Mfa leaves tourney organisers in the lurch?

GALE NGAKANE
Correspondent | Wednesday July 28, 2010 00:00

 

One of the organisers, Kesaobaka Majase, says the former Sebina/Gweta Member of Parliament (MP) has allegedly been taking them from pillar to post such that he has reached the end of his tether.

It all began on July 10 when Mfa offered to sponsor a tournament featuring sports teams in some of the villages that constitute Tonota North.

According to Majase, there were four football, three netball and two volleyball teams participating.

'We decided that since we were going to be given P6,000 by the old man (Mfa) we would divide the money in half - P3,000 for the first stage of the tournament which will be played in Borolong and then the other half for the second stage in Mathangwane.

'Each team contributed P100 and with the money we hired referees. We were confident that at the end of it all, we were going to be sponsored. We had even arranged at both legs of the tournament that he (Mfa) would come and award the prizes.

'Inexplicably, he did not turn up in Borolong. Neither did he turn up in Mathangwane. Whenever we asked him where he was he said he was held up. Afterwards whenever we managed to get hold of him on his cellphone, he would say he was going to meet us, but never did.

'It has come to a point where I have lost my patience with the whole thing,' said Majase.

When contacted, Mfa said the problem was that the teams in the constituency were not organised. He said everyone was calling him asking for prize money.

'I have the money with me here. All I want is for them to be organised and then I will give them their money,' he said.

He said he reduced the amount to P4,000 when he realised that some teams were complaining that they were excluded.

He said two teams from Natale and Makobo were excluded.

But Majase said it was untrue that they were disorganised adding that even though they were an ad hoc committee, they managed to organise the games in a space of two weeks.

He says what surprised him was that when Mfa wanted to sponsor the tournament, he knew who to speak to but he now seems to be shifting the goalposts.

'As for people who are calling him enquiring about their prizes, it is true, we are telling them that Mfa has not yet given us the money for the prizes. As for getting his contacts, it is easy to get them,' said Majase.

He said they have tried reasoning with Mfa that the Natale team initially withdrew but then wanted to register at the last minute.

'All the teams that registered for the tournament participated and we had based our budget on the P6,000 he had promised,' said Majase.

A participant at the tournament, who did not want his name mentioned, said he doubted Mfa was going to give them the money after he lost the primary elections.

Mfa and others bidding for the vacant Tonota North parliamentary seat were trounced by Fidelis Molao in the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) primary elections this past weekend.

He got a paltry 379 with Molao posting 778 votes. The losers are reportedly petitioning the results saying there were irregularities.