BFA meets over crisis
Mqondisi Dube | Wednesday April 6, 2016 09:12
“The Minister wanted to establish what the issues were following numerous media reports about some allegations of mismanagement at the Botswana Premier League offices. The meeting was informed that the BFA will meet on 6th April 2016 (today) with a view to discuss the matter and chart a way forward. Soon after the meeting, the BFA will brief the BNSC on the outcome of their deliberations,” BNSC chairperson, Solly Reikeletseng said in a statement yesterday.
He said it was pertinent the government through the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture be informed as it plays an important role in providing financial resources and creating an enabling environment for sport development to thrive. Reikeletseng said the outcome of the investigations will form a basis on which to make improvements going forward.
There have been two false starts in an attempt to get the BFA top brass to meet amid reports some NEC members were not keen to convene.
“The president (Tebogo Sebego) has called two meetings and each time some NEC members give excuses. But the expectation is that the NEC will meet this Wednesday,” said a source.
The BFA is battling an internal strife as the soccer mother body prepares for an elective general assembly due before the end of August.
Sebego’s relationship with some members of his executive is frosty and has, in recent times, thrown spanners in the association’s works.
Meanwhile, Premiership sponsor, beMOBILE has remained mum on the unfolding BPL crisis.
“We are constrained to comment at the present moment because we want to respect the Botswana Premier League internal processes. As a sponsor of the elite league, we will however make our views known at the appropriate time.
We don’t want to be seen to be micro-managing the beMOBILE Premiership,” Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTCL) head of sponsorships and consumer relations, Tiro Kganela said in response to Mmegi Sport’s questionnaire.
BTCL is beMOBILE’s parent company. Mmegi Sport had sought to know if beMOBILE had met the football authorities over the matter and if the crisis was likely to affect their relationship.
The BPL plunged into a crisis after its chief executive officer, Bennett Mamelodi and his personal assistant were suspended while the board chairperson, Walter Kgabung and his vice, Solomon Mantswe were recalled.
This followed reports that the BPL was broke after exhausting a P6.2 million budget midway through the season. It was also reported that there were suspicions over the BPL’s decision to act as a guarantor in a loan deal between businessman, Jagdish Shah and three clubs.