Embattled Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) president Mpho Bakwadi and his executive committee are planning to crack the whip on the association’s insubordinate members.
On the 12th of December 2024, some irate affiliates of BOKA wrote to the executive demanding a special general meeting. In their letter, which is allegedly signed by two thirds of members, the affiliates point out that the meeting should be held on the 8th of February 2025.
The main objective of the meeting, it seems, was to pass a motion of no confidence on the Bakwadi led Executive Committee. “According to article 11.1 of the BOKA constitution, ‘a defective Executive Committee and or Appeals Board can be voted out at a Special General Meeting, which may be requested by 2/3 of BOKA members,” the aggrieved affiliates cautioned in the letter.
In the said letter, the affiliates said they believed the current BOKA leadership had failed ‘to uphold the principles of good governance’ and had ‘violated the BOKA constitution in several instances.
Among other things, the affiliates accuse their executive of failing to appoint BOKA commissions as required in the constitution, failing to present the association’s audited financials in the past two years and a constant failure to hold mandated regular meetings stipulated in the association’s constitution.
They further accuse the BOKA leadership of undertaking unlawful appointment of coaches, arbitrary termination of BOKA memberships as well as failure to implement the association’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) resolutions.
Speaking to this publication, a source close to the events at BOKA indicated that the majority of the affiliates were not happy. “Even us who helped to put this current committee in office are not happy with how things are turning out. We expected better.”
The source said the current committee was doing exactly what it accused the previous committee of doing. “The grievances of the affiliates are not cooked up vendettas, they are real.”
Responding to the accusations, Bakwadi described them as baseless falsehoods. He said contrary to what is said, BOKA had appointed some of its commissions as mandated by the constitution. He said some of the commissions already in place are the Technical Commission, the Referees Commission, the Disciplinary Commission, the Appeals Commission and the Women’s Commission. He however said the other remaining four (4) commissions have not yet been appointed mainly due to lack of resources.
On the allegations of lack of financial transparency, the BOKA president said “this accusation is false since BOKA submitted Auditable Financial Statements at the 2024 AGM.”
Bakwadi also disputed the allegations that his committee had failed to hold regular meetings as stipulated in the Constitution. He said the association ‘has been holding regular meetings as and when there was need to do so.”
On the contentious issue of appointing coaches without following laid out procedures, the BOKA president said the accusation ‘is false and unsubstantiated.’ “BOKA follows laid down procedures in all its activities. BOKA has only reduced the number of Coaches due to financial constraints,” he said.
His detractors however say otherwise. According to them, BOKA previously advertised posts for coaches. “Interested individuals would then apply and a proper assessment undertaken before anyone could be hired. We have never seen any posts for coaches advertised but we have seen coaches directly appointed under the current executive,” a source said.
Still on the accusations, Bakwadi further dismissed as ‘false and unsubstantiated’ the claims by affiliates that members have been terminated without due process or disciplinary hearings or that the Executive Committee has failed to implement resolutions passed at previous Annual General Meetings.
On the affiliates request to convene a Special General Meeting, the BOKA president said it will not happen. He said this is largely on the basis that the petition is based on falsehoods and that some affiliates had withdrawn from the petition, thus collapsing the two thirds majority required to call for the association to convene a meeting.
“Since the reception of the petition by BOKA on the 13th of January 2025, two (2) signatories to the petition being BSF and JKA have written to BOKA dissociating themselves with and withdrawing from the submitted petition.”
“Out of the five remaining signatories, two (2) of them being Nomichi and Karate Nomichi Federation – Botswana and Botswana Goju-kai Karate Federation are not members of BOKA. Therefore, out of the seven (7) initial signatories to the petition only three (3), i.e. Botswana Kufukan Federation, Botswana Shitoryu Shukukai Union and Ryushin-Kan are Bonafide members of BOKA.”
“However, the three (3) do not constitute two thirds (2/3) majority of the general Membership that is mandated by the Constitution to convene a Special General Meeting as per Article 14.3 of the BOKA Constitution.”
Regarding what will happen, Bakwadi said ‘undermining the democratically elected executive committee and collaboration with non-BOKA members are actions that are not only a violation of the BOKA code of conduct but also a serious threat to the integrity and unity of BOKA.’
“Any behaviour aimed at destabilising the organisation by members or disregarding its democratic processes will not be tolerated. Strict disciplinary action, as outlined within the BOKA constitution will be taken against those found involved in such activities,” he warned.
