08 Jun 2022

Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) finds itself in a sorry administrative state due of the affiliates’ lack of adherance to compliance manual.

Out of the 22 clubs affiliated to BAA, only four; Lions’ Den, Sua Pan, Gaborone Striders and Jwaneng have satisfied the compliance manual.

For clubs to be fully compliant they have to produce registration certificate, constitution, list of members, proof of annual returns submission, annual general meeting minutes and register as well as income statement.

In that regard, the BAA in its last general meeting pleaded with affiliates to submit all the required documents and a deadline was set, but to date, some affiliates are yet to submit.

BAA vice president, Oabona Theetso, said the federation was disappointed that the affiliates were dragging their feet to comply with what was enshrined in the constitution.

“To be honest it doesn’t put us in a good light, remember athletics is one code that is currently praised for doing well in terms of bringing results to the country,” he said.

He said after realising that some affiliates were lagging behind, they implored them to comply, adding that at their April AGM, affiliates were given until April 28 to have submitted all the documents, but still they have failed to comply.

Theetso said it was also worrisome that some clubs failed to submit the registration certificate, and that alone means they were not compliant with the requirements of the Registrar of Societies.

The vice president said the same affiliates were expected to feed the national team with athletes, hence it was imperative that they do things by the book.

Sunday Standard sports editor, Botlhale Koothopile said the issue of non-compliance had always been a problem in Botswana sport, not just athletics.

“It comes as no surprise mainly because at times, it is not done as a way to increase the number of clubs, but rather the number of voters at the elective general assemblies. It is mostly a political decision.

All which exists are shells of clubs meant for political jostling than sport development,” he said

Koothopile said the fact that athletics clubs failed to comply cannot be good for the country, given that it was a sport that unlike any code brings glory to Botswana.

“When clubs become shells with no members or athletes and no competitions, that means we run the risk of losing athletes as there is nowhere to nurture talent,” he said.

 “This flies in the face of what we want to achieve as a nation. It is fraudulent.

It also shows a lack of monitoring from the National Sport Association itself.

It should be standard for BAA to check on the health of affiliates and to make sure they are capable. We cannot have a situation where BAA registers shell clubs as affiliates,” he said. ENDS