Augustine Mukoka
Of Interested Parties: Why FAZ Should Not Be The Body To Investigate The Women’s Football Sex Scandal
A statement by the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) that they’re opening an inquiry into the rampant sexual abuse cases concerning the Copper Queens is a good move and the right thing to do. But FAZ can’t be the body to investigate the matter.
It is only as good as an open invitation for an independent body to carry out a thorough, unbiased and effective investigation to settle the matter. The call also gives credence to the information so far published that it is not false, malicious, speculative or a fabrication of my own imagination.
The fact that there’s an inquiry shows it’s a matter needing the attention of the authorities.
However, FAZ is an interested party and its officials can be cited for anything from shielding to being accessories to these scandals. They never wanted these reports to hit public space and this is ground for culpability in this mischief.
If anything, the FAZ general secretary Adrian Kashala is a senior police officer. Mr. Kashala, who was retired in national interest sometime last year, served at Force Headquarters up to the position of Zambia Police Director of Sports. At the time of retirement, he had a title of Assistant Commissioner of Police (if my recollection is correct).
Some members of the technical bench at all national teams (especially women) are police officers who are well aware of these reports and incidents. They, too, have done nothing to end scourge.
It’s one thing to open an inquiry to launder yourselves, it is another thing to do such a job with sincerity, honesty and integrity; which ethos FAZ officials have neglected to uphold in this entire episode.
In announcing the investigations, Mr. Kashala states “although as FAZ we have no record of official complaints from anyone on the allegations, we consider these allegations very serious and have opened an inquiry into the matter.”
Mr. Kashala’s statement is laced with falsehoods which undermine the genuineness in the announcement to commence the investigations and casts doubt on the credibility of the outcome if done by FAZ.
Here is why.
LYSON ZULU – FAZ TECHNICAL DIRECTOR – Lyson is part of the key resource staff that compiled the 2015 report into sexual abuses in our sport. He is an asset to the institutional memory of FAZ and sport in general. Before joining FAZ in his current capacity, he was a sports officer at the OYDC. The study titled “GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN ZAMBIAN SPORT: PREVALENCE AND PREVENTION” written by Kari Fasting, Diane Huffman and Trond Svela Sand gives credit to him and other locals for helping to collect data. At the time, Lyson was Health Educational Officer of the Olympic Youth Development Centre. He should be among the few people in Zambia’s sport with the exact details of these abuses. Is that not an official record enough that FAZ could have relied on to start investigations? Who else would be more of an authority on these reports than Lyson? See the attached document giving credit to locals who helped gather the data of the study, among them Lyson Zulu. The summary of the alleged perpetrators was compiled and given to the Zambia Police. Mind you, this was two years after one of the Zambia junior national team coaches was reported for sexual abuse and harrasment. Can Lyson plead ignorance of those events?
BESA CHIBWE – LAWYER – EX-TEAM MANAGER – if there’s one person who can vouch for me about keeping confidential sources, Besa should be one of them. Isn’t Besa aware of the details of these issues to the core? As a lawyer, did she ever see the complaint of the 15-year-old girl allegedly being impregnated by a coach from Lusaka? If the answer is in the affirmative, what moral duty did she have? Did she execute it? Does she expect the witnesses, the majority of whom come from vulnerable homes, to give to FAZ information of their abuse without fear of intimidation? I have a lot of questions for Besa, all of which have crushed my heart and left me extremely disappointed in a woman I once held in high esteem. Not with what I know she knows I know. Besa, does it ring the bell?
ANDREW KAMANGA – FAZ PRESIDENT – apart from sharing the same branch in the body of Christ, Mr. Kamanga is a man of many huts in our society. He is by our Zambian standards an accomplished businessman. He is also Patron of the Boys Brigade at UCZ. Ordinarily, he should be one of those people young men look up to with admiration. Mr. Kamanga and I are members of the United Church of Zambia in the Lusaka Central Consistory and go to the same branch – Trinity on Church Road. I have not been there since I relocated but I consider it my home church. Does Mr. Kamanga feel he has represented the body of Christ well in these FAZ issues? Does he expect a fair and unbiased investigation if carried out by FAZ? Mr. Kamanga has both the financial muscle and capacity to even bring a legal suit against me in my current jurisdiction if I have defamed him or anyone at FAZ? Has he contemplated doing so? Maybe. Going by the way he and his men at FAZ have conducted themselves, they are not the best people to carry out an investigation of their own misconduct.
That’s why the latin maxim “NEMO JUDEX IN SUA CAUSA” which means “no one shall be a judge in his own case” is a critical principle in the pursuit of natural justice so as to rid the process of bias from interested parties.
I submit.
