Mosah Mokganedi
4 April 2008
Gaborone — Botswana Softball Association (BSA) Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled for tomorrow has been moved to April 26. BSA president Tirelo Mukokomani said the meeting had to be postponed because of pending administrative issues that need to be resolved.
"These are internal issues that are not for public consumption," he said. Even though some softballers have shown dissatisfaction with the postponement of the meeting, Mukokomani said there is nothing wrong with the move. He said they have not violated the constitution and they do not understand why people are complaining. He explained that it will not make sense to go to the meeting when some issues have not been resolved.
Softball sources say the non-sponsored 'Ipelegeng' league is one of the issues that has forced the postponement. The league was established last year after the association failed to get a sponsor. The agreement was such that teams will contribute P1,000 each for the running of the league and prize money. The league has come to an end but winning teams have not been given their prizes and stakeholders are asking questions. Some teams were skeptical about contributing to the league because they were not sure about the security of their money. But the association threatened that they will lock the teams out of its activities.
Mukokomani could not clearly explain why the winning teams have not been paid prize money. It is reported that some teams are demanding their money and they suspect that it has been misused. There are allegations that the money has been used to pay pending debts.
Other allegations are that the association was forced into postponing the meeting because they did not have money to pay for the venue. It is reported that the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) was supposed to finance the meeting but refused because the BSA failed to account for the money it was given to buy the national Under-19 kit used by the team at the World Cup in Holland last year. Sources say BSA unnecessarily bought an expensive kit from an unauthorised dealer who happens to be a softballer. Mukokomani rubbished the allegation saying BNSC paid all the expenses directly. He confirmed that some teams are demanding their money back. "It is true that some teams want their money back, but I do not understand why. May be they think we have used it, but I can assure them that the money is there. We only need to sort out a number of issues before it is given out," he said.
The softball boss added that they do not have a problem with giving teams their money if they so wish but they need to have a meeting first. "We need to have a meeting with all the teams concerning the money. It does not only have to be few teams," he said. He promised that the issue would have been resolved when they go to the meeting in three weeks. However, he dismissed reports that they have paid debts with Ipelegeng money.
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