Defiant volleyball clubs rebel
... as disgruntled BVF teams boycott congress Committee now bypassing president to negotiate deals League competition likely to begin in a matter of weeks
The historic failure by Botswana Volleyball Federation to proceed with their Annual Congress because of a failed quorum this past weekend has once again brought to the fore the wide conviction among volleyball people that the sport was on a downward spiral under the current leadership.
The association’s administration Vice President Ndibo Lebala confirmed it was the first time the sport code failed to quorate for an official gathering as big as the Annual Congress, lending credence to speculation that the members, the clubs, have long lost faith and belief in the current administration. Only half of the association’s membership was in attendance, and while there has been no official communication as to why the other clubs did not send representatives, the permeating view has been that of discontent among affiliates, with some club officials often expressing disillusionment after figuring out that all was not necessarily well within the executive committee itself. Some affiliate officials cited poor communication and lack of proper planning by the leadership, with reports that even some members of the committee complain that some decisions are often made without their knowledge. Sometime last year around November, a back page story in Mmegi screamed “Magang faces revolt.” This was a story about the organisation’s president Tsoseletso Magang facing resistance from within her committee that felt alienated by her unilateral decisions. It was a story about the committee’s Beach Volleyball Vice President Ruth Mbangwa tendering her resignation in protest against what she blatantly termed an undesirable style of leadership by the president, with other members of the committee predicted would also quit because of related reasons. In fact, Mmegi Sport boldly predicted at the time, that the Marketing and Media Relations Officer Mpho Tlhaselo would be next to resign, with further speculations at the time that the Treasurer Odirile Molobe, as well as Additional Member Pogiso Osupile, were also on the brink of stepping down out of similar or other frustrations that things were not running as smoothly as expected. In January this year, two months after the resignation of Mbangwa, Tlhaselo would also step down. In a recent interview, Lebala confirmed to BG Sport that Mbangwa resigned because of what he termed ‘ internal conflict’ while Tlhaselo had cited ill- health. Some officials within the volleyball fraternity have however laughed off the illhealth story, saying they had always known Tlhaselo and some would leave because he too had been known to detest his leader’s style of administration. “We always knew Joe ( Tlhaselo) wouldn’t last there. Many within volleyball know him to be too independent minded to allow anything he deems wrong to go unchallenged, and some within the executive always told us that the two were often at loggerheads because he was the only one brave enough to face her and tell her to her face when she was wrong. So we do not buy this story of him resigning because of ill- health. Maybe he chose the diplomatic route to save the executive committee’s face,” one club official shared.