The ruthless monster BPL did not envisage
Mqondisi Dube | Friday April 1, 2016 15:50
Local football fans returned from the Easter Holidays weekend to find football literally in chains. Premier League offices were chained-up and there was no sign of activity after a weekend boardroom storm.
The BPL board had suspended its chief executive officer, Bennett Mamelodi and his assistant while recalling chairperson, Walter Kgabung and his vice, Solomon Mantswe in an unprecedented move.
It was a new low for the country’s most followed but controversy-prone sport. The scandal echoed across a shell-shocked football fraternity still reeling from last and this season’s unending protests.
In the build-up to the turning point, the Premier League offices were broken into, and conspiracy theories were sent flying.
But away from untested theories, it emerged the BPL P6 million season’s budget had been blown away. It was reported that most activities were under-budgeted for, leading to overspending although it remains unclear where the secretariat sourced the deficit. Clubs monthly grants are not up-to-date which has seen clubs struggle with their-day-to-day operations.
“The budget was fiddled without the entire board being consulted,” a concerned board member said.
The Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) has sunk its claws into the case amid rising hopes answers would be provided soon.
While the BPL’s flagship competition, the beMOBILE Premiership has grown exponentially in financial terms, there were always administrative glitches, which have stuck out like a sore thumb.
Season after season, protests over players’ registration or eligibility have simply refused to go away, the highlight of which has been the damaging Morris Ruzivo and Ofentse Nato cases over the last two seasons.
At one stage, some board members faced the wrath of affiliates after digging into the governing body’s purse without authorisation.
Former general manager, Phuthego Setete left under a cloud. There was a storm surrounding the registration of Police XI and Security Systems with Notwane and BR Highlanders profiting.
The BPL also made a questionable choice when it entered into a cashless broadcasting deal with pay-per-view South African channel, Supersport. It was later rescinded and Botswana Television (Btv) returned.
However, probably the lowest point was last season’s protests involving Sankoyo’s Ruzivo.
The league was plunged into a crisis, which saw the programme stretch well into winter after delays in dealing with protests.
The BPL did not emerge with its integrity intact as it was seen as failing to efficiently deal with disputes.
Amid misgivings about some administrative decisions, the BPL still managed to retain the confidence of the sponsor, beMOBILE, which poured P30 million over three seasons at the start of the 2014 campaign. It also emerged recently that the league’s value had risen from an initial P15 million to P23 million, which saw Mamelodi’s leadership receive a pat on the back.
The BPL went on to launch an ambitious 11-point plan to turn the fortunes of the league around, but the programme hardly took off.
The elaborate 11-point plan, had among others, sought to improve attendances, up-skill club administrators as well as empower clubs to ensure they are self-sustaining.
But that remains grounded as clubs find themselves deep in financial doldrums. Figures from the turnstiles are not encouraging as clubs still fail to constantly shell their dues.
In fact, it is this dire financial situation, which forced clubs to grab their begging bowls and head to business mogul, Jagdish Shah’s office.
Shah sought assurance from the BPL that the clubs would be able to pay back. It sparked the crisis, which Mamelodi and his compatriots find themselves holed in.
The latest developments might deal a hammer blow to the league’s loudly trumpeted efforts for autonomy.
As the creators of what was supposed to be a “gentle giant”, wearily slumped to their chairs after a season’s hard work, they instead realised they had just completed a brutal, monstrous creation. Their monster, contrary to expectations, is enormously ruthless, and with the weekend suspensions, it might have just started consuming its creators as U.S author, Stephen King once said, “sometimes human places create inhuman monsters.”
The P6 million budget, where it went wrong
The Botswana Premier League is reportedly broke after blowing its P6 million season’s budget. Below, Mmegi Sport details how the budget was exhausted
Budget Actual Variance
Team grants P3,520,000 P4,000,000 P480,000
BPL comments: “Team grants were budgeted exclusive of VAT, but later on paid inclusive of VAT.”
Travel P565,000 P729,395 P164,395
Comments: “We had budgeted to procure a fleet for use, but the deal did not materialise, we ended up resorting to hiring.”
Accommodation P415,000 P799,510 P384,510
Comments: “We had budgeted to spend around P45,000 per month, but currently, we are spending around P96,000 per month due to the following;
Maun: We had budgeted for a night stay, but due to the distance we had to resort to two nights
Palapye: More games in Palapye due to the number of league teams there
Btv: During the budget period, sponsorship negotiations were on-going with Btv, it later turned out that the league was to pay half of the Btv live matches in the north region.”
Board of Governors P435,000 P600,730 P165,730
Comments: “We had an unprecedented number of board meetings at the beginning of the season that we had not anticipated during the budgeting process.”
Referees fees P480,000 P630,026 P150,026
Comments: “We had budgeted to spend about P96,000 per month, but currently we are spending around P120,000.”
Emergency assist P245,000 P356,720 P111,720
Comments: “During the budgeting process, we were in negotiations with BCL (Phikwe), Debswana (Orapa and Jwaneng) and Sekgoma Hospital for the provision of ambulances to our games. At that time, the talks were at an advanced level and a positive outcome was expected. At last, only the Debswana deal materialised.”
Telephone expenses P200,000 P428,086 P260,203
Comments: “We had budgeted to spend around P25,000 per month, but we are currently spending P55,000 per month.”
Branding materials P500,000 760,203 P260,203
Comments: We had to procure the more durable branding materials as the ones budgeted for were not durable (experience from last season).”
Printing and stationery P40,000 P75,167 P35,167
Comments: “Due to a lot of board meetings.”