06 Apr 2016

The Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture, Mr Thapelo Olopeng says there are constituency teams at Mokubilo that are owed prize money from as far back as the 2013/14 financial year.

Responding to Boteti East MP, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe’s question in Parliament on Tuesday, Mr Olopeng said, according to records, the teams were not owed from as far back as 2012, as was indicated in the question.

The affected teams, Mr Olopeng said, were Bush Hunters Netball Club, Meroon Fellows Football Club, Local Spikers Volleyball Club (men), Local Spikers Volleyball Club (women), Mokubilo Netball Club and Re Ba Bona Ha Volleyball Club.

He said Bush Hunters Netball Club participated in Cycles 1 and 3 of 2013/14, whilst Meroon Fellows Football Club, Local Spikers Volleyball Club (males), Local Spikers Volleyball Club (females), Mokubilo Netball Club and Re Ba Bona Ha Volleyball Club were involved in Cycle 1 of 2014/15. 

The total amount owed to these teams, the minister said, amounted to P16 100 and the breakdown is as follows; Bush Hunters Netball Club is owed P2 600, Meroon Fellows Football Club is owed P800, Local Spikers Volleyball Club (men) P5 300, Local Spikers Volleyball Club (women) P3 300, Mokubilo Netball Club P3 300; and Re Ba Bona Ha Volleyball Club P800. “There had been a delay to pay these teams owing to the late and incomplete submission of necessary documents, such as copies of Omang for the team representatives and surety forms which verify the teams’ participation in the sports tournament,” he said.

He also attributed the delay to the constituency delimitation exercise that took place prior to the 2014 general elections which meant that the affected teams which had hitherto been assisted in the Tonota North constituency had to be assisted in the Boteti East constituency and thus the transition affected the smooth payment of the teams. 

All the preliminary processes relating to payment of these teams, such as the creation in GABS and collection of outstanding documents, he said were on-going and the teams would be paid as soon as funds became available in the 2016/17 financial year, before the end of April 2016. 

MP Lelatisitswe had wanted to know if the minister was aware that there were constituency teams in Mokubilo that were owed money by his ministry from as far back as 2012.

Boteti East MP had also wanted to know which teams were involved, which cycles were the teams involved in, how much was each team owed, what took the ministry that long to pay them and when the teams would be paid. Ends