Jagdish might pull out of Rollers
Sport
A sense of total upheaval is looming at Township Rollers; this comes after the team’s shareholder and business guru Jagdish Shah threatened to pull out of the team following the court challenge by David Spencer Mmui and his followers.
The Executive President and chief financier of the club since 2013, Jagdish Shah has revealed this week that following the court ruling which declared him a ‘nobody’, he is ready to move on, casting doubts over the viability of the club in his absence.
Jagdish has sent an ultimatum to the warring factions that they have up until 12th of September to decide, failing which he will withdraw his financial support and look elsewhere. Failure to find a common ground that will appease Shah as financier will also mean that the club is headed for trouble.
Mmui, the former premier league and Rollers chairman took the team to the courts of law amid accusations that the team’s constitution is flouted hence rendering the society useless. Subsequently the marathon case was settled, ruling on the favour of Mmui to become the chairman and the team to be run as society not company as it was destined.
The power struggle has piqued the team investor Jagdish as it appears that his effort to commercialise the team is not appreciated and they want to push him away. Speaking on Wednesday evening with a local radio station, Shah said “why should I continue with the team because what I am doing is contempt of law.”
The outspoken investor said he would rather excuse himself from the team affairs as a way of respecting the court, and because he is not recognised by the current structures. He believes he is being used as a sacrificial lamb and could be ditched at any time.
Ever since the arrival of Shah in 2013, the team was divided into two, with the society and the company Township Holdings. The business guru owned 40% shares with the other 40% on the hands of Somerset Gobuiwang, the remaining 20% was held by the society. In his revealing interview, the investor made a damning disclosure that the other shareholder Gobuiwang has less input on the running of the team with the burden on his (Jagdish) shoulders alone.
The CA sales and Zebra net owner has warned the society to sort themselves out before coming back to him, in fact he gave them deadline of 10 days to approach him. “Right now I am done but I have given them 10 days so we talk this issue if they drag their legs it will be up to them,” he ranted.
Ever since the arrival of the investor, Township Rollers football club has been an envy to other teams both administratively and on the field as the business tycoon pumped a lot of money on the team. However, according to some, these were desperate attempts to overthrow long time owner Gobuiwang by Shah and some of his right hand men like Kgabung.
“The way we players are paid and the glitz that we see in our team are attempts to uplift the stature of our team by the investor with the hope that the society or Gobuiwang, will give up on running the team, seeing that they cannot keep up or match the investor,” said one team supporter. Currently Rollers is the best paying club locally with their highest paid player earning around P50 000 and coach reportedly earning something around the region of P80 000.
Gobuiwang and Shah’s relationship has been akin to love on the rocks. ”It never worked between us. I once tried to take Somerset to a consultant so we see how best to run the team but still it couldn’t happen, I think it was the issue of our different philosophy,” Shah confirmed that indeed there has been tensions within the top brass.
With the bill footer’s threats to leave, this has left uncertainty beckoning for the players. “I don’t know, but if at all I leave I wont foot the September wages because I will be doing something beyond my jurisdiction so they will have to pay them” the millionaire stated.
Sport
Orange Botswana gift Tebogo with P150K
Local sprinter, Letsile Tebogo has been rewarded with a whopping P150 000.00 by Orange Botswana for his heroics at the recently held World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Speaking at a Handover Ceremony for Tebogo, Orange Botswana Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Maano Masisi said, Orange Botswana is steadfast in their commitment to nurturing the youth and promoting sports in diverse ways.
“Letsile stands as a formidable force and an inspiration to young Batswana, showcasing the value of sports not only in Botswana but on an international stage through his remarkable achievements. Orange Botswana, furthermore, desires to cultivate enduring relationships with aspiring young Batswana, much like Letsile, who embody dedication, focus, and excellence in their endeavors. Letsile has already shattered records, etching new milestones for the African continent and beyond,”
Masisi further said the partnership aligns seamlessly with Orange Botswana’s dedication to acknowledging exceptional individual talent like Tebogo.
“As previously announced when we started this relationship, our collaboration with yourself entails financial support from Orange Botswana to fuel your journey in competitive sports, alongside your representation as the face of Orange Botswana,” he said.
For his part, Tebogo pleaded with Orange Botswana to extend his contract as it is beneficial to him, “I am thankful to Orange Botswana and I hope they could extent my contract as it has been very helpful.”
Meanwhile, Tebogo’s coach, Kebonyemodisa ‘Dose’ Mosimanyana was also showered with P10 000.00 for always ensuring that Tebogo is ready to take on the world.
Sport
Athletes confront Minister Rakgare
Local athletes, Zibane Ngozi and Letsile Tebogo have confronted Minister of Youth, Gender and Culture, Tumiso Rakgare citing lack of support during preparations.
Speaking at the World Champs team Welcome Ceremony on Wednesday, the 4 x 400m relay specialist and Team Captain, Ngozi urged some of the government officials inclusive of Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) representative, Rakgare to attend these high-profile competitions to witness the hardships they go through during these competitions.
“People need to understand it is not easy for us when we arrive at the World stage, there is a lot that is going on hence we need support in order for us to succeed as expected.
