following reasons: there was a clear guideline as to who selects managers and
who is legible for selection as a manager; who selects coaches and who is
legible for selection as a coach.
The team managers were
selected by the code convener which was either the President or the Secretary
(or together in communication). The team manager had to be a school teacher
with the most number of players in the team coming from their school, circuit,
sub-district or district . As an example, the provincial team manager for the
U/18 boys would have to be a male teacher who has at least three or more
players of the seven in the team coming from either his school or district.
The selection of
coaches as a matter of technical accuracy was the role of federations.
Federations had the database of qualified and active Chess Coaches to recommend
to the Schools Structure with motivation. This is why in previous years, the
federations Head-Coach was responsible for the selection of Coaches and mostly
picked from the coaches who had players they coached qualify for the nationals.
Mpumalanga Chess
Federation is currently inactive as almost all positions are now vacant, except
for the position of Interim-President. Most qualified chess coaches have since
left active chess due to the toxic nature of chess politics and also for some,
due to the lack of activity that resulted from the covid restrictions and
lock-downs.
This indeed meant that
the teachers in the Chess structure had to handle these chess matters on their
own.
The Current Schools
Chess President took the responsibility of Team Manager for the U/18 boys
despite the fact that not even one player from Bohlabela district qualified for
the provincial U/18 Chess team. They then appointed a School Teacher as a Coach
for the U/18 boys.
The Under 18 Girls
were given to a passionate and experienced female school teacher to manage; She had three players from her school and
district who had made the U/18 girls team. Perfect fit. Their team Coach was
Mayibongwe Khoza, an experienced Chess player as indicated above.
The Under 15 Boys were
first given to a teacher from Bohlabela region( even though Bohlabela has no
players in the category) to manage, but he later withdrew for some yet to be disclosed
reason. He was later replaced with another teacher from Bohlabela Region who
has never had any experience with Chess. He is apparently very active in Volley
ball and by his own admission, knew
nothing about Chess. Interestingly he was not even at the provincial selections
on the day and was never introduced to the kids until we arrived in Cape Town.
The Under 15 boys were
Coached by the current Interim President of Mpumalanga Chess; he had enough of
his players playing in the competition, from the Under 18 girls down to the
U/15 boys he was responsible for.
The Under 15 girls were
given to a very active teacher from the Gert Sibande District who had enough
players from both her school and district in all the categories including the
one she was given charge of. The coaching responsibility for this team was
given to yet another school teacher.
It appeared on the day
that MD and the interim President of Mpumalanga Chess were momentarily removed
from the list of coaches by the current President of Mpumalanga Schools Chess
due to the fact that they were not teachers; they were replaced by teachers who
had voted on the previous day and thus deserved a place in the bus!
The Secretary was
swift to correct this matter as MD is one Coach she works with in her
sub-district and has assisted her in running the selections. The Interim
President could also not be removed as he represented the federation and was
very active in assisting Nkangala district in their selections.
It became a heated
discussion as some teachers were really disappointed because they could not be
rewarded for their hard work of ushering in a new regime in Mpumalanga Schools
Chess (half new to be fair).
The fate of the
Province was set then. I know a lot of people think that the Mpumalanga Chess
Team lost in Cape Town, but I believe they lost in Middelburg when the
selections were made. This is like one of those Chess games which are lost in
the opening stage yet the player would be convinced they made a miscalculation
or mistake in the Middle-game that cost them severely. The fact is, the player
went to the middle-game carrying a positional weakness from the Opening; Just
like we went to Cape Town carrying our own weaknesses.
The next article will
focus on the happenings in cape town which has revealed the true characters of
these members who were selected to assist and take care of the kids.
It will be titled: In
the Cape with Team MP and will detail how the kids were failed by all the
provincial stake holders
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