Francisco Manheche elected president of the Mozambican Athletics Federation

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Francisco Manheche elected president of the Mozambican Athletics Federation

9:14 CAT | 06 Sep 2017

A Bola (File photo)

Former runner Francisco Manheche was elected on new president of the Mozambican Athletics Federation (FMA) in Chimoio, Manica, on Saturday, by the body’s ordinary General Assembly. He replaces Shafee Sidat.

The election of the new management bodies was very close, with the casting vote breaking a tenth round tie between the winner and the defeated candidate, Kamal Badrú. Joaquim Manheche thus won with six votes in favour against five for Kamal, succeeding Shafee Sidat, who had directed the FMA for the last four years. Sérgio da Conceição Ribeiro was nominated as a candidate, did not compete.

Francisco Joaquim Manheche, a 56-year-old native of Beira, Sofala province, currently residing in Maputo City, holds a bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering. He was an athlete, his specialties the 800 and 1,500 metre race and won medals internationally in the 80s and 90s. Manhece led the Athletics Association of the City of Maputo in the decade 2000 -2010.

After his election, Manheche said he would continue to implement the plan left by the outgoing leadership. He also said that he would like to “first thank athletics, because it is the modality itself which won. We are willing to work with the outgoing team to enhance athletics. Let us know where the outgoing president left off and we will continue with his project.”

The president-elect also promised to help provincial associations discover talent to be sent to Maputo, where there is a track in condition for international competitions. These athletes, he said, would be entitled to scholarships.

“We will do everything in our power to support the provincial associations with equality,” Manheche said.
Manheche also said he plans to create vice presidencies and technical offices in the Northern, Central and Southern regions. It was his job to equip managers with sufficient knowledge to help the sport, he said, and he hoped to promote more competitions.

Reports approved

The Ordinary General Assembly meeting was chaired by Geraldo Alberto in the presence of the 11 delegates with voting rights and had only two agenda items: the submission of activity and accounts reports and the election of the new governing body.

After confirmation of the presence of the delegates, Geraldo Alberto gave the microphone to Shafee Sidat to present the reports, which were already in the hands of the associates.

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Sidat said that, when he entered into his post, he found nothing, but was now leaving the FMA completely renovated and equipped with computers, photocopiers, a printer, a scanner and a table and chairs.

He said that, under his chairmanship, nine provincial associations had been built or rehabilitated, except for Cabo Delgado and Maputo provinces, where bureaucratic reasons had prevented this from happening.

Shafee Sidat referred to the activities carried out from November 2016 to July this year, bearing in mind that previous reports had already been presented at previous meetings. He highlighted the São Silvestre race and the national cross-country championship held in Chimoio. He also mentioned Mozambique’s participation in the African U-20 and U-18 World Championships, the latter in London, and the national track championship that ended in Chimoio on Sunday.

The FMA currently had assets of 3.2 million meticais, according to the external audit contracted by this sports body, Shafee Sidat said.

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The outgoing president said that in the account, he was leaving more than US$39,000 (about 2.754 million meticais), while in the metical account, there was 954,000..

Sidat stressed the value left in the meticais account might not in the end tally entirely with the amount mentioned, as there were still some expenses to be paid, such as those of the national championship held in Chimoio, in which the FMA supported the expenses of more than 200 athletes and technical teams, with the city of Maputo benefiting most with about 40 athletes.

Sidat says he was leaving the FMA with a feeling of having fulfilled his duty.

The activity and accounts reports were approved, with only Maputo city voting against.

Sidat said that he had already approved projects for the coming year, such as the Regional High Performance Athletics Centre planned for Manica province and approved by the African Athletics Federation, and he also mentioned a new race track in one of the provinces.

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The provinces of Maputo, Inhambane, Gaza, Nampula, Cabo Delgado, Zambezia, Tete, Sofala, Manica and the secretary general praised Sidat’s performance as head of FMA highly.

The president of the Provincial Association of Inhambane, Mário dos Santos Compeu, was the first to laud his achievements, followed by the president of the Gaza Provincial Association, Francisco Mucahata Jaime, who said: “I recognise the commitment of Shafee Sidat during his term. No national championship has failed. We have operated since independence without an association headquarters, but now we have one. Shafee Sidat is leaving, but he stays in our hearts. Please do not abandon athletics indefinitely!”

Source: Diário de Moçambique