Gaborone — Botswana Softball Association (BSA) goes to its Annual General Meeting (AGM) next weekend where the main agenda will be the elections of the executive committee.

The interesting battle will be for the position of president, where the incumbent Tirelo 'Scania' Mukokomani will face his vice president (technical) Bobby Khupe in a two-horse race.

Khupe, an army major faces a former soldier in what promises to be an interesting army affair. Though Khupe is not contesting for this position for the first time, it will be interesting to see how he will open fire on his opponent this time around. Similarly, softballlers will be waiting anxiously to see whether Mukokomani will retain his position. Though he is no longer a soldier, his supporters can only hope he still remembers how to trigger a shot because - as the saying goes - once a soldier always a soldier. Khupe will seek the vote in absentia as he is currently out of the country on a short course.

In a letter that he wrote to affiliates before departure, he observed that there were a lot of things that are lagging behind which he would like to rectify if elected.

Khupe also delineated the team that he will want to have in his committee. They include competition organiser Tawana Bapaphi, former publicity officer Tshekiso Mokgatle, Judith Shongwe and treasurer Goga Daman.

He indicated to affiliates that he would not stand for any other position besides the president. Equally, Mukokomani said in a previous interview that he believed he still has a lot to offer the sport hence he should be given another term.

However, Mukokomani has a tough assignment of convincing affiliates to retain him especially after the issue of the Ipelegeng league. Recently the AGM had to be postponed because of a number of pending administrative issues among them the league.

The self-sponsored league was initiated last year and it seems things did not go as planned. The association failed to raise more funds for the league as per the agreement. This, in turn, resulted in teams demanding their money back but the association could not give clear answers why they cannot return the money. It is hoped that the issue would have been resolved next week.

Both Khupe and Mukokomani are odds-on to continue as softball executive members. Having served in the executive committee for more than two decades in different positions, Khupe's immense experience is still needed. At the same time young minds like Mukokomani are needed to take the sport to the next level.

When he was elected last year against Tshekiso Mokgatle, it was under the belief that he has a close contact with the corporate world and that he will be in a good position to get sponsors for the league.

However, nothing much seems to have happened. In fact Mukokomani said early this year that seeking sponsors at the moment was not their priority, as he believed the concept of Ipelegeng was doing well.