Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Zambia Swimming Union held on 25th June 2022 at 10:30 hours via Zoom Meetings online platform

IN ATTENDANCE VIRTUALLY

ZASU Executive Committee

• Adewale Grillo – Vice President
• Sophie Peach – Hon. Secretary
• Shabnam Ismail – Copperbelt Representative
• Tanya Kieslich – Treasurer
• Dionne Rennie – Midlands Representative
• Nicola Sharpe Phiri – International Coordinator
• Saasa Shamambo – Recorde

Affiliated Club Delegates

• Danelle Pistorius – Baobab Barracudas
• Janine Wilson – Baobab Barracudas
• Chris Daka – Kalene Swim Club
• Jane Banda – Kalene Swim Club
• Adrian Sikaonga – Kapentas Swim Club
• Mary Haabazoka – Kapentas Swim Club
• Bets Janse Van Vuuren – Lechwe Cyclones
• Karen Van Breda – Lechwe Cyclones
• Christine Hauptfleisch – LICS Warriors Swim Club
• Carina Van Der Merwe – LICS Warriors Swim Club
• Danny Sinyangwe – Lusaka Amateur Swimming Club
• Caroline Kayira – Lusaka Amateur Swimming Club
• Matthew Shone – Ndola Rapids Swim Club
• Naomi Kasanda – Ndola Rapids Swim Club
• Tonia Weltin – Orcas Swim Club
• Alberto Cataldi – Orcas Swim Club
• Amy Kuhn – Trident Tigers Swim Club
• Ian Stephenson – Torpedoes Swim Club
• Patricia Wetterling – Torpedoes Swim Club

IN ATTENDANCE (Observers)

Chana Musakanya – Orcas Swimming Club

APOLOGIES

No apologies were received by the Secretary

AGENDA

1. Call to Order and welcome remarks from President
2. Accreditation Call
3. Tabling of apologies
4. Adoption of Agenda
5. Consideration and adoption of the Minutes of the AGM of 26th June 2021
6. Matters arising therefrom
7. Presidents Report.
8. Matters arising therefrom
9. Presentation and adoption of Financial Statements for the year ended 31stMay 2022.
10. Adoption of Calendar for the season 2022/23
11. Adoption of Gala program for the season 2022/23
12. Review of: Affiliation fees / Registration fees /Gala fees
13. Any other business

1.Call to Order

The President called the meeting to order at 10:35 hours. The President thanked everyone for attending the meeting and reiterated online housekeeping rules as the ZASU AGM was being held virtually.

2.Accreditation Call

The Secretary proceeded with the reading of the notice of the meeting. She reported that Article 11.4 of the Constitution required requires 50% quorum for the meeting and confirmed that 10 clubs were in attendance and that a quorum was duly formed and all in order to proceed with the meeting.

3.Tabling of apologies

The Secretary reported that no apologies had been received.

4.Adoption of Agenda

The agenda was reviewed with an amendment of the financial year end date corrected from March to May. Torpedoes proposed the adoption of the agenda and the same was seconded by Ndola Rapids.

5.Consideration and adoption of the Minutes of the AGM of 26th June 2021

The minutes were reviewed and confirmed as a true and correct record of the meeting, Lechwe Swimming Club proposed the adoption of the minutes of the meeting and the same was seconded by Kapentas Swimming Club.

6.Matters arising therefrom

Tonia Weltin queried the progress of the High Performance Centre (HPC) at the OYDC Swimming Pool. The President stated that ZASU had engaged with a number of local coaches as well as an external coach with experience with the UK Olympic team. He highlighted that the HPC would be by invitation only and would involve around 15-20 swimmers. The HPC would incur a large operational cost. He further highlighted that the pool was built in 2012 and was owned by the Government through the Ministry of Finance. The operations of the pool was given to OYDC but it had been poorly run and eventually the pool became unusable. In 2019 ZASU engaged the Government with a view of taking over the operations of the pool from OYDC management. He provided additional background, and highlighted that ZASU signed a five year MOU to operate the pool. He continued that the opportunities of the pool were hosting league galas, national age group galas and regional events, which was successfully being done. He added that another opportunity of the pool was to launch a HPC and this was part of ZASU’s 2024 Strategic plan. He highlighted that the HPC would target swimmers 12 and over and would offer a different degree of training that would complement the training the swimmers would receive at their own club. He further added that it was the intention of the ZASU to start a HPC at OYDC that would be offered to a group of 15 – 20 swimmers within the course of the season. The President further added that ZASU had been in touch with individuals with Olympic experience as well as other stakeholders and stated that such a center would be very rigorous and would be by invitation only. He informed members that ZASU would communicate with members before the HPC would be set up.

