The Botswana Football Association (BFA) Appeals Committee ruling which reinstated vetted out candidates was supposed to be the end game.
It was supposed to, once and for all, pave way for the quartet of Tariq Babitseng, Masego Nchingane, Phadza Butale and Carlos Sebina to stand for BFA National Executive Committee (NEC) positions. It also booted out controversial BFA Elections Committee chairman Moemedi Letina.
What the quartet did not know was that the Elections Committee had an ace up their sleeve. Following Letina’s exit, the committee replaced him with Thapelo Resheng. The latter has not wasted time to wreak havoc. Fresh from appointment, he, on Tuesday, wrote a letter to the quartet of Babitseng, Nchingane, Butale and Sebina.
In the letter, the new Elections Committee chairman informs them that the committee will comply with the Elections Appeal ordering that they be ‘included in the list of candidates to run for the 2024 BFA NEC positions elections.’
There is however a twist. He informs them they will have to go through an integrity test first. “… whilst the order stipulates that your names shall be added to the list of those who were published on the 19th of July 2024, please note that the names on the list had gone through and passed the integrity test as envisaged by Article 33.5 of the BFA Constitution.”
According to the said Article, “the candidates for the NEC positions shall have already been active in football, must not have been previously found guilty of any criminal offence incompatible with the position or declared insolvent or failed the integrity test determined by the Electoral Committee and as stipulated in the BFA’s Ethics Code, have residency within the territory of BFA and not be less than 30 years and not more than 75 years old.”
“The committee did not subject your names for the integrity test at the time due to non-compliance with the general guidelines, which have been overruled by the Elections Appeals Committee,” Resheng wrote.
He then goes on to inform them that in order to comply, it ‘is imperative’ that their nominations ‘go through the integrity tests’ before they can be included in the final list of candidates. The list will be published on the 5th of August.
As expected, the BFA Electoral Committee’s decision to subject the quartet to an integrity test has attracted ire. The decision is seen as yet another attempt to vet out the quartet and pave a way for the MaClean Letshwiti and his team to be unopposed at the upcoming elections.
“The levels of desperation for this electoral committee and the BFA Executive have gone to new levels. Vetting is only done once. Vetting was done and completed. Those vetted out appealed, won and were reinstated to run for positions. Now the committee is turning back to say you won, but we are now subjecting you to another vetting. This is corrupt,” one source said.
