25 Apr 2016

Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) president, Sensei David Mathe has encouraged affiliates to develop the spirit of co-existence in their efforts to develop the discipline.

Sensei Mathe said this at the association’s annual meeting on Saturday. 

He said for the period of his committee’s time in office they had realised that the greatest challenge as BOKA was not the actual sport or resources, but rather “we are our greatest enemy.”

“I have said this before and I will say it again that our greatest enemy is ourselves by failing to co-exist. 

As affiliates, instead of reaping rewards in the fact that we are many and should be complementing one another, instead we are fighting amongst ourselves so much that the whole energy that could be used in growing our sport is channeled to fighting,” he said.

Sensei Mathe however, told delegates that the association had gone through a fruitful year with a lot of affiliates making efforts to focus at developing the sport of karate.  He said BOKA and its affiliates had made a mark at all competitions of the region up to the World Karate Federation (WKF).

Meanwhile, BOKA had successfully hosted local senior national championships and youth development tournaments. 

Athletes took part in the 14^th edition of the Zone VI tournament in Johannesburg, South Africa, where they got position two after the hosts. 

They also travelled to Brazzaville, Congo, where they took part at the 11^th edition of the Africa Games and brought home five medals. 

Immediately after the games, three athletes travelled to India for the Commonwealth games and the youth team went to Indonesia for the Junior and Cadet World Championships.

Furthermore, in his second report to the affiliates since being elected president, Sensei Mathe told delegates that they were still working on having the revised constitution debated in their efforts to put in place instruments of governance. 

Despite being beaten by the deadline, he assured the meeting that the draft document was finalised and ready for presentation.

“It has to be reported that going forward, it is going to be compulsory for us, including you as affiliates, to comply to both BNSC/BNOC requirements of proper and full registration compliance with the Registrar of Societies. 

“This means going forward, we are only going to be registered with these institutions at submission of prove that not only are we registered with the society, but that our affiliates and their members are registered as entities with the Registrar of Societies,” he said.

He also briefed delegates on BOKA’s strategic plan which had been cascaded in line with BNSC plan and also the trust instrument which, he said, would be presented for members to decide upon and approve. ENDS