- Chairman and financier Jagdish Shah resigned recently
- Troubles triggered by supporters’ attempt to oust CEO Mamelodi
GAZETTE REPORTER
Township Rollers long serving Chairman, Walter Kgabung, has resigned with immediate effect, the club announced in a statement this week.
This comes after the recent resignation of the club president and financier, Jagdish Shah, early this month over ownership squabbles.
The club’s executive committee convened a meeting to chart a future course and coopted Phempheretlhe Phetho as Interim Chairman until the next annual general meeting (AGM) on 29 July.
Phempheretlhe holds the fort
Pheto, who has been the club’s Public Relations and Communications Officer, has been replaced by Pako Lebanna in that position.
In an interview after becoming caretaker chairman, Phetho said his role is to lead and guide the club to greater heights by winning titles. “My role is simple,” he said.
“I am involved in the day-to-day running of the club alongside other members of the executive committee because Township Rollers setup is different from that of other clubs, but I am mandated to take executive decisions.
Priorities
“Our top priority is winning the championship because we believe that the league is still open and everything is possible. But if it happens that we don’t win, we hope for a top four finish.
“We have not been doing well and we intend to fix this. It is very important to restore Township Rollers usual status of being a strong force regardless of what we are currently going through.”
All 63 branches of Township Rollers across the country Branches recently convened in a meeting to discuss the resignation of Shah but no specific decision was made.
Shah’s ultimatum
Information reaching Gazette Sports is that Shah demanded full ownership of the team if he was to stay as club president and top investor. He currently holds 80 percent ownership of Township Rollers while the society owns the rest.
Problems started over a month ago when Rollers faithfuls called for the ousting of CEO, Bennett Mamelodi, who happens to be a favourite of Shah’s. Supporters accused Mamelodi of weakening the club through his poor recruitment policies.
Township Rollers is in fifth position on the Botswana Premier League (BPL) log with 33 points after 18 games. Their next fixture is with log leaders Jwaneng Galaxy on 1st April at Jwaneng Galaxy Stadium.