7.President’s Annual Report

• The President presented the annual report and in summary outlined the successes and challenges faced by the Union during the 2021/2022 season. He noted that the Covid-19 restrictions we had seen in previous seasons had been lifted and the Union could proceed with the objectives as stated in our strategic plan.
• He highlighted that ZASU has hosted a successful CANA Zone IV Championships in April 2022 after being given very short notice and this was regarded as one of the most successful CANA events by the participating countries.
• Trident Tigers successfully hosted the Jubilee gala as well as an Open Water Swimming Competition, with both events being very successful.
• He informed members that the cost of running this pool however remains a huge
  challenge. ZASU has successfully applied for and secured funding from the Ministry
  (ZMK144,000 for 2021) (ZMK165,000 for 2022) and FINA (under the Olympic Aquatic Support Program) to meet some of our operational costs associated with this pool.
• However, ZASU only received ZMK24,000 of the funds from the 2021 allocation and had
  so far only received ZMK13,000 from the 2022 allocation. He stated this was an ongoing
  challenge and concern
• He further highlighted that ZASU had erected coverage over one side of the OYDC viewing section which consumed much of the Union’s reserve funds, but added that this addition would benefit the swimming community. He informed members that ZASU is the only federation in Africa that controls and maintains its own swimming facility.
• The President informed members that ZASU would continue to provide coaching course opportunities for our member clubs’ coaching staff, upskilling our registered coaches remains a crucial ingredient in growing the sport as well as improving our swimmers performances at local, regional, continental and international events. He informed members that ZASU had applied for and been approved to host an officials coaching course and members would be invited to nominate participants from their clubs.
• The President stated that the CANA AGM was yet to be held and we would have more information on CANA matters once ZASU attended the AGM. He noted that ZASU had successfully applied for and been awarded the Olympic Aquatic Solidarity Program (OASP) funding. He explained the difficulty in getting awarded this funding with less than 50% of African countries being awarded OASP funding but was happy to report that Zambia had been awarded USD$22,500 which was important revenue for the federation.
• He stated that ZASU continues to work closely with the NSCZ and NOCZ in securing additional funding for our programs as well as participating in sport administrative courses that allows our executive to enhance its service to our members. We are committed to participating in the games that fall under these entities (namely the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, All Africa Games and the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Games).
• The President stated that we needed to find ways to increase our membership base and ZASU would continue working with clubs to grow the membership numbers to that before the Covid-19 pandemic.
• In closing, the President stated that we needed to review the ZASU constitution as it had become archaic and was no longer in line with best practices. He added that soon FINA would not accept our constitution and we would need to align it with FINA and CANA. He added that reviewing the constitution could be done in two ways. Either a constitutional review committee be set up and changes made be approved at an EGM or ZASU Excom review and update the constitution and set up an EGM for the membership to approve.

The President opened the floor to questions.

8.Matters arising therefrom

Jane Banda queried if the courses and schools presented in the previous Presidents report were scheduled to go ahead. The President confirmed that these 2 FINA schools had been cancelled due to the third wave of Covid-19. He further informed the members that ZASU had secured one FINA Officials Course scheduled for September 2022 and added that members were not limited to only attending courses in Zambia, as other countries in the region may offer coaches and officials courses which other countries were able to attend at their own expense.

Danny Sinyangwe queried if ZASU could provide training for new club administrators. The President stated that the National Olympic Committee shared Sports Administrators courses from time to time and these would be shared with members when they were offered.

Mary Haabazoka queried if the OYDC swimming pool could be opened to the public and asked what plans the ZASU Excom had for OYDC pool facility in the coming season. The President stated ZASU did not yet have the resources in place to offer public swimming. He continued that the main issue with allowing public swimming was the safety aspect. He highlighted that the swimming pool was designed for competitive swimming and not public swimming. He stated that public access to the pool opened up the facility to vandalism and theft as was previously found. The President noted that a number of public entities did utilise the 25m pool and members could continue to use this service.

