Leemisa Thuseho
TAEKWONDO clubs have requested the Lesotho National Committee (LNOC) and the Lesotho Sport and Recreation Commission (LSRC) to bar the current Lesotho Taekwondo Association (LTA) executive committee from preparing for the association’s general elections.
The LNOC and the LSRC must therefore, form an interim committee to call and prepare for the elections because the current committee’s term ended on 31 February 2020 as per section 9.1 of the LTA constitution.
The concerned clubs include Mokhotlong, Roma, Sefika, Khubetsoana, Motimposo, New Millennium, Zenes, Qacha’s Nek and Thaba-Tseka.
In their letter of grievances presented to the LNOC and the LSRC, the clubs said the committee failed to call for the elections 14 days before 31 February.
The committee’s defence is that it could not stage the elections during the Covid-19 lockdown.
However, the concerned clubs are having none of it and are instead accusing the committee of poor communication as evidenced by its failure to invite members to tournaments.
They said most LTA was communicating through a WhatsApp group which did not have all the members.
“This committee has never properly invited clubs for tournaments since 2017,” The clubs said in their letter.
“Invitations were made via a WhatsApp group and they could only be seen by a few people who are members of that group.”
They further accused the committee for disowning some of the clubs for failing to participate in LTA events since 2017 and failing to pay subscriptions.
The clubs said it was not easy for them to pay subscriptions since the LTA bank account was dormant. All subscriptions must be paid via a bank account. They also accused the LTA of failing to provide a calendar of events since 2017.
LTA public relations officer Sek’hok’he Molikoe told this publication that they were now awaiting mediation from the LNOC and the LSRC.
Molikoe rubbished allegations that they were using the Covid-19 pandemic as a scapegoat for failing to hold elections.
“Even if we wanted to stage the elections, we couldn’t because all sporting activities were banned under Covid-19 regulations,” Molikoe said.
“It is false that clubs were unable to deposit their subscriptions into our account. Some clubs paid their subscriptions in January into that same account.
“We also ensured that every club is represented in the WhatsApp group, so it is clear that those who say they were unaware of our events are not active members of the association.”
He said the LTA currently has 29 recognised clubs.
Molikoe said they could not provide the clubs with a calendar of events for the whole year because the LSRC has been struggling to provide them with their annual subvention. It therefore was difficult to plan ahead.
LSRC acting chief executive officer Teboho Malataliana said the two mother bodies have already resolved the issues and the concerned parties would get the resolutions this week.