Zakhem on genesis of BFL fallout
Larona Makhaiza | Saturday March 23, 2024 06:00
He said one of the main issues that gave birth to the persistent brawl, included BFL's desire to have its own offices away from the Lekidi Football Centre. Briefing the media at Lekidi Centre this week, Zakhem said before the 2023-2024 season, during a board meeting, it was decided that the BFL should have an office away from the Botswana Football Association's (BFA) property.
“People do not know that the BFL does not own anything until we went to Satar Dada and solicited a car worth P450,000 for our then CEO, Senzo Mbatha. After we did that, Jagdish Shah said in a meeting that for the first time, BFL has something of its own,” Zakhem remarked.
Zakhem added that from the same meeting, the board was motivated to see it through that the BFL stands on its own, away from the BFA premises. According to the minutes of the board meeting, Shah had suggested that instead of giving teams P100, 000 grants, they should instead invest the money into buying the BFL property. During that meeting, Zakhem had raised concerns that most BFL clubs depend on grants for survival and that it would be difficult to convince them to forgo the payments. The minutes indicate that Tebogo Sebego, a board member, said he would try and convince the clubs about the initiative.
“Sebego suggested that the board comes up with the idea and proposal to the clubs and share the opinion with them, which will be a significant growth for the BFL regarding the asset register,” read the minutes. Sebego pointed out that BFL can have a better chance to build the offices as a public institution and that the board had to persuade the shareholders to build an asset.
To Zakhem and Shah's surprise, the idea was used against the two. “Little did we know that this would be used against us as clubs accused us of refusing with their grants. So, the first issue was with the grants that Sebego said he would take care of and negotiate with clubs,” Zakhem said at the press briefing.
He added that the idea never came to see the light of day. Soon after, some clubs demanded their grants, indicating that they were battling to cover expenses.
The other issue that broke the camel's back, according to Zakhem, was the reduction of Premier League teams from 16 to 12. “I hear that this was a FIFA suggestion, as they felt that if we want to be a better league, we should do that. But I want to put it out there that I was not part of the board (then). I found the Memorandum of Agreement there,” he said.