22 Jan 2023

Former Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) president, Tshepho Bathai, has been barred from participating in any karate related activities.

Bathai’s ban was ratified during BOKA ordinary general meeting in Gaborone on Saturday.

The meeting took action against Bathai following allegations of mal-administration and funds misappropriation.

Bathai’s tenure at the helm of the karate governing body ended unceremoniously September last year after being voted out of office together with his executive committee via a motion of no confidence.

Consequently an interim committee led by Mpho Bakwadi took charge of the association.

The interim committee’s preliminary investigations revealed that during his tenure as the association president, Bathai reportedly misused BOKA’s funds by, among other things, unlawfully submitting an invoice dated April 4, 2022 to Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC) officials to pay for Lobatse Sports Festival medals to the tune of P20 509 and P1 800 for branding of medals.

The interim committee investigations also accused Bathai of having requested P7 562 from BNSC under the pretext that it was for a BOKA retreat.

He also allegedly provided false information to the Registrar of Societies to approve BOKA constitution.
Bakwadi thus informed the Saturday’s ordinary general meeting that the interim committee had concluded that the aforementioned acts were identical to corruption and gross maladministration.

“All the interim committee findings have since been handed to relevant law enforcement agencies for further investigation since Bathai continues to be uncooperative and has refused to hand over or engaged the interim committee on all financial matters,” said Bakwadi.

Bakwadi said Bathai’s style called Karate No-Michi had to be suspended from BOKA affiliation because it failed to pay an annual affiliation fee for 2022/2023.

“Further to this, it was established that the Karate No-Michi Botswana unduly benefited by branding and using medals acquired through the BOKA grant for two non-BOKA events being Lobatse sports festival and a club event,” he said.

Bakwadi thus said the recommendation of the interim committee was to expel Karate No-Michi Botswana, a move which was adopted and ratified by the general body.

Meanwhile, the meeting voted in Bakwadi as the new BOKA president together with his interim committee comprising of Othusitse Dick as secretary general, Kemmonye Seletamotse as the treasure, Keorapetse Dube as the public relations officer while Union Kgafela, Francois Alberts and Bose Caiphus had been added as additional members. ENDS