TAFIC could have played in the league illegally
• TAFIC non-compliant • Registrar cancels membership
TAFIC Sporting Club’s affiliates, including the football and netball sides, could have been participating in their respective leagues illegally for nearly a decade. The Registrar of Societies (RoS) struck TAFIC Sporting Club off the register for non-compliance in 2013.
The development came to light following a recent appeal challenging the outcome of the Botswana Netball Association (BONA) elections. One of the losing candidates, Thulaganyo Retshabile felt there were irregularities, indicating TAFIC Netball Club was not supposed to vote. The RoS recently wrote a letter to TAFIC reminding them the sporting body was non-compliant, and therefore their membership remains cancelled. In the letter, it is indicated that despite the membership cancellation, TAFIC has continued to submit annual returns.
“This, however, did not mean that your cancellation was withdrawn as you did not follow the right procedure of appealing your cancellation by the Registrar, nor did you follow the right procedure for re-registration,” the letter reads in part. The sporting club was informed that they remain cancelled as a society and ordered to, within 14 days of receipt of the letter, surrender the certificate of registration to the Registrar and cease to operate.
Eric Ditau, on behalf of the Registrar, wrote to BONA after the association enquired about the standing of TAFIC. The Registrar cancelled the sporting club’s membership on January 17, 2013. “The club was instructed several times, to surrender the certificate of registration, but have failed to do so. They were informed in January 2020 to desist from filing returns, as they did not appeal their cancellation nor apply for re-registration. The club is, therefore, an illegal society and their continued operation is in contravention of Section 20 of the Societies Act,” the letter reads. BONA secretary-general, Ntebo Maplanka told Mmegi Sport that they are yet to get more information from the Registrar about all clubs because clearly there is a lack of due diligence at the Registrar. She said that is when they could make an informed decision based on all investigations.
“This means a lot of clubs not only in netball could be trading illegally. If a club as big as TAFIC could trade illegally for eight years without any penalties or fines, you would agree that there is a need to investigate ROS and their processes,” she said.
TAFIC spokesperson, Kabelo Dipholo confirmed receiving communication from the Registrar this week. “We are shocked by that letter because they know that we’re compliant. We really do not understand what went wrong because we just took over as the executive committee. We should engage the committee that was in office back then. It means we should investigate what transpired,” Dipholo said.
He said they want to establish why the Registrar was accepting their returns when they have been deemed non-compliant. Dipholo said they are also to engage other stakeholders.
Botswana Football Association (BFA) chief executive officer (CEO), Goabaone Taylor told Mmegi Sport that BFA was not made aware that TAFIC was not complying during the past league. “At this point we cannot comment as to legality or otherwise, until we have completed our engagements with all stakeholders in this matter,” she said.
Taylor said if there was communication between TAFIC and the Registrar of Societies they would have known. The only communication from the Registrar was received in July and the BFA are attending to it, Taylor said.