{"id":36757,"date":"2023-10-19T15:45:20","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T15:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?p=36757"},"modified":"2023-10-19T14:56:50","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T14:56:50","slug":"zakhem-mbatha-in-bfl-shareholders-crosshairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/zakhem-mbatha-in-bfl-shareholders-crosshairs","title":{"rendered":"Zakhem, Mbatha in BFL shareholders\u2019 crosshairs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>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.<\/b><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In his letter to the BFL shareholders, the BFL board chairman reminds them that \u2018at both the shareholders\u2019 meetings, \u2018the issue of relegation and promotion in article 7 of the competition rules\u2019 was \u2018noted.\u2019<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we know is that all the teams have objected to article 7 of the competition rules. Only one team has consented to it,\u201d a source within the BFL says. \u201cWhat Zakhem did is illegal,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

In his letter to the shareholders explaining why he signed for the article despite their objection, Zakhem says \u2018it 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.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen 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,\u201d Zakhem wrote.<\/p>\n

Addressing the issue, another BFL insider described it as a blatant lie made to get away with taking unilateral decisions. \u201cThere was never such a condition in the MoA. I dare Zakhem to produce minutes of the meeting where such a condition was agreed,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d the administrator says.<\/p>\n

According to the administrator, at the time, local players had less than 28 games a season and spent a lot of time inactive. \u201cThat\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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,\u201d the administrator explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf 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,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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 \u2018has the potential to bring our game into disrepute.\u2019<\/p>\n

He goes on to say \u2018the inclusion of Clause 7 in the BFL Competition Rules 2023 is unlawful\u2019 as \u2018it had not followed due process outlined by both the BFA and BFL constitutions.\u2019<\/p>\n

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 \u2018may only be implemented if duly adopted at a general meeting by a special resolution (75% majority).\u2019<\/p>\n

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 \u2018shall 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.\u2019<\/p>\n

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 \u2018the league assembly rejected the now unpopular clause 7.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d Ratlhaga says.<\/p>\n

His sentiments are shared by Nico United chairperson Busani Segweni. \u201cWe 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\u2019t want teams to be reduced,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":36756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-36757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nZakhem, Mbatha in BFL shareholders\u2019 crosshairs - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Botswana Football Association (BFA) and the Botswana Football League (BFL) are staring down the barrel of the gun ove ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/zakhem-mbatha-in-bfl-shareholders-crosshairs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zakhem, Mbatha in BFL shareholders\u2019 crosshairs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Botswana Football Association (BFA) and the Botswana Football League (BFL) are staring down the barrel of the gun ove ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/zakhem-mbatha-in-bfl-shareholders-crosshairs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-19T15:45:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/10\/sm_1697714676.79979.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"432\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/zakhem-mbatha-in-bfl-shareholders-crosshairs#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/zakhem-mbatha-in-bfl-shareholders-crosshairs\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Zakhem, Mbatha in BFL shareholders\u2019 crosshairs\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-19T15:45:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/zakhem-mbatha-in-bfl-shareholders-crosshairs\"},\"wordCount\":890,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/zakhem-mbatha-in-bfl-shareholders-crosshairs#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/10\/sm_1697714676.79979.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/zakhem-mbatha-in-bfl-shareholders-crosshairs#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/zakhem-mbatha-in-bfl-shareholders-crosshairs\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/zakhem-mbatha-in-bfl-shareholders-crosshairs\",\"name\":\"Zakhem, Mbatha in BFL shareholders\u2019 crosshairs - 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