By MOSES CHIMFWEMBE –
CONFUSION has rocked the Zambia Rugby Union (ZRU) nominations ahead of this Saturday’s extra ordinary council meeting to be held in Kabwe at the Green Eagles Rugby Club.
This follows the secretariat’s rejection of the nominations of Mubanga Chanda and Ezron Change.
Mubanga of ‘Powerhouse’ Lusaka Rugby Club is challenging incumbent general secretary Francis Chitambo while Change is eyeing the committee member position.
According to the list of successful candidates who had filed in their nominations obtained by the Times yesterday, Chanda’s nomination was deemed invalid on grounds that he was seconded by the Natural Resources Development College (NRDC) club, who are not in good standing with the ZRU.
The other reason being given is that Chanda’s nomination was seconded by the Zambia Women Rugby Association (ZRWA) but it was invalid on account that only one named official signed on both chairlady and secretary instead of two different signatories endorsing his nomination.
The union also rejected the nomination papers of Change of Mufulira owing to late submission.
But Chanda in an interview yesterday said that he did not recognise the withdrawal of his nomination by the ZRU secretariat and that he would go ahead and participate in the elections.
“As far as I am concerned, I am going to participate in the elections because I think the invalidation of my nomination is being championed by someone, who is an interested party.
I will continue campaigning because I feel my nomination was valid and I will be among the candidates at the council meeting,” he said.
A source close to the development said the nomination form for Chanda only had the signature of NRDC chairperson Brian Chimbanga while the secretary’s signature was missing.
“Lusaka is in good standing but NRDC is not because they did not renew their membership for this year owing to failure to pay affiliations fees to the union and the rules are clear on that,” the source said.
Meanwhile, the nominations of aspiring candidates for the presidency Clement Sinkamba and Ackim Mwale were declared valid, together with those of John
Chibuye and Happy Chipili, who will contest the position of vice president.
Other valid nominations included that of Paul Sichula and Chitambo, who are the sole candidates for the positions of treasurer and general secretary respectively with Joseph Ingwe, Enock Shikabeta, Vincent Liato, James Banda and Isaac Manda given the nod to jostle for three slots of committee member.
The ZRU will hold the extraordinary general meeting to usher in a new executive following the stepping down of president, Martin Musunka, citing a fragmented network which he said he was not prepared to lead.
Other members that resigned earlier were vice president Owen Mhango and committee members Moono Muleya and Sam Simwanda.