The President stated that the focus for the upcoming season at OYDC was to fix the filtration, chlorination and heating system of the pool as this would greatly reduce the costs associated with the operation of the pool. It was imperative for the progress of swimming to ensure the heating system was working.

Alberto Cataldi stated that OYDC had huge potential to grow the sport and suggested finding a formula to use the pool and invite schools and additional galas to attract more swimmers. The President stated that as a federation, ZASU is not designed to recruit “learn to swim” swimmers and this was the responsibility of the clubs. In terms of promoting swimming and attracting new swimmers, ZASU directs interested parties to the clubs. The President stated that ZASU was committed to getting the municipal pool working again as this was the avenue where “learn to swim” and developmental programs could take place. He also reminded members that the ISAZ program was beneficial to development swimming and ZASU supported their mandate.

9.Presentation & adoption of Financial Statements for the year ended 31st May 2022

Tanya presented the report of the treasurer for the year end. She stated that these accounts were not audited as this was not a constitutional requirement.

The Treasurer reported that the total income from ZASU Clubs and Operations was K484, 595 and the operational costs were K340, 875. leaving a profit of K143, 720.

In addition, the Treasurer reported that ZASU received a total of K 1, 283,902 as Grants and Sponsorships from other bodies. ZASU spent K1,043,760 of these funds. Resulting in a final loss of K79,859.

The Treasurer recommended that there be changes to the Club Fees.

The treasurer invited questions on the financials.

10.Matters arising from the treasurer’s report

Tonia Weltin requested that the financial documentation be shared to members. Tanya Kieslich confirmed she would send the final accounts to members. The President added that our financial year ended in May and the AGM was constitutionally required to be held in June which did not allow for finalized audited accounts for members to review. He continued, and informed members that the accounts did get audited after the AGM but highlighted the challenges that were being faced because of the constitution, hence the need to review it.

The financial report was proposed by LICS and seconded by Kalene.

11.Adoption of Calendar for the 2022/23 season

Amy Kuhn asked if additional galas could be considered on the Copperbelt. This request was echoed by Naomi Kasanda. The President stated that there would usually be long course gala in Mufulira which would add another gala on the Copperbelt region, however this pool was no longer available.

The members reviewed the proposed calendar and with no objection to the proposal, the calendar was adopted as presented.

12.Adoption of Gala Program for the 2022/23 season

The members reviewed the proposed gala program. Chris Daka proposed the adoption and the same was seconded by Danny Sinyangwe.

13.Review of fees for the 2022/23 season

The treasurer proposed the following fees for the season.

After discussion, all fees, save the Capital Levy were adopted by the membership.

14.Any other business

Chris Daka enquired if ZASU would host any galas in the upcoming season or if clubs were able to
host events proposed in the calendar. The President stated that ZASU did not have the manpower to
continue hosting galas and this was only done during Covid-19. He added that hosting of galas
allowed for clubs to raise funds.

Mary Haabazoka requested that ZASU send through an international calendar so clubs were aware
of events. She also requested for national records to be circulated as this had not been done in the
previous season.

Nicola Sharpe-Phiri that it was difficult to set an international calendar for the whole year as at the time of setting ZASU calendar, this information is usually not available. She added that the ZASU Excom usually received communication at short notice. The President added that information on events that were on ZASU’s radar would be circulated to the clubs. The President apologized for the lack of up-to-date national records. He noted that the registrar had stepped down and there had been a gap in this space. He added that there had been a data clean up in order to ensure the national records circulated were correct. He stated that ZASU was committed to ensuring that updated national records were circulated to clubs in the upcoming season.

Danny Sinyangwe requested if all coaches could be included in consultative decisions that Excom make. The President stated that this was a fair request and would be considered going forward. Ian Stephenson requested if the rule regarding the number of swimmers in long distance events could be reviewed. He requested that the long distance events not be cancelled if there were less than 4 swimmers in an event. He added that this was disadvantageous to long distance swimmers. The President stated that this would be reviewed by Excom with clubs being engaged before a final decision was made.

With there being no other business, the meeting was closed at 15:39.