BY GODFREY MOWANENG
The Botswana Premier League (BPL) board has appointed fresh leadership taking over the helm of the BPL board.
This follows an overdue controversial appointment of the outgoing Township Rollers president Jagdish Shah.
The plan to oust Shah has been ongoing for weeks following the controversial bending of rules that led to the business guru’s appointment as the interim Chairman of the BPL board of the directors last year.
The board has appointed Miscellaneous Seiphetlho Sefhako as the Chairman while Jwaneng Galaxy Njabulo Gilika takes over as Vice Chairman and BDF XI Omphitletse Dunga elected treasure. The newly appointed reportedly were elected unopposed.
The vice chairman position emerged vacant following the resignation of Police XI chairman Solomon Mantswe due to undisclosed commitments.
However, the Sunday Standard has established that a plan to oust Shah was allegedly orchestrated by majority of club chairmen of the 16 clubs making the board of governors of the BPL. It has been revealed that the board lost confidence on Shah on allegations that his best interest was aligned to his club Township Rollers.
While Shah is believed to have overstayed at the helm of the BPL, close sources claim the business guru has brought less than expected to the premier league. During his appointment, it was said that Shah will hold on to the position for three months and has since been on the rudder from March 2018 to date following the resignation of the former, Rapula Okaile.
‘’It has long been coming before the board topples Shah as they had lost faith in him. It is believed that he was only interested in making deals for Township Rollers even when the BPL board was on regional and international benchmarking trips.
In an interview with Shah, the outgoing chairman said he believes his part with the BPL has been fruitful and is excited that he is leaving the position after reducing the financial debt that the organisation has fallen to.
“When I took over from Okaile the BPL was in serious financial crisis and it was not easy to run affairs of the organisation. We had to work hard to at least reduce the debt bargain which I am leaving abridged,” Shah told the Sunday Standard.
He further said no one is pushing him out as his time as the interim chairman is long overdue and excited to have been part of the board that planned a model that may assist the BPL to being an independent entity.
“I was not forced out as I was asked to stay for the past season and believe I did my part. We have now chosen a better route that will witness the BPL being an independent organisation en route to privatisation. It is now time for someone to take over and continue from where I left,” Shah told the Sunday Standard.
