BNSC apologises to affiliates

MOSAH MOKGANEDI
Staff Writer | Saturday May 25, 2013 00:00

 

Affiliates had called a special general meeting on Thursday and demanded to know why the council retrenched staff without first engaging with them but instead communicated that through the media.'We take full responsibility for that misunderstanding,' said BNSC chairperson Solly Reikeletseng at the meeting. However, Reikeletseng reminded affiliates that the BNSC Act does not force them to consult affiliates on council operational matters. But before the meeting started it faced a small hiccup when the chairperson announced that affiliates did not form a quorum.

Only 18 out of 34 affiliates were said to have renewed their membership. However, affiliates argued that 34 were not a true reflection of the council total membership, as some of them collapsed a long time ago. After a five-minute recess the council chairperson allowed the meeting to continue.Other questions affiliates had asked were:

why BNSC had retrenched staff; where the money to pay retrenched staff would come from; and whether retrenchments would not jeopardise service delivery? Reikeletseng, however, assured the affiliates that retrenchments would not have any disruptive impact as BNSC would align staff in such a way that no affiliate would suffer.Reikeletseng said despite the financial constraints, the executive committee had seen it fit to bolster operational efficiency at the Secretariat in order to fully address the needs of affiliates. 'The issue that remained, therefore, was: what should we do, as the leadership of sport, to ensure that we work within our limited means to achieve more?' he said. He said that they found retrenchments to be the only way out.