It has been simmering within the BMS corridors but issues reached boiling point last week after Team Botswana was banned from competing at the Motocross of African Nations (MXOAN) 2025 to be held in Zimbabwe next month. BMS has been sidelined from FIM-regulated competitions after failure to pay €4,300 (approximately P66,000) affiliation fees. From the debacle a number of issues arose with fingers pointing at the executive committee. MmegiSport has been informed that BMS has not held an Annual General Meeting since 2016. This publication was further informed that a number of clubs have not paid affiliation fees whilst an elective assembly is also said to be due. Speaking to MmegiSport, BMS public relations officer, Colonel Motlapele Majama admitted dirt in the BMS' quarters and has pointed fingers at an outdated constitution. Majama confirmed that the association has not met for a general meeting in nine years. He further said the current administration is solely guided by the constitution and it was crafted a long time back when Botswana was not an independent federation but still a member of the Motorsport South Africa (MSA). Majama added that there has been a suggestion on the new constitution draft that clubs should be represented by two members to attend the meeting and also with voting powers to make a fair sitting. "So this constitution was made then. To vote, we voted as a club, we knew that every member had voting rights, and for you to vote you had to be an adult member. Currently as speak we do not have an adult member, these are members of a club who are over the age of 18 and also to be eligible to vote your membership should be in good standing for a 12-month period. Even if we can call for elections, we are not going to vote and also the voting process would not be fair. Some clubs have a larger membership whilst some have less, so those with high numbers of members are likely to take all the seats," said Majama.
He further said BMS has 12 club members from all the disciplines of motorsport but only three have fully affiliated and are in good standing with BMS. "Some of these clubs are just there and most are not even registered with the Registrar of Societies. We have taken an initiative to encourage the clubs who do not fully comply to complete their compliance, so that when we call this meeting, we should not leave anyone outside. When you do not comply, you would not allowed to attend the meeting and you will be denied the rights to take part in the BMS decision-making," said Majama.
