28 Feb 2017

Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho says his organisation is not impressed  with the state of affairs at the Botswana Athletics Association (BAA).

Serufho said in an interview on Saturday, after the resignation of three BAA leaders, that he was hopeful that athlectics stakeholders would find a solution to the problems bedevelling them.

“I don’t think it is acceptable, for a general assembly to disintegrate like we have just seen. And we will want to sit with BAA moving forward and maybe other national federations that might be at a risk of falling on a similar path, to see how best we can assist, so that they become professional in the conduct of their meetings and persuasion of issues that they may feel very strongly about,” he said.

Moses Bantsi, who was BAA president, vice president, Roland Masalila and secretary general, Legojane Kebaitse tendered their resignation on February 25.

Serufho admitted that as BNOC, they had delayed to meet with BAA, given that resignations and motions of no confidence had become a trend at BAA.

He stated that the frequency at which motion of no confidence had been tabled at BAA, was a clear indication that there were unresolved issues. Therefore, he said it was  imperative to find the root cause for the failure by the executive committee to deliver so that there was no repetition of the recent events.

He pointed out that the resignation of BAA president would have an effect on development of athletics in Botswana since there were major events on the horizon such as the IAAF World Championships and Bahamas Relays.

If the leadership was embroiled in fighting each other instead of implementing their strategies and their plans, then he said there was a problem.

He said issues should be resolved in a shorter time.

Meanwhile, Bantsi said the resignation of the three members was an unfortunate situation; a sad day for athletics and sport fraternity.

He said they found it fit to resign, as at times people felt that there were a stumbling block and derailed the progress of athletics.

“When they called for a motion of no confidence on the secretary, basically they were calling for a motion of no confidence on my administration. So there was no way I could stay in the office,”  he said.

He said it was very disappointing as some people now had forgotten the positives, the executive had brought to the association.

He highlighted that they had secured lucrative Nike deal and Diacore sponsorship. Again, he said they had managed to engage IAAF to bring children athletics programme in the country.

Bantsi said he was not lost to athletics because he was still president of the region and still sits in the board of Confederation of African Athletics until 2019. ENDS