Netball in turmoil

MASERU – The Lesotho Sport and Recreation Commission (LSRC) and Lesotho National Olympic Committee (LNOC) have intervened in the internal squabbles within the Lesotho Netball Association (LNA).

The LNA executive committee is divided into two camps. There is one camp within the LNA that is accused of being influenced externally by an individual in Zimbabwe. That camp has ganged up against the current LNA president, ‘Mamotšabi Lekhabunyane.

The timeline of the infighting and attempts to overthrow Lekhabunyane began on June 11 with a “show cause letter” to the association’s treasurer Keketso Mokitimi.

The letter was signed by LNA secretary general Lineo Palime and it accused Mokitimi of presenting a fake financial report that was rejected by all LNA members. The letter further alleged that Mokitimi promised to present an acceptable report but has since been giving the executive the run-around, despite being reminded to present the report on numerous occasions.

On top of presenting a dubious report, the letter by Palime accused Mokitimi of failing to submit a yearly budget to the committee as stipulated by the LNA’s constitution.

“You are also aware that you violated the constitution and connived with the former president to withdraw money and use it without permission from the executive committee,” Palime’s letter said.

“The executive committee requested you on several occasions to submit a bank statement in order for us to know the true situation of our financial affairs, but you ignored it,” the letter continued.

Mokitimi was given seven days to respond and give reasons why he should not be suspended and hauled before a disciplinary committee. Palime was on a roll with her axe wielding and accusations.

On the same day she wrote a three-page letter demanding the removal of the LNA president Lekhabunyane from office. The letter accused Lekhabunyane of “interfering negatively in almost every department with the serious intention of ensuring that nothing moves forward positively.”

Palime said the kind of behaviour the president had displayed needed to be corrected urgently before it renders the LNA useless. In the letter, she accused Lekhabunyane of advising and directing the association’s treasurer, Mokitimi, wrongly to the point that he presented a fake financial report.

Palime said these actions have caused members to distrust the LNA’s executive committee and view them as dishonest and/or incompetent.

“You suffocate all developmental good projects submitted by the office of the director of development, for the purpose of persuading the members to see the office as not functional,” Palime said in her letter directed at the LNA president.

The accusations labelled in the letter seem personal as Lekhabunyane’s integrity was called into question. The letter went as far as accusing her of being a bad role model that drinks alcohol in front of young netball players.

Lekhabunyane’s antagonists also accused her of failing to assemble national teams for both men and women because of her personal interests. The letter basically called Lekhabunyane incompetent, manipulative, dishonest, coercive, despot and, above all, a gossiper.

“You singlehandedly make decisions that negatively affect not only us as the committee, but the entire netball family. We believe your removal from office and reinstating of the former SG (secretary general) will bring back sanity in the netball fraternity as before,” the letter signed by Palime said.

To date the accusations have not been validated by tangible proof and this paper has not been able to independently verify them. Two days later, this vicious letter was followed by another one that called for a special general meeting.

The agenda of the meeting was to remove the president from the office as well as to see the disciplining of the treasurer, the appointment of a disciplinary committee and the reinstatement of the LNA’s former secretary general.

Lekhabunyane wrote a letter of her own advising the LNA members to ignore the letter calling for the urgent general meeting. She said the invitation was unlawful and intended to bring the association into disrepute. She also mentioned she had sought intervention from the LSRC and the LNOC.

The special meeting did not go ahead as planned as both mother bodies intervened and it is said that July 2 has been chosen as the day to fully discuss the issues within netball. Contacted for the comment, the association’s public relations officer, Telang Machela, confirmed that the executive is divided.

He expressed dismay at the office of the secretary general which he said appears to be functional only when drafting letters. Machela, who is clearly in Lekhabunyane’s camp, accused the rebelling group of having outside influences and said they plan to meet the minister of sport to discuss the matter after the intervention on July 2.

“I think they need to be counselled, some of the things they are doing are being pushed from outside by an individual in Zimbabwe who seems to have interest,” Machela alleged.

“The president was working hard and this office (of the secretary general) was dead; it’s only working now when they are writing letters,” he said.

LSRC would not comment on the infighting except to say the issues are ongoing and being worked on. Whether the intervention on July 2 will bring the LNA’s warring factions to the same page remains to be seen.

Tlalane Phahla