However, I am happy that immediately when I arrived in Botswana, BNSC credited our allowances which was a good thing because we had lots of debts (jokingly) thus we manage to settle them,” he said.
On the other hand, Tebogo who brought home two medals (silver and bronze) from 100m and 200m respectively at the World Champs said most athletes are going through depression due unfavorable conditions.
“Most of us going through depression because we lack support during preparations, we are only celebrated when we win but in hard times we are forgotten. Athletics is a difficult sport hence we need all the support we could to make it through and eventually amass medals as it is expected by our country,”
For his part, Rakgare admitted that local sport is faced with challenges, including but not limited to a tough sponsorship environment, limited or no sport in public schools, doping and leadership instability.
“I would of course be surprised if anyone of you would not agree with me that notwithstanding the challenges, we continue to achieve unprecedented results in sport, and the year to date is no exception,” he said.
Rakgare gave special recognition to Oratile Rose Nowe for heroics at the World Champs, “I would like to take this opportunity and congratulate Nowe for attaining a new personal best 2:01.62 in Women’s 800m, which also happens to be a national record. By the way, Oratile is the first Motswana woman to ever qualify for the World Championships in middle distance running.”
According to Rakgare, Government, recognizes athletes’ achievements at any and every competition, and that is why most recently, they have rewarded them at the Youth and Sport Awards.
“I would like to thank the Government of Botswana for their investment in sport. We continue to pride ourselves in being one of the best funders of sport per capita, and as indicated earlier, we are not intending to slow down anytime soon,”
On a lighter note, World Champs BW Team was rewarded by various companies such as Debswana, Choppies, Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) and also government as a token of appreciation for participating in Hungary.
Tebogo was rewarded with P560 000 from Debswana, Choppies and BPC for bringing two medals home, 4 x 400m men relay finalists (Ngozi, Baboloki Thebe, Laone Ditshetelo and Leungo were given P25 000 apiece for reaching the finals and participating by Debswana; while ladies (Tlhomphang Basele, Golekanye Chikani, Lydia Jele, Oratile Nowe, Galefele Moroko, Obakeng Kamberuka were given P10 000 each for participation.
In addition, the World Champs team amassed P926 000.00 of which P250 000 would go to Tebogo and the remaining P676 000 will be shared amongst the rest of the team.
Sport
BONA to host 2023 Africa Netball Cup
With several local associations currently going through a rough patch in terms of financial quagmires, Botswana Netball Association (BONA) Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mokeresete Mokeresete is optimistic to host the 2023 Africa Netball Cup as per the request from African Netball Board (Executive Committee) because Uganda has pulled out.
Will it be successful or finally quench the thirst of competing internationally?
The African Netball Championships or Africa Netball Cup are a netball competition held every after two years with teams from across Africa competing for the top price.
BONA National team competed in the last edition of the Africa Netball Cup which was held in 2021 in Namibia and they finished in position seven which was average.
Last time BONA hosted an event of this magnitude was the 2017 Netball Youth World Cup which was indeed a success even though the local team (Dinaletsana) finished in position 10.
One would have thought that the Dinaletsana team which looked promising would eventually go on and conquer the world in the following international competitions. However, that has not been the case as they struggled to qualify for the recent World Cup which was held in the neighboring South Africa.
In addition, the Botswana Netball League was last played in November 2022 and in 2023 they hosted a Fast Five Netball Cup just before the Netball World Cup.
In an interview with WeekendSport this week, BONA Public Relations Officer (PRO) said they have accepted to host the 2023 Africa Netball Cup following the pulling out of Uganda.
“We have recently accepted a request to the 2023 Africa Netball Cup, however – we are still working on finalizing all the logistics that will be in play as you are aware that hosting an event requires a budget which might be difficult because we were given a smaller potion in the recent financial year.
Furthermore, we are yet to come up with a consolidated budget which could help us map a way forward as we really want to stage this particular competition. It is vital for us to host this competition as we want to revitalize local netball, we want to attract more for the league,” said Mokeresete Mokeresete.
MORE NETBALL ACTION AHEAD?
Mokeresete further hinted that the upcoming Independence Cup will be preparatory tournament for the upcoming Africa Netball Cup.
“We are going to host the Independence Cup of which we are expected at least 16 ladies’ teams and a few of male’ teams as we are still swiftly introducing the male section to the sport in Orapa.
However, prior to the action we are going conduct courses for match officials, technical official and coaches’ beginners’ level 1 courses as an effort of improve the standards of the sporting code,” hinted Mokeresete.
MISSING THE RECENT NETBALL WORLD CUP WAS CATASTROPHIC
According to BONA PRO, missing the recent Netball World Cup was catastrophic as players missed out on an opportunity to showcase their talents on the world stage which was bound to garner those deals to more professional countries in terms of Netball.
“We are seeing lots of movement for players from countries like Zimbabwe which is remarkable and that could have happened for our player – but it wasn’t to be as we did not qualify for the main event.
Moreover, through the World Cup Legacy Program, we have been awarded a sprung board and we are contention to transport it from South Africa to the country as one of the requirements to host a sporting event is to have a sprung floor,”
Meanwhile, the 2023 Africa Netball Cup is scheduled between November 26 – October 06 2023 at University of Botswana (UB) Indoor Sports Arena.