Zakhem’s dual roles cause unease
Chakalisa Dube | Saturday September 9, 2023 06:00
Zakhem is a director at Gaborone United (GU) and the chairperson of the Botswana Football League (BFL) board. The investigative team consisted of human resources expert, Leviet Ntwaagae and attorneys, Simon Mmopi and Mboki Chilisa. The investigators submitted their findings two months ago but the BFA has not made the report public as promised.
The commission was established following a leaked audio conversation between Mojaki and referee, Joshua Bondo. In the audio, Bondo appeared to dismiss attempts to influence the outcome of a Premier League match as Mojaki pleaded with him to meet with Zakhem.
The report indicated that Zakhem, amongst others, did not use proper channels to address his concerns about match officials who he believed mishandled GU matches.
One incident involved the referees’ manager, Jonti Rasetsoga, being summoned to the BFL CEO’s office to explain a decision Zakhem was unhappy with in a GU match. Such actions by Zakhem border on interference and conflict of interests, the report stated. “The BFL chairman is a custodian of corporate governance at both BFL and BFA respectively.
He sits on the national executive commission committee and as such should know the right protocols to lodge complaints against the referees' poor performance,” the report reads. Zakhem has also had previous conflicts with referees like Bondo, whom he believed did not officiate properly in a GU match. The report emphasised that the referees' manager reports directly to the BFA CEO for a reason, and Zakhem has not adhered to that protocol. “The BFL chairman wearing the hat of club financier and chairman at the same time when raising refereeing complaints creates an element of intimidation,” the report noted.
The commission's findings highlighted a growing perception among referees that Zakhem has influence over which referees are barred from officiating matches involving GU. Although this position could not be fully substantiated, the commission pointed out that Zakhem has contributed to this narrative with his inappropriate interactions with referees. One key finding of the report is that there is no evidence to suggest that Zakhem played a role in the suspension of referee Joshua Bondo by CAF and BFA.
It had previously been speculated that the GU financier was instrumental in Bondo's suspension, particularly from handling local league matches. Bondo told the commission that he has a strained relationship with Zakhem. One of the key recommendations made by the report is that the BFL board and management should urgently consider amending the BFL constitution to incorporate a clause that prohibits club officials who are actively serving at their clubs from serving on the BFL board.
The BFL is said to be working on revising its constitution to accommodate the appointment of an independent board. "As an alternative, the BFL should make a provision for appointment of former club officials to the board who have not been active at clubs in the past five years before appointment," the report stated. The commission also recommended that the BFA CEO should safeguard the affairs of the referees and ensure that third parties are not allowed to interfere with the allocation or scheduling of referees and the dissemination of confidential information related to referees' scheduling. In an interview with Mmegi Sport, Zakhem dismissed suggestions of a conflict of interest.
He explained that as the chairman of BFL, part of his responsibilities is to ensure the league operates smoothly with the assistance of the CEO and his office. "There were complaints from several clubs labelling unfairness by some match officials. To that effect, several letters of complaints were handed over to the referees’ manager to respond to.
Unfortunately, there have been no answers to clubs' grievances hence my visit to the referees’ manager to ask him why the delays in responding," he said. Zakhem pointed out that GU was one of the clubs that complained to the BFL about the poor quality of refereeing.
“They (GU) are also to be treated fairly, hence was my enquiry. Nevertheless, we are there to make sure that all 16 teams are treated fairly and always in a transparent manner. I would be doing GU injustice by not attending to their grievances when they come officially,” he said “I saw no conflict in such as stated in the report. As for the conflict of being GU financier and BFL chairman at the same time, this again is the structure of the BFL board as described by the current constitution.”