TRFA held its first workshop this year on the 31st of January 2026 at the Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation’s North Corridor Auditorium. This workshop was focused on the administrative operations, chief among the awareness elements being organisational legitimacy and compliance.
The workshop was unfortunately not attended by all the local football associations. While some sent apologies, some simply did not. 11 LFAs attended all in all.
The workshop took the theme that we live in a world of infinite possibility. Because we believe we can do anything, we have started to do it.
At the workshop, members shared their expectations, which are listed here below:
To better understand how LFAs must conduct themselves and what their responsibilities are towards the region
The LFAs came to understand that they are not responsible for all football. Football belongs to all people, and they can do whatever they want with it. They can play in the streets, they can use dustbins as poles, and they can play with plastic soccer balls if they want. The referee may be a random person who just stands in the middle of the park with the whistle and another hand in the pocket. It is theirs, and they can practically do whatever they want with it.
For example, social football, community games, or football gambling are not part of what LFAs must concern themselves with in governing, managing, administering and operating. LFAs only manage association football, and that is where the focus must be.
Association football is governed by the rules. There is no aspect of association that does not have rules around it. To make these comprehensible, football bodies have created statutory and regulatory frameworks that absorb, package and categorise these rules into readable documents. Chief among these are the Constitutions. In 2006, SAFA repackaged constitutional templates for itself, regions and LFAs. Internalising these constitutions ensures uniformity in the application of these rules and prescripts. Accompanying these are rules, regulations, and relevant policies. LFAs are there to focus on understanding this regulatory framework, starting with the constitutions, ensuring that they use the correct template.
At the regional level, we have packaged these and published them on our website. See the link here below:
To maintain compliance, LFAs must focus on Article 12 (Membership Rights) and Article 13 (Membership Obligations) of the Regional Statutes to understand the extent of participation and to remain in good standing.
The region attempted to run a programme in 2024 (4 x 4 Compliance Programme) that aimed at assisting the LFAs with compliance and to remain in good standing. This programme was abandoned because of the REC instabilities at the time. This programme will commence this year with a much more accelerated push, ensuring that by the time we reach the Quadrennial Congress in November, all the LFAs are compliant in practice.
Alignment and uniformity across the board at the LFA level
Alignment and uniformity at the LFA are facilitated at the very foundational level by the adoption of the SAFA-issued constitutional templates. LFAs who have not adopted this SAFA-issued constitutional template must begin to prepare for such adoption.
The adoption of the mentioned template is not a tick-box exercise but a real transformation to ensure operations that are aligned to a true form of association football, including the language used in football. For instance, we have picked up that there are still LFAs talking about AGMs and SGMs, and when you talk about Congresses, they don’t understand, and hence, they don’t understand the power of the Constitution and that of the Congress and differentiate between the two.
Use the below link to adopt the standard template of the constitution to be adopted at the LFA:
https://lfamp.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/SAFA-Standard-Statutes-LFAs-.pdf
The region remains ready to assist with this process.
This is not everything that must be done to align and achieve uniformity, but it is the starting point.
Financial Management Imperatives
Because association football operates as NPOs (Department of Social Development) and PBOs (SARS), it is critical that we adopt the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to align with the regulatory bodies when reporting.
SARS especially has the responsibility of reporting the tax it collects and thus contributing to the fiscus of the country. Which is why when you register as an NPO or NPC, you also must have a tax reference number to ensure that you make your contributions accordingly. But because of the nature of our operations, that of operating for public benefit whilst not making profits, SARS then considers the tax exemption for our organisations, thus certifying us as Public Benefit Organisations (PBOs). However, the fact that we are tax exempt does not mean that we no longer have to report to SARS. They still need to collect information about exempted tax per annum and report to the government the tax they did not collect due to public benefit.
Football associations that report appropriately to SARS also have access to their Tax Clearance Certificates. Associations that have access to Tax Clearance Certificates have access to many funding opportunities, as funders know they will benefit from tax returns by contributing to the association. By this, we are not referring to the growing money laundering practice, which is criminal in nature, but to true Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives that are also reported to SARS by the relevant corporates.
Therefore, strong management accounting, financial accounting, bookkeeping, and auditing practice is required at the LFA level. Not only for compliance purposes, but for the real appreciation of the value of money. We made an example that by 2011, SAFA was valued at over R400m, and fast forward to 2025, where it was valued at approximately -R40m, basically insolvent. In this scenario, we see people who either did not understand or appreciate the value of money, spending it on consumptive rather than investment purposes. We saw the procurement of buses for the 2010 World Cup event; regions were issued with 35-seaters and Sonatas, NEC members were issued with C-Class cars, etc. There is more, obviously, that we did not see but that took a similar lack of appreciation for money. An ordinary person might think we do not purchase transportation for events, but rather lease it, for example.
On the other hand, if you do a simple search on the worth of CAF, you will get this statement:
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has undergone a significant financial turnaround under President Patrice Motsepe, reporting a net profit of $9.48 million for the 2023–2024 financial year and revenue of $166.42 million. This marks a major reversal from a $140 million debt in 2021. The organization is also in the process of finalizing a $1 billion long-term commercial deal
On the other hand, FIFA is worth around $4 billion. This is not necessarily because it is a global organisation, but because its financial management practices are based on the principles and values of appreciating the value of the money.
On a simple calculation, at this point Tshwane Regional Football Association has assets worth R247K, accounts receivable worth R452K and liabilities worth R382K, meaning that the region’s worth can be calculated to be R177K. But this worth and the liquidity thereof is not valuable to the market, and that does not mean much. Therefore, even the region has to ask itself one question: how do we use football to create appreciating organisational value in the next three to five years? Of course, the answer to this question will not come from finance itself but from a combination of departments, like commercial and marketing, leagues & competitions, refereeing, technical & development, etc. Once it has a valid answer, then the organisation must be resolute to religiously hold to the practice of creating such value, firing on all cylinders.
