THE general elections of the Tanzania Amateur Netball Association (Chaneta) slated to take place next Saturday have been postponed to April 20 this year.

A statement issued by the National Sports Council (NSC) cited lack of funds to stage the elections as a reason behind the postponement. Chaneta announced to stage its general elections in the Tanzanian capital with a projected budget of 27m/-.

And the netball body's assistant secretary general Rose Mkisi said recently they were waiting for the NSC to release funds for the elections to go ahead as planned. NSC official Chalukulu John, meanwhile, said the screening of aspirants will be conducted in Dodoma on April 18 with the following day set for objections.

Aspirants who have collected nomination forms include Tanzanian Member of Parliament in East African Legislative Assembly, Shyrose Bhanji, and suspended secretary general Anna Kibira, both seeking for the chairperson post.

The post is poised to bring strong competition given the fact that Bhanji and Kibira served in the outgoing leadership, Bhanji as vice-chairperson and Kibira, as secretary general, before the former resigned and the latter was suspended.

Kibira, who has been serving an indefinite ban imposed on her by the association's executive committee since 2009, has promised to take the sport to the next level if elected. The vice-chairperson post also enrolled two contestants namely Agnes Mangapila and Zainab Mbiro.

The treasurer post has attracted only one candidate Grace Khatibu, while the executive committee membership aspirants are Asha Safi (Mwanza), Hyasinta Sylvester (Manyara), Sarah Pingwani (Mwanza), and Fortunate Kabeja (Dodoma) while entrants from Dar es Salaam include Rose Kisiwa, Mwajuma Kisengo, Hilda Mwakatobe, Judith Ilunda and Mary Protas.