From karate to �ka-rotten�
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday January 30, 2015 17:17
When Tshepo Bathai ousted Million Masumbika from the Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) presidency, securing a 12-6 vote from the affiliates last May, it never looked like the beginning of a rough patch for the sport. But in the end, it proved to be a rugged terrain and eventful stint that lasted seven months.
An internal strife drove out Bathai and three of his executive committee members and a crisis was triggered at BOKA. The sport was left headless and the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) roped in a Commission of Inquiry.
But Bathai argues that move was ill-advised as his committee never sought the intervention of the supreme sports body.
He said BOKA had not exhausted internal channels to resolve the disputes. He dismisses the commission’s findings, which blame factionalism for the chaos.
“If anything, the BNSC’s interference is to blame. There is a lot of interest from the BNSC starting with the chairperson down to the members. There are a lot of former karatekas in that BNSC board,” he says.
BNSC chairperson, Solly Reikeletseng and additional member, Ookeditse Malesu were once members of the BOKA committee.
Bathai believes the Commission of Inquiry, headed by BNSC board member, Falcon Sedimo was supposed to seek views from his committee. He dismissed the recently appointed interim BOKA leadership saying the move was unconstitutional.
“The BNSC and the government are the only ones which can appoint an interim committee. Some of the individuals in that committee are conflicted, they are the ones responsible for the petitions (which were written to the previous committee),” he says. As a result, Bathai does not see karate emerging from the morass anytime soon. He says he faced resistance from some members of his committee and each time he took action against them, they felt “an element of entitlement” and were not aware of protocol.
But former BOKA president, Gift Nkwe feels the dissolved committee contained greenhorns who could not handle the mammoth leadership task. “During my time in office, the association was running smoothly due to the experience the committee members had. I cannot say the same thing about the dissolved committee because I do not think they had the necessary experience. Some were athletes and after retiring, they rushed straight to administration. Running an organisation is not an easy thing,” Nkwe says.
He feels sorry for karatekas as they emerged as the suffering grass in the elephants’ fight. The karate national team failed to take part in Zone Six and Union Federation of African Karate (UFAK) competitions. “Sports is dynamic and when you miss out on a single competition, you will find that some things have changed,” he says.
Nkwe hopes that with the ‘remedial action’ that has ushered in an interim committee, BOKA will soon be fully functional.
A former senior BOKA member who preferred anonymity says leaders should be honest and not take decisions arbitrarily. He says it is important to have leaders who are not driven by money.
The last time karate won international medals was during the May 2014 Gaborone Africa Youth Games.
Christopher Ponatshego who was in the dissolved committee argues they were never given time to fulfill their mandate. He says as a new committee, they did not get support from their predecessors and the BNSC though they had plans to develop the sport.
“Our plan was to come up with an insurance policy for karatekas. We had set up a karate trust fund and it had prominent members.
BOKA hall has been incomplete for many years and we had identified a sponsor to finish the work. All the plans we had are going to fail because we have been kicked out prematurely,” he says.
Ponatshego admits that factions existed in their committee.
“Of the nine federations, only five wrote petitions complaining about us. I was even accused of appointing myself as the national team coach. They were forgetting that they appointed me,” he says.
Ponatshego says members of his committee will give the interim leadership support.
He tips interim committee chairperson, David Mathe to become the new president with Mpho Bakwadi as vice president-technical.