The region has already adopted a Finance Policy that is foundational to helping it develop a disciplined financial management practice. This policy will be reviewed on a periodic basis as the region’s maturity level in financial management improves. This policy will be shared with the LFAs to internalise and adopt. Again, the region remains ready to assist.
The Congress
We discussed the makeup of the Congress and how Congresses and what they do legitimise the association. Although the Congress can amend the Constitution (Statutes), it is not above the Constitution. That means that Congress cannot override the prescript of the constitution, even as the majority. The constitutional prescripts cannot be debated for or against at the Congress; they must just be adhered to.
The below framework shows the various agenda items of the Congress by order of occurrence and of importance.
From the above, for Ordinary Congress, if the agenda items on Compliance and Primary Business are not fulfilled, or even if it is just one of those items not being appropriately fulfilled, then the Congress has failed. Ordinary congresses can do without support and direction, secondary business, and tertiary business, but not without compliance and primary business. Therefore, when LFAs (region included) plan for the Congress, they must ensure adherence to this framework.
Constitutions state the month that Ordinary Congresses must be held; like for the region, it is ordinarily in November. LFAs must ensure that their congresses occur within the constitutionally specified months. Deviations must not be acceptable.
Congresses are a product of the Congress itself. The role that the executive plays in determining the date of the Congress is on behalf of the Congress itself. Therefore, when a Congress date has been set, it must no be moved or postponed by the executive. Congress must happen, ready or not, and the executive must account for the non-compliance that may exist. It must be the Congress that postpones its meeting, not the executive. There is nowhere in the constitution where the executive has authority to postpone the Congress. But in practicality, if the executive were to have powers to postpone the Congress, then it means that the executive has to power to postpone its day to account, which in itself is an anomaly.
Addmission of Members
Leader must never ever choose members. Members must choose leaders.
We have noticed that LFA executives admit members in the middle of the season, and then come to the Congress to announce those members. This is absolutely incorrect. There is a process for the admission of new Members. Article 11 of the Regional Statutes is prescriptive on how members must be admitted. it is further unpacked in the Membership Admission Regulations, which will be shared with the LFA for internalising and adoption. These regulations have simplified the admission process, showing a process flow and participants.
LFAs are therefore encouraged to adopt these regulations for themselves, and ensure that they also avoid provisional admission by the executives, to rather advise the applicants to follow the process, and be present at the next Ordinary Congress where they will be admitted.
Again, the region is available to assist.
Annual Affiliation
The myth is that once an LFA pay’s the Affiliation Fee, they are compliant and in Good Standing.
Wrong!
The Administration and Communication Policy of the region outlines the affiliation process, which includes completing the Annual Affiliation Form, submitting required documents, including recent Congress minutes, and make the paying only after receiving the invoice.
Articles 13 and 57 ofthe Regional Statutes have been factored in the Administration and Communication policy for the criteria of the ‘In Good Standing’ Status. Adherance to Section 4.2 of the Administration and Communications policy will assist the LFAs to remain in Good Standing with the region. Paragraph 4.2.7 of the policy shall be the only go-to reference for what constitutes the ‘in Good Standing’ status for LFAs.
The region’s Affiliation Window is July to August each year. This has been missed for the current financial year. To rectify this, the Window will be opened from the 1st of February to the 31st of March. The region will kick off the process as shown in Section 4.2 of the Administration and Communications Policy, and the LFAs will be requested to comply.
Communication
The region has corperate email addresses, like:
- sizwe.nkosi@tshwanerfa.org.za
- zakhele.nkosi@tshwanerfa.org.za
- lerato.molege@tshwanerfa.org.za
- info@tshwanerfa.org.za
Any email purported to represent the association but not of this document, does not represent the region. The region will deny any liability arising from any communication arising for a non-sanctioned email address.
The region has a single point of contact all all requirements of its members and stakeholders, which is info@tshwanerfa.org.za. Sending requests to any other email address will not produce desired results, plus the region will not take accountability to any lapses and poor service delivery arising from those conversations.
Behind the info@tshwanerfa.org.za contact point, there is a service management system that is aimed to ensure proper support that is reportable and measured. This is done so that we service you better, all the time, consistently.
As a matter of policy requirements, all members must have a manned email address to which the region will communicate for important matters. In addition, LFAs must have WhatsApp numbers to be added in the relevant groups for instant messaging.
The region has a website that it maintains, having league information, and any other information of popular use, including these kind of updates. The website is https://tshwanerfa.org.za. To remain updated with the postings on the website, LFAs must register on the website through this link:
https://tshwanerfa.org.za/wp-login.php?action=register
Or if already registered, login through this link:
https://tshwanerfa.org.za/wp-login.php
The website is not intrusive and it is operated in such a way that it respects people’s privacy.
The facebook page, which is also updated regularly, is at:
https://www.facebook.com/TshwaneRFA
More of these links, especially the social media pages, can be found on section 10 of our Administration and Communication Policy.
Other Policies and Regulations
We did not manage to go through the Commercial Policy, Regional Standing Orders, Executive Reporting Regulationsas time was not on our side. However, we will prioritise this with our next admin workshop still this year.
Once more, we thank all the LFAs that made it to the Workshop. For those that did not make it, try to attend next time. You need to know these things. We need to align. We need to unify our methods and approaches. We need to move as one unit.
Remember. We do this
For the Love of Football, for the Love of Tshwane, for the Love of its Youth
END
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