The appointment of Vincent Seretse as the Vice President of the Botswana Football Association (BFA) came as a surprise to the football fraternity.
Many are asking whether he has what it takes to take football development to another level.
However, David Fani, the President of the BFA, has warned that the man should be given a chance to settle before critical analysis is made.
Seretse has a corporate background, at one time leading big parastatal companies like the Botswana Housing Corporation and Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) as Chiefs Executive Officer (CEO).
His appointment has somehow raised eyebrows because he left BTC under what is believed to be a cloud of controversy.
After Seretse left, the new man who took over, Thapelo Lippe, poured in a lot of money into local soccer, as never seen before.
BTC is sponsoring the Premier League to the tune of P15 million for three seasons.
The BFA’s executive committee even went on record saying they negotiated the deal. Now the man who left BTC before it sponsored the league is holding a very influential position in the BFA, meaning that he would, on regular basis, work hand in hand with his former employers, BTC.
Questions are flying thick and fast whether the move was a wise one and if it will not create tension. If that happens, football would suffer. It has also since turned out that Seretse does not have footballing background and has not been actively involved in football matters. This has brought back fears that he might just jump the ship once the it starts sinking as once happened with chancers in the past.
On the other hand, incumbent BTC CEO, Lippe, did not want to dwell much on the issue. He told Sunday Standard that his main aim is to protect corporate image of BTC and to see football in Botswana moving to greater heights.
“To start with, we have a contract with the BFA and it is followed to the end. Whoever BFA appoints in influential positions are people they have faith in, people who can take football to high levels. They have to do that by working cordially with all stake holders involved,” he said. Lippe also added that, for him, it was also a bit of a surprise because he had known Seretse as a golf person rather than football.
“Somehow, it is surprising because I know Seretse as a golf person and, during his time at the helm of BTC, he used to sponsor many golf tournaments.
“Also in the run up to Seretse’s appointment, his name never cropped up in all the newspapers I came across,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Premier League Committee (PLC) refused to comment on the issue.
Mike Molefhe, Chaiman of PLC, told Sunday Standard that since they do not have any input in his appointment there is nothing they can say.
“The BFA’s executive committee has the power to appoint anybody in their committee once the other one calls it a day. We can only have a say until such a time that the constitution is amended. Some of these appointments obviously concern us because we are the major stakeholders in football. Currently there is nothing we can say and the BFA are ones who can explain further,” he said.
