For a long time, discontent at the Botswana Football Association (BFA) has been blamed on lack of clarity and interference.
Where some had thought the issue was water under the bridge, allegations continue to make rounds that the BFA National Executive Committee (NEC) is the main culprit.
Word on the grapevine is that the BFA NEC continues to interfere in the work of the secretariat as it is now controlling the day-to-day affairs of the association.
According to a source close to Lekidi, ‘the BFA Secretariat and Technical department are now openly run by the NEC’ as ‘they call the shots.’
The source says as it is right now, governance has been cast out of the door at Lekidi ‘as the NEC now just gives order on how things should be done around Lekidi.’
He says this is sometimes done ‘without giving ear to the ones employed to lead the day-to-day affairs of Lekidi.’
The source says at the moment, it is NEC members who are directly leading the various departments at Lekidi and are actively hands-on.
He says this defeats governance as the same people already it on the BFA NEC, which is a board, and therefore are literally giving reports to themselves when sitting at the BFA NEC meetings.
Reached for comment, football analyst Kagiso Rantswaneng says the allegations of the interference of the NEC members on the day-to-day running of Lekidi comes as no surprise.
He says from the start of President Maclean Letshwiti’s regime, the NEC has been calling shots.
“Unfortunately, this time around on his second term they are doing it for the world to see,” Rantswaneng says.
“It is in the open that the BFA NEC is in charge and is calling the shoots both at secretariat and technical departments,” he observes.
“They are not leaving employees to do their job but rather they are doing their job for them and also reporting to themselves at the board room.”
Rantswaneng does not believe the problem has anything to do with role clarity as it is very clear on who does what within Lekidi.
He however says the NEC, as board members, do not have any idea of what to do as board members leading them to order people around in a way of crying to obtain the lime light.
“One of the reasons why BFA is messed up is because of the NEC. They make the strategy, plan it and defend it themselves leaving mostly the secretariat department helpless due to less power; they are actually playing secretariat,” he says.
Rantswaneng says even Letshwiti is failing to call his house to order as he also plays a part in the whole confusion.
The situation, he says, is not helped by the quality of delegates who consitute the BFA General Assembly (GA), who he says he has always doubted.
He says in situations where the BFA NEC seems lost like right now, it is up to the members of the GA to call on an emergency GA to get things back in order.
“As a solution, it is up to the delegates to call an emergency AGM to point out the errors that the NEC is doing. But they cannot do that because they are also afraid of their skeletons in the closet about what drove them to elect this people,” he says.
In the absence of people with backbone to call such an emergency GA, he says the only solution to stop the nonsensical act by the NEC is if an intense internal fight occurs among them.
Should this happen, he says it may push them to call a special meeting to announce that they cannot work together which will call for a re-election, something he says he does not see happening.
Rantswaneng says for now, everyone has to just ‘wait and see how everything plays out.’
Regarding the voting delegates, he says they are sadly ‘dying a silent and painful death looking at their sport being taken for a ride.’
