Extension Gunners havedelayed their plans to enterthe privatization routeafter the club’s general membershipdecided to weigh their optionsfi rst. The club concludedto assess possible privatizationmodels before making a decision;the consensus was establishedduring the club’s AnnualGeneral Meeting (AGM) thispast Sunday.The side will have to examinedifferent privatization modelswhich include the possibility ofgiving full ownership to an investoror to retain their societystatus while operating under amajority stakeholder.Information reaching this publicationstates that the Lobatse giantshave received four concretebids from prospective investors.
The names have been withheldbut Gazette Sport understandsthat the list includes three companiesand a one local businessman.Retail giants Choppies havecontinuously been linked witha potential partnership with theclub; sources have revealedthat the company is still lurkingaround with the aim of making anoffi cial move.“We will not rush into privatization,we acknowledge ourfi nancial diffi culties but we willtake our time to choose a wiseprivatization route. The bidderswill have to wait while we discussthe matter internally. Internationalclubs such as ManchesterUnited have become heavilyindebted because they were illadvised when transferring theirfull ownership to an investor; wedo not want the same problem,”said Gunners’ vice secretary,Mosimanegape Seitshiro.
A new executive committeewas elected by the club duringthe AGM. Kitso Dlamini hasbeen chosen as the club’s newchairperson, Alex Masie as hisdeputy while John Kgokgwe willbe the secretary general. Seitshirowill be the vice secretary,Daniel Tlalenyane welfare managerwhile Johannes Coetzee willbe the team manager.Seitshiro and Coetzee are theonly members who have retainedtheir positions from the previouscommittee. Dlamini, whowas previously communicationsmanager at the club, is takingover from William Maboane whoresigned from his post in Januaryafter being dismissed by the Bo-tswana Premier League (BPL) foralleged abuse of offi ce.
Ian Kebopetswewas the acting chairpersonafter Maboane’s resignation.Three posts have been left vacantby the club; the communicationsmanager, marketing manager andthe treasurer positions and they areexpected to be fi lled sometime thisweek according to Seitshiro. “Thegeneral membership has entrustedthe committee to elect people withrelevant qualities to fi ll those positionsand a decision will be madethis week,” he concluded.