Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana Football Association (BFA) and the Botswana Football League (BFL) are staring down the barrel of the gun over their unpopular decision to reduce the number of teams in the football leagues.
On the 4th October, just three days before the commencement of the league season, BFL board chairperson Nicolas Zakhem made an unpopular announcement. He informed BFL chairpersons that four teams will relegate at the end of the season.
In his letter to the BFL shareholders, the BFL board chairman reminds them that ‘at both the shareholders’ meetings, ‘the issue of relegation and promotion in article 7 of the competition rules’ was ‘noted.’
The announcement has since attracted the ire of teams in the BFL as well as from local football administrators. The shareholders are now accusing Zakhem and BFL chief executive officer (CEO) Senzo Mbatha of taking unilateral decisions without the consent of the shareholders.
“What we know is that all the teams have objected to article 7 of the competition rules. Only one team has consented to it,” a source within the BFL says. “What Zakhem did is illegal,” he adds.
In his letter to the shareholders explaining why he signed for the article despite their objection, Zakhem says ‘it was part of the Memorandum of Agreement signed between the BFA and the BFL, which is the fundamental basis of BFL getting autonomy to manage professional football in Botswana.’
“When giving the autonomy, BFA made it one of the conditions to have premier league clubs reduced from 16 to 12 clubs and the first division reduced from 24 to 16 clubs in the next three seasons,” Zakhem wrote.
Addressing the issue, another BFL insider described it as a blatant lie made to get away with taking unilateral decisions. “There was never such a condition in the MoA. I dare Zakhem to produce minutes of the meeting where such a condition was agreed,” he says.
He says the decision to reduce teams was based solely on financial gains rather than sporting gain. The BFL insider says reducing teams will only reduce the quality of the league and make it less attractive. It will also kill the competitiveness of local players and the national team.
“The decision takes us back to the days when we were regarded as the whipping boys of Africa. That was the time when our league only had 12 teams. Back then, we could not compete as our league season was very short and players at the national team could not match their counterparts,” the administrator says.
According to the administrator, at the time, local players had less than 28 games a season and spent a lot of time inactive. “That’s why our national team players were competitive in the first 30 minutes of the games and would fade away for the remainder of the match.”
“It was only after BOSA when we increased the number of teams to 16 that our players became more competitive. This was because they had a longer season and could play up to 35 games in a season,” the administrator explains.
“If you ask the people who took the decision or reducing teams what the motivation was, they have no sporting reason to give. All they will tell you is that teams will benefit more from whatever little money the league can get from sponsors. So, this decision has nothing to do with sport, but rather everything to do with getting more money at the expense of producing a quality product and quality players,” he says.
Meanwhile, Independent BFL board member Tebogo Sebego has written a letter to the BFA seeking legal intervention on the matter. In a letter, which has since hit the social media platforms, Sebego asks the BFA legal office to intervene as the issue ‘has the potential to bring our game into disrepute.’
He goes on to say ‘the inclusion of Clause 7 in the BFL Competition Rules 2023 is unlawful’ as ‘it had not followed due process outlined by both the BFA and BFL constitutions.’
Sebego then points out to the BFA that clause 8.4 of the BFL constitution states that any change to the number of teams relegated or promoted ‘may only be implemented if duly adopted at a general meeting by a special resolution (75% majority).’
He also goes on to add that the decision also goes against clause 17.5.1.2 of the BFA constitution. According to the clause, the National Football League ‘shall be made up of such number of teams as shall from time to time be determined by the NEC upon recommendation by the Botswana Football League.’
He contends that the BFL board and shareholders never approved the decision and can therefore not be legal. His view is held by several shareholders. Masitaoka Football Club chairperson Godfrey Ratlhaga says ‘the league assembly rejected the now unpopular clause 7.
“We rejected it and the chairperson is doing as he pleases against the BFL assembly that rejected the idea. This is going to have a negative impact in all football structures,” Ratlhaga says.
His sentiments are shared by Nico United chairperson Busani Segweni. “We have never agreed to and it was deferred. As far as we know there has never been a meeting accepting and adopting the proposal. At Nico we don’t want teams to be reduced,” he says.
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