Tensions came to the fore during the BOKA's Annual General Meeting (AGM) over the weekend where some of the delegates were nearly kicked out of the meeting. The situation escalated to a point where a motion of no confidence was passed against the Mpho Bakwadi-led executive committee. It all started with some of the affiliates rejecting the past AGM minutes, claiming that they did not capture what was discussed.
The other side moved that the minutes were correct and should be adopted. The minutes’ debate took hours to conclude. Bakwadi advised the delegates to vote if they did not agree for the AGM to proceed. “If you are saying the minutes are not correct, let us correct them so that we move forward. This is frustrating. We sent you minutes and we should not be spending time arguing over them. I cannot spend the whole day discussing one item,” he said. When the meeting proceeded, there were calls for reconciliation in order for karate to move forward. Ookeditse Malesu of Shito-Ryu Shukokai Union suggested brokering peace between the incumbent committee and the previous committee over a High Court case. He said BOKA has already spent a lot of money on legal fees and that it cannot be allowed to continue. He accused the committee of using BOKA funds to defend themselves in court rather than using the money for development. “There should be a better way to deal with the issue rather than legal battles. Our members went to court because we failed to put structures in place, they had nowhere to go. We need to come out of the matter without losers or winners,” he said.
