Ryushin-Kan push membership fight
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday June 4, 2021 14:00
The style fought tooth and nail to be given full membership before the BOKA annual general meeting (AGM) held in March. Ryushin-Kan chief instructor, Keorapetse Dube tried his luck to run for president. However, he was disqualified from contesting because his club had provisional and not full membership. It all started in 2013 when BOKA suspended Ryushin-Kan pending investigations on the change of name from Ryushin-Kan International to Seikokai and the change of affiliation from Ryushin-Kan International Africa to Shito Ryu Seiko Kai International. The entire group was suspended from taking part in BOKA activities.
However, BOKA lifted the suspension in April 2014. In May 2014, a letter was written to Ryushin-Kan informing them that they had been granted provisional membership for a year. In another letter from former secretary-general, Phineas Motseolapile in July 2020, Ryushin-Kan had applied for membership. In his response, Motseolapile said after a thorough assessment by the executive committee, the style was granted provisional membership for 12 months.
Ryushin-Kan tried in vain to fight the provisional membership issue ahead of the AGM.
According to information from the Registrar of Societies in a letter dated April 2021, Ryushin-Kan Karate Do Botswana was registered on May 30, 2013, under its former name Shitoryu Kenwa Kai Karate Do International Botswana. “Your request for change of name was approved and subsequently registered under the current name, International Ryushin-Kan Karate Do Botswana on September 5, 2019. Furthermore, there is no other club or association registered under any of the above names,” the letter reads in part.
Ryushin-Kan lawyer, Ofentse Khumomotse told Mmegi Sport that they approached the court before the AGM to seek intervention.
“The court decided that the matter was not urgent. So as we speak it is still pending. We have approached BOKA lawyer to propose that the matter should be resolved by the parties involved, not the court,” he said.
Meanwhile, BOKA president, Tshepo Bathai referred this publication to the association’s lawyer, Kgosi Ngakaagae who was unavailable for comment.