BONA goes for elections this weekend
Botswana Netball Association’s ( BONA) elective annual general meeting will go down to the wire this weekend with changes expected to take place in the executive committee. Following uncertainty on whether she will defend her post, the incumbent president, Malebo Raditladi – Nkgakile has finally come out to declare her candidacy. In the mix of things, there is Thulaganyo Retshabile who has also expressed great interest to lead BONA. As a surprise package, there is a third contestant, Onkemetse Mpudi.
Netball has been very dormant for the past years with failure to have the national league, having affected the national team standards.
Raditladi- Nkgakile, who is an avid enthusiast of good governance rose to the BONA presidency in 2017.
Her arrival was met with many challenges, notably the absence of the league due to financial constraints. For most of her term she spent it battling a difficult task of making BONA compliant to good governance and having financial reports.
“My aim was to walk out at the end of my term but since I am a sports development person, people believe I should contest my seat rather than walk out, it will be like somehow, I don’t care. If they want me they will keep me if they don’t they won’t vote for me. I believe in good governance and that’s what we have been trying to rectify at BONA,” She said.
For 40 year old Retshabile, her cries are the deteriorating netball standards. Once a player from 1998 until 2011, one may say she is a fully fledged candidate since she knows netball problems on and off the field. Currently serving as WASBO spokesperson, Retshabile is not new to netball administration since she has served in various portfolios in the past years. Starting from 2008 as secretary general at Notwane Netball Club, Retshabile has gone on to hold positions such as competition manager for Netball World Youth Cup African qualifiers, Netball World Cup , International Netball Federation ( INF) technical delegate at both African World Cup qualifiers and FISU games .“The deterioration of the sport pushed me to take this chance to contest. It’s been four years without any activities since 2017 after the successful hosting of the Netball Youth World Cup. With the netball technical expertise I possess, I am fully convinced I am the rightful candidate to redeem our netball back to our glory days,” she said.
In other positions, Seipei Gaelesiwe and Masego Serumola are unopposed for Vice president and sports development positions respectively, while Mokeresete Mokeresete and Kereemang Montwedi contest for marketing and public relations officer position.