Thipe runs for BoBA presidency
As the Botswana Boxing Association ( BoBA) prepares for an elective Annual General Meeting in June, new names are emerging for the presidential position. With the incumbent president Thato Patlakwe, stepping down as his term elapses, it seems like this will be one of the most hotly contested elections as evidenced by the heavyweight names associated with the presidential seat as of now.
With the current vice president, Gilbert Khunwane having already declared his candidacy a month ago, this week former VP, Dirang Thipe also came out clear to confirm that he will indeed be contesting the presidential position.
“I made a decision to run for BoBA presidential position after attentively realizing that our boxing is slowly but surely declining. It is declining almost in all departments, technical, development and administration. Provided I get elected, I intend to push for transparency and financial accountability as well as to seek sponsorships to motivate both boxers, coaches and administrators,” said Thipe in an interview with BG Sportthis week.
“There are lots of sponsorships, it’s only that people are interested in huge amounts of money. Getting multiple sponsors from different companies and people is easier than looking for one big sponsor. Expect to see bigger things if I take over as president,” said Thipe when asked how he will address the sponsorship drought bedeviling BoBA. Ever since BoBA and Botswana Breweries Limited, through their brand ‘ Keone Mooka Mageu’ parted ways back in the years, boxing has never secured sponsorship for its annual national championships. A two star AIBA coach and former boxer at DTCB and Glen Valley Boxing Club, Thipe is not new to BoBA administration as he also previously served as VP and secretarygeneral. Having been part of the current committee at some point, Thipe was booted out in 2018 and replaced with Khunwane in the executive committee. He says its high time boxing affiliates
vote for the right people.
“Mind you VP is the head of technical and unfortunately my president acted more like head of technical whereas he has zero knowledge of boxing technicalities. We had serious friction which ended up removing me from office and replaced by the person I won against at the elections. This then made me feel that I have to go for
presidency because all my past presidents disappointed when it came to technical issues of BoBA. In boxing, technical department is the backbone, so because I know the pain of being a boxer, coach and administrator, I will lead those below me to push boxing to the right direction, “said the 46 year old. Meanwhile, Moremi Lefiri who is the current BoBA Secretary General is reported to be running for the presidency though he is yet to publicly declare. Sources close to his camp have confirmed that he is indeed taking Thipe and Khunwane on. “He is indeed in the race but he is just a bit calm right now because the writ of elections is not yet out. I think by next week, it will be out since the elections committee is starting work this week,” said the source.