Uncertainty over karate elections
Calistus Kolantsho | Saturday January 14, 2023 06:00
BOKA is expected to elect a new executive committee during the Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) scheduled for January 21 in Gaborone. Interim president, Mpho Bakwadi enters the race unchallenged and so are the rest of the candidates.
After a tumultuous few years, Bakwadi said people are tired of karate being in the media for the wrong reasons. “It is time to deliver and bring karate back to its glory days.
It will take time for the public to start gaining trust and confidence in us after what happened,” he told Mmegi Sport. Four affiliates, Kofukan, Karate Nomichi, Shitoryu Shukokai and Goju Kai have not submitted names of delegates for the meeting.
According to information reaching Mmegi Sport, it is not going to be easy for the OGM to be held. “The minutes from the last meeting indicate that Kofukan was the one only that passed a motion of no confidence against the previous committee but Kofukan wrote a letter which stated that they did not send anybody to the meeting. That changes everything and makes me wonder if the interim committee is legitimate,” a source said.
The source added that the interim committee has written letters threatening to suspend some members ahead of the OGM and none of the concerned parties have responded to the correspondence.
It is alleged that Kofukan did not submit the name of Kemmonye Seletamotse, who is unopposed for the position of treasurer. BOKA spokesperson, Keorapetse Dube said Nomichi has been suspended from all BOKA activities pending investigations. He said the federation has not objected to the suspension.
According to a suspension letter that was written to Nomichi in October 11, the federation had not paid annual affiliation fee for the year 2022/23. “Your federation being Nomichi purchased medals to a tune of P20,509.00 and P1,800.00 for branding of medals. The medals bought are reported to have been bought for both your club championships and Lobatse Sports Festival,” the letter reads. The letter stated that the federation used the funds knowing that BOKA or the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) did not fund the two events. Dube said he did not have information on the number of federations that have not submitted names.
He said federations are not forced to submit, as it is by choice. “Maybe they did not submit because they did not have people who are interested in contesting,” he said.
A source said the interim committee does not have access to the BOKA bank account. Dube confirmed that they do not have access to the account because the handover from the previous committee was not smooth. “We hope the BNSC will assist us to pay for the OGM preparations. Normally they pay directly to the venue.
For now we are still addressing the issue of the bank account,” Dube said. The rest of the interim committee which stands unopposed has Moemedi Nthapelelang (vice president-administration), Union Kgafela (vice president-technical), Othusitse Dick (secretary-general), Francois Alberts (vice secretary-general) and Dube (PRO).