Jagdish Laughs Longest
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Monday February 1, 2016 15:02
The AGM was held under heavy security after near violent scenes between club supporters during their 2-1 loss to BR Highlanders the previous weekend.
The meeting kicked-off with some tongue lashing from the Botswana National Sport Commission chairperson, Solly Reikeletseng, who expressed disappointment over what happened in Molepolole.
“You need to come together as a club and put the interest of the club first. Change should not be controversial such that it brings the game into disrepute.
As one of the big clubs, Rollers should keep its house in order and this is the time to discuss matters in a candid manner,” he said.
Reikeletseng was the guest of honour at the meeting, which also attracted other dignitaries such as the Botswana Football Association (BFA) president, Tebogo Sebego as well as the Botswana Premier League (BPL) chief executive officer, Bennett Mamelodi.
Several other supporters however failed to make it into the Gaborone West Community Hall after failing to produce their identity cards as per the requirement set out by the club management at the meeting. However, multitudes still managed to fill the hall and deliberated on several issues on the agenda. At the meeting, the membership endorsed a commercialisation model dubbed the Hybrid model, which they feel will take their club forward.
The model allows the club to bring in an investor who will be leased a team for a certain period of time.
The investor will then pay the society a certain fee per year, which will be determined by the value of the club. The society will also have a change to share some profit with the investor in which the amount will be determined by the negotiations between the management and the investor. The model was preferred over four others that were presented before the general membership. The endorsement of the model also paved way for the amendment of the club constitution to allow for the incoming of an investor.
The club also held elections for the new executive committee where Walter Kgabung was retained as the chairperson of the club. Kgabung was fighting for the position with Dr Edwin Dikoloti. Khumo Masonya and Bafana Pheto also retained their positions as the secretary general and the public relations officer respectively. Dickson Gabanakgosi has been voted as the president of the club.
Meanwhile, some members of the club are said to be contemplating approaching the courts after some of them were denied entry into the meeting.
The club was in the past dragged before the courts over the issue of privatisation.
The disgruntled members successfully won their case at the High Court with Justice Leatile Dambe ruling that the club be retained as a society. She said it was unconstitutional for Township Holdings to be running the affairs of the club. Businessmen, Somerset Gobuiwang and Jagdish Shah each own 40 percent in the company with the society getting the remaining 20 percent.
After the ruling, the two camps fired shots at each other until the intervention of the BFA president. An interim committee was formed and included members from both camps.
The committee was given the mandate to find ways in which an investor could be brought in. The committee entered into an agreement with Shah to assist the club financially while they seek a lasting solution to finding a permanent investor.
“We approached both Gobuiwang (Somerset) and Shah, but Gobuiwang said he was still sorting out issues with his business partner, Shah. We then approached Shah and he agreed to assist the club until the end of February,” Masonya said at the meeting.