Netball finally decides
After the postponement of the Botswana Netball Association (BONA) elective annual general meeting (AGM) in April, the showdown gets underway tomorrow in Gaborone. Staff Writer, CALISTUS KOLANTSHO reports
This year’s elections have attracted three candidates, Thulaganyo Retshabile, Onkemetse Mpudi and the incumbent, Malebo Raditladi-Nkgakile, who took the reigns in 2018. Raditladi-Nkgakile holds an Executive Masters in Sport Organisation Management (IOC MEMOS). She is a graduate of Women in Sport Leadership Academy by the Anita White Foundation in the UK, Baccalaureus Technologies Degree in Sport Development and Management.
Another feather on her hat is that of a National Diploma in Sport Administration and Management and she has also done an Advanced Sport Management Course through the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC).
Raditladi-Nkgakile is the Africa Safe Sport programme coordinator and facilitator run by the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympics Federation.
Raditladi-Nkgakile said when she took the seat at the helm of netball, she wanted to have consultative meetings with BONA affiliates for them to understand issues that were at hand. “I drew up a BONA operational structure that was presented to the members but was not adopted as members felt it was too big for BONA. We identified the challenges that made us not to attract sponsors and not have a sustainable national league,” she said.
Raditladi-Nkgakile said they negotiated with SPAR to sponsor the 2019 BONA league. However, the grocer could only sponsor one year pending submission of audited reports of the past sponsorship and the change of plan in running of the league. She said the sponsor was not happy with the return on investment.
She said during her reign, they conducted administration and financial audits, which revealed that BONA had not been following compliance at the Registrar of Societies (ROS) for over five years and also at the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC).
“We then had to investigate if the BONA affiliates were also compliant with the ROS and found that none of them were compliant, of which we called an ordinary meeting to update members and request them to comply,” she said.
Raditladi-Nkgakile added if given another chance, she plans to empower members.
“I have set up a road map, which contains various points such as club administration course for all affiliates, monitoring and evaluation of each departmental plan, functional structures, final review of the BONA strategy, development frameworks in place, implantation of policies amongst others,” she said.
Raditladi-Nkgakile said there should be sustainable national netball activities back in action.
Retshabile is a computer systems engineer employed by the Botswana Examinations Council (BEC). Retshabile threw her name in the hat because she was concerned about the deteriorating standard of netball. Retshabile is WASBO (Women and Sport Botswana) marketing and public relations officer, International Netball Federation (INF) technical delegate, certified INF technical tutor and Women in Sport Leadership Academy graduate.
“That influenced me to challenge for the position.
I believe with the technical expertise I have for the game, I am fully convinced I am the right candidate to redeem our netball back to the glory days,” she said.
Retshabile said there is a need to put more emphasis on governance (zones, clubs and national executive committee), technical development, national team performance and participation in international competitions, financial strength and stability of the association, netball development particularly on grassroots and youth development.
“The past administration has done their part.
The quality management could be used as a foundation to guide the association’s performance improvement,” she said. The 40-year-old Retshabile is a former national team player and she retired in 2015 after a career spanning 20 years.
The nominees for other positions are Seipei Gaelesiwe (vice president), Masego Serumola (sports development officer), Kereemang Montwedi and Mokeresete Mokeresete (marketing and public relations officer).