Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has said it discovered some loopholes in Football Association of Malawi’s (Fam) systems and processes of safeguarding female athletes.
The discovery is contained in the commission’s report on an alleged sexual scandal involving one of the association’s senior officials and a member of the Malawi Women’s National Football Team delegation.
Releasing the report yesterday in Lilongwe, Commissioner Viwemi Chavula said they have recommended that Fam should revisit its sexual harassment policy to safeguard female athletes.
“We have found some loopholes. There is a culture of silence and we have also seen some gaps in terms of the setup of either trainings or awareness of safeguarding rules that are supposed to be available,” Chavula said.
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The commission has said the investigation was hindered by the lack of cooperation from the alleged victim(s), including the withdrawal of the complaint and limited availability of corroborating evidence.
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“As a result, the commission was unable to establish whether the conduct in question met the legal threshold required to substantiate the allegations. Notably, the commission’s inability substantiate the specific allegations in the initial case should not be interpreted as an absence of sexual harassment within Fam.
“The investigations revealed that fear, mistrust and a culture of non-reporting are significant barriers to addressing such misconduct, despite Fam having measures in place to safeguard officials and players,” part of the report reads.
Fam Technical Support Manager James Sangala said the report is a wake-up call.
“The commission has found some gaps, so we have to look at the recommendations and scale up on what we have been doing to make sure that the working environment in football is the safest place,” Sangala said.
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MHRC conducted independent investigations on allegations that Fam executive committee member Daudi Mtanthiko had made sexual advances on female officials during Malawi Women’s National Football Team friendly matches against South Africa and Zambia.
However, Fam cleared Mtanthiko of wrongdoing after the matter was referred to the association’s disciplinary committee.
