The Botswana Bridge Federation (BBF) has elected Keneilwe Mosomodi as its new president.
She was elected to lead the federation during its Annual General Meeting held at Seduda Lodge in Mahalapye over the weekend.
Mosomodi, who was the federations’ vice president in the immediate past committee, takes over from Kealeboga Tangane who did not stand for re-election.
The new president will be assisted by Lindelwa Mothibi, who takes over as the federation’s new Vice President. Apart from the change in positions, there are no major changes to the committee with almost all of the previous committee members making the cut in the newly elected committee.
The only new faces in the executive are vice president Mothibi and Tebogo Kubanji who will now be the BBF Youth coordinator. According to the federation’s Public Relations Officer, Tshepiso Ramaribana, all the executive committee members, save for the coordinators, were elected into the office unopposed.
Speaking in an interview, the BBF PRO said the new committee’s chief mandate will be to ensure the implementation of the federation’s strategic plans as well as to try promoting the growth of Bridge in the country. “During the four years we will have in office, our main responsibility will be to unite the federation and to ensure that we work together. This will be done through good communication and information dissemination to keep members aware of what is happening. We also have to see to it that our strategic plan is aligned to that of the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) as well as to oversee the implementation of our grassroots development strategy and growth of the sport of Bridge,” Ramaribana said. “We have in the past always relied on schools as our affiliates and now the ongoing boycott of sport by teachers has affected us. We now have to find our way past this teachers/employers impasse if the sport is to continue. The BBF spokesperson further added that to ensure good growth of the sport, the new committee will be looking for ways to create more community based clubs as well as to organise many competitions.
“While we have had a comprehensive calendar of events for schools, we have not had the same for the general membership at club level. At most, we have only managed to have two to three open competitions where every player can come. Now we would like to create more competitions, which will keep our clubs active to add to the open championships we have,” Ramaribana added.
On other issues, the BBF PRO says the federation has decided to engage in social responsibility campaigns as a way of giving back to the community.
“There are organisations that help the disadvantaged and we want to be involved with them to help,” Ramaribana concluded.
The new BBF executive committee is composed of:
President- Ms Mosomodi,
Vice President- Ms Mothibi,
Secretary General- Mr Letsogile Mafa,
Treasurer- Mr. Batsho Manyanda,
PRO- Ms Ramaribana,
Youth Coordinator- Mr Kubanji
and Dr Omphemetse Moedi as the Adult Coordinator.
