BTA hold AGM this Saturday

Sparks are expected to fly this Saturday when the troubled Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) usher in a new Executive Committee at its Annual General Meeting (AGM).

This follows an explosive AGM late last year when the BTA could not elect a new committee. The situation ended   with an intervention from the Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC).As per the BTA Constitution, the Association is supposed to hold its Elective AGM in August and the newly elected committee has to be in power for two years.

However, the tennis house failed to elect a new committee last year over issues of club registration, ghost affiliates and unpaid club affiliation fees. Only one club out of 18 was deemed eligible for voting.Last year’s doomed AGM eventually resolved that the single registered club could not solely decide the future of BTA. The Association also found itself in a situation of non-compliance with the Registrar of Societies by failing to submit Annual Returns for 2015 and 2016.

This week BTA Public Relations Officer, Shelton Benzah confidently assured that the matter is now water under the bridge, “Since the last meeting, BTA ensured that all clubs are properly constituted and want to restore everything to normality,” he said.Benzah continued, “It’s not like clubs were not properly registered, it was only minor scenarios of not filing forms or a certain procedure not done, nothing major, but we have since done our homework and we are not expecting the same issues to occur, unless it is something outside our framework of operation.” 

However, it remains to be seen if this will come to pass considering that more skeletons continue to fight their way out of the closets at the tennis authority. However, Sun Sport has established that with only two days left before the meeting, some of the clubs have not been formally informed about the meeting. It is also alleged that information on the nominees of the contesting new committee has not yet been made available.

This week a source revealed that the nominee’s names should have been revealed 60 days prior to the elections day however that has not been the case. “Everything is done in secrecy, we have no idea what is happening and I believe some will not attend this supposed elective meeting,” said a source in the BTA.

“We always travel to those meeting at our own costs and never come out with anything fruitful from it; it is saddening to learn that we do not even know which clubs our committee belong to,” the concerned source said. Speculation is also rife that BTA vice president Khaulini Sichani is one of the candidates vying for the top seat and might possibly stand unopposed.

Reliable information suggests that Notwane Club Chairperson Shingirai Muzondiwa had also shown interest for the president’s seat. However, Muzondiwa is said to have been slapped with a suspension following a recent disciplinary hearing.Contacted for comment this week, Muzondiwa confirmed that he would not be contesting for the seat but would not go into details