The meeting had been scheduled by the previous committee, which was unceremoniously removed from power during a Special General Meeting (SGM) held at Cresta Lodge in Gaborone in September.
Before the cancellation, Bakwadi met with the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) where he expressed his displeasure with what is happening in BOKA. Bakwadi informed the affiliates that the OGM that was called by the suspended BOKA secretary-general, Karabo Samuel has been cancelled. “Samuel is currently on suspension and under an alleged corruption investigation.
We are cancelling the OGM based on the following; the last Special General Meeting resolutions are legally binding as they were agreed upon by BOKA's supreme body and they were never revoked by any appropriate court or arbitration council in accordance with the Societies Act, Chapter 18.01, which we deem supreme.
Samuel does not have any powers to overrule decisions made by the BOKA general assembly as an individual. We view that whoever will continue to attend such illegal meetings will be acting out of ignorance or in support of bringing the Botswana Karate Association into disrepute,” Bakwadi said in a letter to the affiliates.
He advised all members not to attend the Saturday meeting adding that they will ensure that law enforcement authorities will be engaged in case the illegal meeting continues. Meanwhile, Samuel was served with a suspension letter by the interim committee in October, which took effect immediately.
The secretary-general of the former committee was suspended from BOKA activities following a preliminary enquiry, which established that in the capacity of the former executive committee, he knowingly submitted an invoice dated April 4, 2022, to the BNSC officials to pay for the Lobatse Sports Festival medals to a tune of P20,509 and P1,800 for branding of medals.
“We have on record that the Lobatse Sports Festival was not supposed to be funded from government coffers. As per the invoice dated April 4, 2022, a payment of P7,562 was made by the BNSC upon your request. This was a payment for your personal event you had hosted under the pretext that it was a national association retreat.
It is alleged that your committee provided false information to the Registrar of Societies to accept and approve the BOKA constitution dated August 30, 2022,” the letter reads in part. For his part, Samuel said he was not in a position to comment on the matter at hand. “Kindly allow me not to comment any further,” he said.
