Controversy hits African Games team
Calistus Kolantsho | Saturday March 2, 2024 06:00
Ramotswa Athletics Club sprinter, Edwin Molelekwa, also failed to make the cut despite improving his qualifying time in the 200m.
Molelekwa qualified for the games after clocking 21.13s, a time he eventually improved to set his new Personal Best (PB) of 20.96. Ramotswa club chair, Harold Mosomane, told MmegiSport that they were shocked by the omission of Molelekwa. He said they wrote a letter to the Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) inquiring about the decision.
“Procedure was not followed when the team was assembled. Apparently the team manager placed calls to athletes informing them that they have been included in the team," he said. "There were no official letters to clubs informing them that their athletes have received national team call-ups. I learnt this from Molelekwa after he was informed by other athletes who received those calls,” he added. Mosomane said he approached the BAA vice president-technical, Kenneth Kikwe, after the team list was published to enquire about the omission of Molelekwa.
“I informed him that I was making a follow-up to the first letter that I wrote because my athlete was not in the team. I told him that the matter was urgent bearing in mind the times for international deadlines,” he said. Mosomane said Kikwe informed him that there were many queries and that the office would respond. “I made Kikwe aware of my dissatisfaction about such a response, which to me was a dismissal. I then engaged the president, Moses Bantsi, who asked me to provide him with evidence which I did, and he promised to engage further on the matter,” Mosomane said.
He said the club has not received any feedback on the matter and pleaded with the BAA board to give the matter the seriousness it deserves. Mosomane said the omission of Molelekwa would break the athlete, as he was excited about qualifying. Meanwhile, Ngozi was hopeful as he told MmegiSport that the BAA had written a letter to the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) that one athlete in the team should make way for him. “The BAA is still waiting for a response from BNSC and I do not know when that response will come. I am hopeful that I will make the team,” said Ngozi yesterday afternoon. Ngozi’s coach, Justice Dipeba, yesterday said the BAA was running up and down trying to include him in the team. This publication is informed that Ngozi was dropped from the team after allegedly refusing to take a routine doping test.
“They are accusing him of things that they cannot prove. Even the doping office is shocked to hear that. They confirmed that there was never something like that. Now they are trying by all means to cover this up by including him in the team,” he said. At the time of going to print, Dipeba said Ngozi had submitted his passport and taken a yellow fever shot, and they were waiting to see how things unfold. The BAA vice president-administration, Oabona Theets,o said changing the composition of the team would depend on the reasons put forward. “Even if we have written a letter to BNSC, an athlete cannot be privy to that information,” Theetso said. The send-off ceremony for the team that departs for Ghana is on Sunday.