18 Apr 2017

Two Gaborone police stations are working in concert to unravel a case where gate takings were stolen after the Township Rollers versus Mochudi Centre Chiefs clash.

Ahead of the Category A match between the two crowd pullers a Botswana Premier League (BPL) intern was arrested around noon on Easter Saturday for the sale of an unauthorised batch of tickets.

Bizarrely, after the match, unknown robbers attacked a car belonging to Rollers treasurer Minkie Molatlhegi, taking off with the vehicle, which they later abandoned having stolen a bag containing the gate takings and tickets.

Old Naledi police station commander, Superintendent King Tshebo said in an interview that investigations were still at a preliminary stage.

“We urge members of the public who may have whatever little information pertaining to the robbery to come forth and assist in the investigation, which is still at a preliminary stage,” Supt Tshebo said.

Rollers public relations officer Bafana Pheto told BOPA that on Saturday the club realised that unauthorised batch of tickets was being sold by an unknown lady.

“The normal procedure is that the host team of a league match gets tickets from BPL office and is solely responsible for their sale.  

We have people who are normally assigned to sell tickets for the team, but it was brought to our attention that someone not authorised by the club was selling tickets in Gaborone,” Pheto said.

Borakanelo police station commander, Superintendent Mothusi Phadi told BOPA that they had apprehended a 25-year-old BPL intern after being alerted to the sale of counterfeit tickets.

“On Saturday, 15 April at around 1145am, the Rollers club treasurer notified us that someone was selling tickets for their match against Centre Chiefs, although the said person was using a ticket book that was not in Rollers' official list.  The lady in question said she was acting on behalf of a BPL intern, whom we apprehended, charged with stealing by servant,” Supt Phadi said

After the match, played on Saturday night, a car belonging to Molatlhegi was robbed of the funds raised from the ticket sales as well as the reminder of the tickets.

Pheto says that the robbers made away with the gate takings that were due to be counted and deposited into the club coffers.

“Given what had happened earlier, we had wanted to keep the correct number of tickets that remained, the stubs of the tickets that were sold as well as the amount raised, as proof that there had been a shortfall,” Pheto said.

“But, just as our treasurer and someone who was accompanying her were about to enter CA Sales office at Commerce Park near Kgale in Gaborone, they were attacked by unknown men, who took off with Molatlhegi's car, a Mercedez Benz sedan,” Pheto said. The Rollers spokesperson adds that the car was discovered the next day at Phase 4 in Gaborone.  

Some of Molatlhegi's valuables were found in the car, but the gate takings, tickets and stubs had all been stolen.

“This raises the suspicion that there could be people who are seriously engaged in ticket fraud.  The police are carrying out their investigations and as a club we hope they will get to the bottom of the matter,” Pheto said. BOPA