Bantsi retains position at BAA
Lekopanye Mooketsi | Monday February 9, 2015 14:17
Bantsi warded off challenge from Paphane Botlhale and the former athletics coach, Adam Letham.
He received 27 votes, while Botlhale was voted by nine. Letham received only seven votes.
Almost the entire executive committee was retained except for the Public Relations Officer Ipolokeng Ramatshaba and the Secretary General Patrick Moesi.
Moesi who is based in Palapye did not stand for re-election, while Ramatshaba was ousted by an army officer Richard Masalila. Masalila who is not new to the BAA executive was voted by 21 affiliates, while another contestant Thatayaone Lefatshe polled 16. The hard working Ramatshaba came third after garnering nine votes.
In his financial report, BAA treasurer Brian Mosweu unveiled a P2 billion Sports City project for the association.
He revealed that BAA through the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC), was allocated a five hectares plot in Gaborone. He said the purpose of the allocation was for BAA to up developments to facilitate its mandate of developing athletics in the country in all respects. BAA was requested by BNSC to indicate its intent to develop the plot otherwise the mother body would repossess the piece of land.
Mosweu said BAA took the initiative to this regard and engaged a team of professionals to develop a design concept which was submitted to BNSC in September last year. He said BAA aspires to develop a High Performance Training Centre (HPTC) facility to provide a centre of excellence for training and development of athletes and coaches to elevate them to international classes standards.
According to him, the envisaged developments on the plot include a five star hotel, BAA head office, administration offices, 29 self contained rooms, retail and restaurant dining areas.
The facility would also include entertainment and social areas. There would also be a main stadium that would accommodate athletics events, football games, rugby games and warm up tracks.
Another development would be an indoor sporting facility. The multi-purpose hall that would also have a swimming pool would cater for badminton, volleyball, netball, basketball, gymnasium, karate and chess.
There would also be a conference centre to cater for corporate, social and formal events. Mosweu said BAA has put in place a highly experienced teams of professionals who will oversee the design and implementation monitoring of the project.
The BAA treasurer said after an intensified search for financiers for the project, a potential financier was identified and funding will be in the form of a donation.
He said the association has entered, in principle, into an agreement with the potential financiers, and since the funding will be a donation, the project scope will be expanded to include other sporting codes.
He revealed that the initial project scope was estimated at P300 million and after discussions with the financiers, the project scope will be expanded to P2 billion.
He said the professional team is currently working on the possible additions to the current scope. According to him, BAA will meeting once more with the financiers, possibly this week for future discussions on the final project scope.
However, the president of the association, Bantsi declined to reveal the identity of the potential donor as he said they do not want to be sabotaged.