A dark cloud is hovering over the Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA) as a result of the association’s failure to host their Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) last year.
According to the mother body of local boxing, the in-office committee is obliged to stage a gathering which reflects on the year that was in boxing between the months of October/November and also present to all affiliates the entire plan of the next year but for the current Thato Patlakwe led committee that was never the case in 2015.
Although many within the sport’s circles chose the idea of taking a ‘silent pill’ on the matter, one pugilism great and former national team coach in Lechedzani ‘Master’ Luza took to social media to express his displeasures recently.
A Facebook post which read, “Hello everyone. I think remaining silent would be doing injustice to the sport I am so passionate about and I have always served diligently, I believe we all have the same attachment to boxing. Just have a few questions to the leadership. Why is it that by now we haven’t had the OGM, which constitutionally we should have held in October/November 2015? That basically means we have not planned for 2016, a year of the Olympics? Where’s the calendar of events? Debswana awards came and went, deserving men and women are still to receive their dues. The last time BoBA office communicated with its members, was about suspension of the competition manager Rre Tsheko and additional member Rauwe. Have they been reinstated?”
Gazette Sport through this reporter made efforts to follow up on the issue to get an official comment from Luza but his phone was out of reach. In an interview with the association’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Kenny Maragana, he confirmed the news of the annual gathering not taking place last year but however revealed that they were working endlessly on delivering their mandate.
“Yes it is true we were not able to host our Ordinary General Meeting last year, but it was due to a number of key reasons. There was communication on the OGM that it would be held on the first week of December but because of the Botswana Games in Francistown we did not do it as the games needed our full attention,” said Maragana.
The spokesperson added that though they failed to dish out a review of last year with their affiliates, the constitution provided an allowance of three months for the OGM to take place from the set date.
“People should understand that it is still early days of the New Year and not all is lost, we are working hard on hosting the OGM, but I cannot confirm as to the exact date of the meeting,” he added.
Quizzed on other issues raised on Luza’s post such as winners from last year’s awards yet to receive their honours and suspensions of some committee members, Maragana was quick to point out that, the concerns were matters of ‘protocol’ and would be addressed at the ‘undated’ OGM.
BoBA still undecided on OGM
