Softball committee staring down the barrel
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday January 17, 2020 11:47
The meeting could have been held last November, but was postponed. But tomorrow, the Thabo Thamane-led committee would come face-to-face with their likely ‘killers’ as the motion of no-confidence is still in place.
The committee cancelled last year’s meeting after clubs were accused of failing to comply with the Registrar of Societies. Speaking to Mmegi Sport, BSA secretary general, Anastasia Tsuna Makwa confirmed that tomorrow’s meeting would go ahead.
According to a letter signed by club managers, the cancellation of last November’s meeting was a violation of the BSA constitution.
“The club’s annual submission of returns to the Registrar of Societies does not fall under the jurisdiction of the BSA NEC, neither does the BSA constitution require the same,” read the letter from the clubs. The managers said they were passing a motion against Thamane, Batsetswe Gontlafetse (vice president), Makwa and Bokhutlo Molekane (technical development officer).
Some of the reasons for the motion were incompetence in office administration and extreme carelessness with BSA funds to the effect that the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) subvention was depleted within two months. The NEC is accused of crippling the affairs of the association and landing BSA in debts.
“The northern and southern zones have on several occasions expressed a desire to meet the president and his committee to address issues that assailed the association since the election of the new committee.
At the last annual general meeting (AGM) that was held in Mahalapye in April, the president promised to have a meeting with both zones, but that never happened,” the managers said.
Comets manager, Oeme Morupisi said at first he tried to defend the committee hoping that they would call affiliates to explain what went wrong. “The affairs of the association kept on deteriorating until we felt that maybe they want to be relieved of their duties,” Morupisi said.
One of the managers who preferred to remain anonymous said the motion was supported by more than 80% of the clubs, but some did not sign fearing repercussions.
“There are many people who can take over the leadership of BSA. They are much capable than the current president. It was a wrong assumption that being a CEO of a big corporation, would make him a good leader of a sporting association, not that a CEO cannot lead such a body,” the manager said, referring to Thamane, who is the Chief Executive officer of Citizen Empowerment Development Agency .
For his part, Thamane said if the managers wanted him out, he had no problem. “I cannot fight people who do not want progress. I have better things to do. But I shall stand by my decision that clubs must comply with the law. Even if I am ousted I would go with a clear conscience that what I did is right,” Thamane said.
The managers said the main challenge now was to rebuild confidence in the league sponsor and future sponsors.
Clubs that have signed the motion of no-confidence are Eagles, BDF IX, UB Giants, Rebels, Blue Angels, Rail Giants, Bears, BMC, Gideon, Vikings, Scramblers, Comets, Raptures and Sua Raiders.