The Botswana Volleyball Federation (BVF) may find itself embroiled in a defaulter saga of its own after a protest was opened against Kutlwano Ladies Volleyball Club. In a case reminiscent of the never ending Ofentse Nato saga that has put the local elite football league in disarray, Kutlwano is accused of playing with a defaulter during their league games over the weekend. At the centre of the storm is Botswana Ladies’ volleyball import Tracy Chaba, who has recently arrived from Egypt where she was plying her trade for Zamalek.
Having landed home a week ago from her Egyptian sojourn, where she had a six months stint with Zamalek, Chaba became the centre of controversy on Saturday when she donned the black and white colors of Kutlwano which beat Dynamites in three straight sets in a league game played at Lobatse.
Faced with the prospect of playing against the might of Chaba and company, Dynamites played their game under protest. According to sources, Dynamites were of the view that the player was improperly registered and therefore ineligible to play in the league. The source revealed that while there are procedures that need to be followed for a player to be registered, they were flouted in Chaba’s registration. “First of all, for a player to be registered there is a need, to among others, produce letters stating the player is not on contract with another team and also to produce an international clearance. These have not been produced by Kutlwano or the BVF,” the source claimed.
It is alleged that when asked to furnish an International Clearance Certificate by both Dynamites and BDF VI, Bighouse failed to produce it, citing that ‘it was not the right platform to demand papers and referred them to the Federation.
Commenting on the issue after Kutlwano lost 2 ÔÇô 3 to BDF IX on Sunday at Sebele, Kutlwano coach Isaac Samuel said the accusation was just a ploy to distract his players. “These teams threatened to boycott the games in a bid to to destruct our players hence our loss. BVF advised us to write them a letter citing our intentions to play Chaba and for her to be registered and activated into the system and we did that and she is registered we have her blue book. We played under an unfavorable atmosphere because of these petty issues,” Samuel said in a post match interview.
The coach then pointed an accusing finger at the BVF, stating they sanctioned Chaba’s move to Egypt even though the club did not clear the player as per rules and regulations of FIVB.
“BVF must explain to us how they cleared the player without our consent. We suspect that somebody invaded the Kutlwano system which is our privacy as a club and cleared her through BVF. We did not even know that Chaba signed a contract with the Egyptian giants, for her to be there we thought she was undergoing an intensive training but we are still following the issue,” fumed Samuel.
When reached for comment BVF Vice president technical George Kootsene said they are still trying to gather all relevant information concerning the player’s registration and eligibility.
“We are not yet in a position to reveal any information regarding Chaba’s issue because we have not yet received any formal complaint from concerned teams but we are aware of this burning issue which is bringing the league into disrepute,” he said.
For his part, the President of the Federation Daniel Molaodi said such issues are normally handled by the Federation’s technical team and are the ones who determine the outcomes.
