Phikwe soccer region plunged into chaos

ONALENNA MODIKWA
Staff Writer | Thursday August 23, 2012 00:00

Some club members under the region, said the failure to hand over the office was affecting the smooth running of regional affairs. The situation where some clubs failed to pay annual subscription fees was attributed to what is obtaining at the office.Teams like No Mathata of Selebi-Phikwe and Peace Makers from Bobonong, both in the First Division and Serule based Gosten FC that play in Division Two, suffered the fate of Police XI and Security systems by having their membership scrapped, although the decision has reportedly been rescinded.

'We once enquired why the handover cannot be effected only to be told that the names of the newly appointed treasurer and secretary have been handed over to ITC to investigate their financial status and we want to know if this has been the procedure even in the past,' one member queried. They also said after realising the need to meet with the regional committee they convened a meeting to make necessary preparations before the league commences, but the regional committee led by Tebro Onkabetse could not attend. 'We ended up distributing fixtures to the teams because they have to thoroughly scrutinise them 21 days before the league starts. We suspect foul play by the outgoing committee,' they said.Contacted for comment, Onkabetse said the responsibility to distribute fixtures lies with the league committees not the regional committee.

He said it is true that the outgoing secretary is still receiving subscription fee,s but explained that when the new committee was elected in May the former secretary, Ernest Molapisi was very ill hence was not available to deliver his speech during the general assembly. He said by then they did not have a treasurer who was transferred to work outside Selebi-Phikwe. 'So all the treasurer's responsibilities were handed to Molapisi after we agreed as the regional committee that there was no need to co-opt a treasurer because the general assembly in which a new committee was to be elected was closer. Molapisi was supposed to properly hand over the books to the new treasurer, but ill health did not permit him but as soon as he is well everything will be done,' he said.

He expressed the need to handle money in a very responsible manner hence no shoddy job should be done when handing over. He said secondly, they considered that some local teams were yet to receive their prize monies for participating in the Coca-Cola Cup. Such teams had written letters to the regional committee requesting that their prize money be paid through the regional account since they did not have bank accounts.

'The process of changing signatories to the regional account is ongoing and is a bit lengthy. So given the fact that teams do not have money and are relying on their Coke cup prize money to finance the coming league, we found it fit to, in the meantime, use signatories who are currently members of the outgoing committee to assist those teams get their prize money. Some teams have already received their money as we speak. Waiting for the change of signatories by the bank would have presented a dilemma to the teams who currently need to buy new players and do not have sponsorship,' he said. Onkabetse added that as soon as all teams receive their Coke cup payout they will change signatories. He stressed that there is no misappropriation of funds as others suspect.