22 Aug 2016

The importance of an Ethics Committee in any sporting code cannot be over emphasised.

The Ethics Committee acts as a powerful judiciary which deals with corruption and misconduct in sport.

Just recently, the FIFA Ethics Committee slapped the organisation’s former secretary general Jerome Valcke with a 12 year ban from all football activities for misconduct.

It was the same structure that also banned former FIFA vice-president and executive committee member Jack Warner for life.

Now the Botswana Football Association has moved to establish its Ethics Committee made up of six members.

The committee, which will be chaired by retired Judge John Mosojane, is made up of Daniel Tau, Dabilani Buthali, Tymon Katholo, Joshua Galeforolwe, and Baeti Molake.

In an effort to get clarity of the importance an Ethics Committee, BOPA spoke to FIFA development officer, Ashford Mamelodi, who explained that the committee was an independent judicial organ which addresses offences in football outside the field of play, as opposed to Disciplinary Committees which focuses on offences inside the field of play.

He said the FIFA executive committee adopted the Code of Ethics in 2012 and all member associations were expected to have Ethics Committees that enforce the code of ethics.

Mamelodi stated that in the past and in the absence of an Ethics Committee, it was generally accepted that ethical issues were dealt with by Disciplinary Committee, something which often proved to be ineffective as decisions on ethical issues were often compromised.

He stated that the committee has to safeguard the integrity and reputation of football, protect its image from being jeopardised by illegal, immoral or unethical practices.

Mamelodi said some important provisions of the FIFA Code of Ethics were about the general rules of conduct adding that people bound by this code were expected to be aware of the importance of their duties, obligations and responsibilities.

He said people bound by this Code were obliged to respect all applicable laws and regulations as well as FIFA’s regulatory framework.

He said they shall behave in a dignified manner and act with complete credibility and integrity and not abuse their position in any way, especially to take advantage of their position for private aims or gains.

The Code of Ethics amongst other things forbids forgery and falsification of authentic document or using a forged or falsified document, bribery and corruption regardless of whether it was carried out directly or indirectly through, or in conjunction with, intermediaries or related parties.
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