SVM Policy Nearly Derails AGM
Calistus Kolantsho | Monday May 31, 2021 15:33
It led to the vetting out of some of the candidates such as Curdley Mukwati who was nominated for the position of secretary general and Zachariah Seabo for public relations position. The two were vetted out, because they did not meet some of the requirements.
The new SVM vice chairperson, Tapson Patane, told Sport Monitor that they went through the same situation in the past. “The policy offers two routes for the election process and the first one is through nomination forms. The forms should be accompanied by a profile and a consent letter. So in this case, the nominated candidates did not submit their profiles and consent letters, which is the reason why they were vetted out. Again if they were to request the forms, the process was going to be overtaken by the time frame of 21 days of submission prior to elections,” he said. Patane explained that after discarding all nominees, which were not complete, then the policy was left with one route being to allow floor nominations. Patane said the vetted candidates could be allowed to contest for positions in the next elections if they are interested.
“There would be a waiver, not to punish a person twice for the same mistake. Again, such persons could revert to serve at regional level,” Patane said.
Meanwhile, accepting his new role, Patane said he has a strong team that would bring balance, professionalism and dignity to the Movement. Outgoing chairperson, Keenese Katisenge- Tizhani said in 2019/2020 the national executive committee looked into the SVM policy and realised that it had some loopholes. She said the committee had a strategy review session with the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) strategy team in 2019, where the strategy document was cascaded to the regions and evaluation conducted in 2021. “The policy has some requirements such as candidates being expected to submit copies of identification cards, but if you fail to do that, the policy does not allow us to start following someone asking for the document. If your nomination is missing, there is nothing we can do about it. We continue with the vetting process until conclusion. Being vetted out does not mean you are not a good leader, but it means the nominations were not complete. The policy also states that if you have served in the previous committee there should be evidence that you had submitted handover reports,” she said.
Meanwhile, Katisenge-Tizhani announced that she is stepping down, adding that she had already informed the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) about her decision.
The new chairperson will be appointed by the BNSC. The other committee members: Moses Poloko (secretary general), Nathaniel Matsheka (treasurer) and Thato Matenge (PRO). Additional members: Kgotlaetsile Moube and Boshoma Mfetane.