Defaulting BFA Officials Face Criminal Charges
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Monday September 23, 2019 11:17
Speaking at the association’s special general assembly on Saturday, BFA vice president, Marshlow Motlogelwa said they have a problem of officials who travel with the national teams as heads of delegation outside the country who fail to retire imprest on time.
He said such officials are aware of the stipulated time in which they should submit the required documents but fail to do so.
He however said the practice has to come to an end. “This thing has to stop and if need be, we will report such people to the police,” he said.
Motlogelwa said it is much easier to deal with such cases of accounting for the money when they involve BFA employees unlike officials who are not full-time employees. He said with the employees, it is easier since they can deduct from the salaries, but find it difficult to recover the money when it is officials involved.
He said with officials, other than sidelining them from traveling with national teams as HODs, it is difficult to deal with recovering the money but warned that they will now take the matter to the police if need be. The current BFA leadership has been calling for accountability as the association tries to normalise their accounts after years of financial struggles.
Chairperson of the BFA Audit and Compliance, Thomas Masife also expressed concern about money owed to the association through per diem.
He said some owe the association for three years adding that it is not acceptable. “How do you owe an association for three years and no action is taken? When you ask you are being told that those who should hold people accountable fear that they would lose elections when they try to make people pay.
I am told some of the people who owe the association money are people who hold key positions at the regions and they have major influence on the elections. So we do have people who are holding the association at ransom,” he said.
He said they have made recommendations that such people be taken to task.
“Those people should be taken to court. That is not coming from this table (BFA national executive committee); it is coming from us (BFA Audit and Compliance committee). They have actually given themselves soft loans without even paying interest,” he said.
Meanwhile, Masife said if the country wants to compete internationally, then the salary of the national team coach, Adel Amrouche is justified. Amrouche gets a monthly salary of P250, 000. He said a key position such as that of a coach, technical director and chief executive officer are paid handsomely because such people are qualified and can get the job anywhere in the world.
“Otherwise if we do not pay them well, we will settle for those that cannot take us anywhere,” he said.