'Aggrieved' clubs snub Netball's Extra Ordinary Meeting

Calistus Kolantsho | Wednesday October 8, 2025 06:27

The gathering was called to review the constitution and adopt the financial report. According to information reaching Sport Monitor, clubs did not turn up for the meeting because they are aggrieved and felt ignored by the National Executive Committee (NEC) when they try to communicate with it.

“Only six clubs attended the meeting out of 17. Following the adjournment, as per the constitution, the meeting should be held within 30 days. This means the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) cannot release league funds before the financial report is approved by the members.

“ In the next meeting, the quorum should be formed by one fifth of membership, if they do not form a quorum the meeting will not go ahead,” a source said.

For her part, BONA president, Mpopi Moatlhodi admitted to SportMonitor that they did not form a quorum hence the meeting could not go ahead as planned.

She explained that the constitution mandates that if a quorum is not formed within an hour of the set time, the meeting must stand adjourned for 30 days, and they did exactly that.

“The NEC does not deal with clubs directly, they talk to NEC through zonal committees. If they wanted to talk to us, wasn’t this an opportunity for them to come and do so?. I do not believe that.

“If clubs are angry, they should come and tell us why they are angry,” she said, when asked if she was aware that clubs were aggrieved.

Moatlhodi also explained that the implications of the failure to hold a meeting means BONA will continue to operate with an outdated constitution.

She said the purpose of the extraordinary meeting was to review the constitution and share financial reports.

Meanwhile, BONA held a press conference on Friday at the BNSC warm up area where Moatlhodi highlighted her road map for the association.

She also introduced the senior women national team coach, Martha Mosoahle-Sam and senior men coach, Neo Dema.

Other members of the technical teams are Topo Basaako (women team manager) and Baitshephi Kethamile (men team manager).

“Some of the deliverables for the women’s coach is to prepare the team for Africa Cup which will be hosted by Malawi later this year. We also want her to qualify for the Netball World Cup 2027,” Moatlhodi added.

For her part, Mosoahle-Sam said Botswana has abundance of talent that only needs to be molded.

She said the challenge is that the team has been out of action for some time, which means they are now catching up with the new changes in the game.