The tournament was the first global netball tournament to be held in Africa. The nation was caught in euphoria, as the competition, popularised by the catchphrase #ReaBaTsaa attracted 20 teams from across the world to compete at the Under-21 level. But after the excitement died down, it has emerged that BONA was left with serious financial scars and some suppliers remain unpaid. According to sources, BONA is struggling to pay the outstanding dues resulting from the competition a year after the games were held. The organising committee had managed to secure around P3 million in sponsorship deals, which came as both cash and in kind. “BONA is in serious debt, even to this day the (BONA executive) committee is still receiving invoices from the games. It turns out that the ogarnising committee did not make any quotations for the services they acquired, they did not make a proper budget, now it has come back to haunt the current BONA committee,” a source said.
“They even had a meeting with BNSC (Botswana National Sport Commission) not long ago, as they tried to map a way to deal with the outstanding debts.” Another insider revealed that BONA is struggling to fund their activities as the P500, 000 the association had in its account, was gobbled up by Re A Ba Tsaa debts. BONA public relations officer, Theresa Hirschfield declined to comment on the matter, but instead said the association is battling to secure sponsorships for the national teams. “I cannot comment on that issue because our committee assumed power in November, so issues of the World Cup should be directed to the people who were in power during that time. For us, we are struggling to fund national team activities like World Cup qualifiers.
