It Is Now Time To Deliver

| Monday August 2, 2010 00:00

Former Cabinet Minister and former Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) chairperson, Boyce Sebetela, got the nod over the weekend when he defeated his challenger, Booker Bannister.  We congratulate Sebetela for winning the elections, which were held under a peaceful atmosphere.  At the end of the day, the winner should be football.

With the election behind us, it is now time to get down to work.  The position of the vice president (administration) is an important one.  Sebetela, like the others who were vying for the post, made promises during their campaigns that they are going to help football grow and we will hold him down on his promises.  He has proved his mettle when he was the BNSC chairperson in the early '90's and we believe that he still carries the enthusiasm that he had during that time.  Sebetela does not need to be reminded about the rigours of football as a sport. 

Having been at the BNSC, he knows the challenges of the sport.  Football is the number one sport in the country and as such commands a large following.  As a result the expectation is high from the fans who are the paying customers.  We believe very strongly that Sebetela will add impetus to the David Fani-led BFA executive committee.  We would like to remind Sebetela that football is not only about the Premier League.  More focus should be directed at the lower leagues, which have been suffering for a very long time.  It is a disgrace that we have the First Division League, which has been running without a sponsor for a while.  This is the second best league in the country and it is the feeder league to the Premier League.  If we do not take care of this league, we will not have a good Premier League.  The result will be for the teams to recruit foreign players some of whom do not add value to the local game. It is high time something is done to help the other leagues. We believe that Sebetela will use his influence (in the right way) to help the BFA go out and look for sponsorships for the other leagues.  Sebetela also has a lot in his hands to revamp the secretariat to make it function well to serve football. 

He comes in at a time when a new Chief Executive Officer is to be employed.  He should be able to lay his cards on the table for the CEO to drive the secretariat.