During a media briefing this week, Zakhem said the decision might be the solution to combat conflicts within the BFL.
“This is something that we did not want to talk about but the BFA on Friday took a decision to recall the autonomy of the BFL after their task force did investigations. And to me this is really a positive step by the BFA to recall it so that we can have our house in order,” he said.
Zakhem argued that people should bear in mind that the autonomy of the BFL was not cancelled but it was only recalled meaning that at some point it will be given back. “It’s a bit tough to accept but we have to see the positive part of it. We are worried that the autonomy has been recalled but we need to calm ourselves to prove that we will be able to govern ourselves.
They will assist us to be able to govern ourselves and avoid future mishaps,” Zakhem said. The GU benefactor highlighted that although it is tough to accept, people should also bear in mind that the BFA is the authority of football in Botswana and is well within its rights to recall the league's autonomy.
He outlined that people should not despair as the move is only temporary in order to address the crisis at the BFL. The BFA indicated it was taking back the Premier League's autonomy due to incessant fights, which intensified after a meeting in Palapye last December, where Zakhem was voted out.
The 2024-2025 season will be run by the BFA until a time when the BFL gets back its autonomy. BFA CEO Mfolo Mfolo supported the decision to recall the autonomy. He said they had rushed into giving the BFL independence. “We did not give them (BFL) enough guidance as the BFA on how they can run this league.
Basically, we gave it to them too early and we did not even give them tools to run the league,” Mfolo argued. Mfolo highlighted that the internal fights with the league motivated the BFA's move. “It's not our duty to babysit the league, but what has happened in three years has not been good for football and we can’t let it continue like that. We had to intervene,” he said.
