BAA official suspended over media leaks
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday May 3, 2019 12:20
He is also accused of trying to convince BAA clubs to push for a special general meeting in order to hold fresh elections.
The BAA alleges that Raphutse shared its bank statements with the media. In addition, Raphutse is said to have written a letter on behalf of his club, Mmadinare, which was shared with other BAA affiliates, where he wanted to push for a special general meeting.
The letter was instructing the BAA to hold the special general meeting within 14 days.
The agenda of the meeting is to discuss the annual general meeting (AGM) and the elections.
Raphutse told Mmegi Sport that he was suspended as he always takes the executive committee to task over financial issues.
“The BAA executive is misusing public funds and when I enquire about that, I am seen as a bad person. I always interrogate them about audits. The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) is about to release a grant to BAA and when that money comes, those men should be out of office,” he said.
Raphutse added that he had long requested BAA to inform affiliates about the postponement of the AGM. He said as athletics coordinators, they should have been allowed to go around the country to address affiliates about what was happening in the association.
“But they feel if we do that, we might connive with clubs to remove the executive from office,” he added. Raphutse argued that clubs have the right to have information about their association.
He said it has been a long time since there was a meeting between the BAA and the clubs. Regarding the special general meeting request letter, Raphutse said he had nothing to do with it, despite the document originating from his club. “Now that I am out, athletics would come to a stand still. My suspension is indefinite and it came from president, Thari Mooketsi, not the secretary general as one would expect,” Raphutse said.
BAA vice president, Kenneth Kikwe said they suspended Raphutse in order to conduct their own investigations. He said Raphutse had admitted leaking bank statements to the media, and they were aware that he authored the letter sent by Mmadinare Club.
“He has called me a couple of times this week threatening that he would deal with me, ‘wa go nkgatisa legala!’ because he blames me for his suspension,” Kikwe said.
Kikwe said they have scheduled a special general meeting for May 25 and it would be combined with the ordinary general meeting. He said one of the items that would be discussed is the new constitution.
“The request letter should be signed by three quarters of our affiliates but only 10 out of 18, have signed. At the moment we are dealing with compliance because some of our members have failed to comply.
We are encouraging them to do that because they are at risk of being struck out by the Registrar of Societies,” he said.