Botswana Football League (BFL) board chairman Nicholas Zakhem says he has ordered the closure of the chairman’s WhatsApp group as the platform was being abused.
While sources said the WhatsApp group was closed by the BFL chairman to stop being called on to account, Zakhem denied the allegations. On the contrary, he says indecent pictures and personal posts were being posted in the platform.
“A WhatsApp group is created between a friend and colleague to assist in progressing. But when a group becomes negative and becomes personal and posts personal pictures, that is not acceptable. Some of the colleagues were busy enjoying themselves and put an indecent picture in the group. Other go and enjoy themselves drinking and they start talking rubbish on that thing.”
Zakhem says what got to him was when he realized that the female member of the group had exited following the publication of the said ‘indecent picture.’
“To be honest with you, we have ladies in the group. I am not sure if it’s one or two but we have women in the group. What was posted in the group was not nice. I have a snapshot of that thing. So, I warned the individual. I talked to him on the side and I said this is not acceptable. Because he did not delete it immediately, other people picked it up,” he narrates.
“And the lady to my worry, vanished from the group for a while. I had to speak to her and to her bosses to ask if it was because of the picture that she exited the group. Her response was ‘No, I had to change my cellphone.’ May be that is a proper reason may be the other reason,” Zakhem deliberates.
Given all that was happening, the BFL board chairman says he ordered that the WhatsApp group of the shareholders be dismantled. Instead, he proposed that the chairmen use emails to communicate as ‘a WhatsApp is not an official platform.’
He says while creating the WhatsApp group was meant to facilitate work, he felt the platform was no longer serving its purpose. “So, I told them, ‘Guys, this platform is no longer where work relationship is progressing. So, guys if you have uncertainty about a question, if you want something, we have an email. We sent communication to everybody and they are using that platform. And they are getting answers to what they are asking.”
Not one to bite his tongue, he went on to add that there has to be a certain clout on the representatives clubs vote to lead them. He says clubs need ‘to bring the finest person’ to represent them. He says such people have to possess certain qualifications and a certain level of integrity.
“At this level of shareholder, everything has to be conducted with integrity and in line with decency. When I found that this was no longer beneficial to our progress and not adding value, I said we can communicate officially with emails. That is the situation.”
