Letshwiti throws stones from a glass house
Mqondisi Dube | Friday December 1, 2017 12:22
Maclean Letshwiti comes across as an abrasive leader who does not mince his words. He is a straight talker, who in the process, has irked some.
Since assuming office, he has unflinchingly paraded himself as ‘Mr Fix-It’. He rode on a campaign to fix the ‘leaks’ at the Botswana Football Association (BFA) as he edged out former president, Tebogo Sebego in 2016.
He has, since then, continually lamented the state of local football.
Letshwiti, in an interview after he was elected into football’s highest position, said he had underestimated the rot at BFA, inheriting a cash strapped association, while he said there was a lot of politicking, which retarded progress.
He bluntly said the wrong people had been put into office, which was the reason why the association had hit a cul-de-sac.
During the campaign, he promised to create 5,000 jobs and recently said that is on course, particularly through the countrywide, youth leagues. He has stuck to his promise of prioritising youth development although he, a fortnight ago, said the project is facing bottlenecks, due to the stagnant state of football.
Letshwiti argues, his predecessors have let the game down. Although he has been in a combative mood, Letshwiti recently appeared to tone down and hit the middle of the road, when he said the time for blame game was over. But the urge to throw stones from his glass house was too strong to resist when he laid into his predecessors in Francistown during a media conference to brief journalists on German Christoph Rocholl’s findings. Rocholl was engaged by the BFA to assess local football and proffer possible solutions.
“For the past 51 years, what have we done for football; nothing!” he said. “We have got no story to tell for our 51 years of football. We have run football and played for all these years but where is the result? In places I have visited so far, football is in a depressing state. We have not been focussed as the BFA. We cannot develop football under these circumstances,” he said in Francistown.
Despite emphasising a few weeks back that focus should be on providing solutions, Letshwiti again utilised the next opportunity to claw into his predecessors.
He repeated his sentiments in Gaborone this week, saying there was nothing that has been done for football.
While his sentiments are debatable, it is likely that Letshwiti has invited further scrutiny, particularly as a man at the helm of an association that needs immediate solutions.
Expectations are rising with each passing statement and Letshwiti would not be forgiven, if after all the stone throwing, he does not offer the conduit that football desperately needs. By openly having a go at his predecessors, Letshwiti has effectively presented himself as the solution to football; Mr Fix-It.
And now his every step would be under the microscope and football’s expectations have, naturally soared. He is expected to be an impeccable leader, who has, inexcusably, pushed himself into a corner, where there would be zero tolerance for failure.