15 Dec 2014

One can simply sum 2014 as a turbulent year for Botswana 
Football Association president, Tebogo Sebego.

This is the year that Sebego might have prayed day and night that it ends quickly. Predicaments at Lekidi began with resignation of the BFA vice president-technical, Ernest Nthobelang, who joined active politics.

The search
 for a replacement, however, took more than expected. Eventually though, Steven
 Phetlhe was identified and has 
since resumed work.

Then came 
the elective congress where the delegates voted Tariq Babitseng as the vice president-administration. The former chairman
of the National First Division South was handed an indefinite suspension before
he could even execute his mandate as espoused by the BFA constitution.

He was
linked with the misappropriation of the association’s finances when he led a
delegation to West Africa.

The Sebego-led National Executive Committee reasoned that the motive behind the suspension
 was to facilitate an investigations and, or disciplinary action against
 Babitseng in respect of the handling of the contingency funds arising from the
2015 AFCON qualifier between Guinea Bissau and Botswana played Bissau.

While the 
football fraternity was still pondering over the development, then another 
suspension was announced. This time around it was the newly appointed,
t echnical director, Benny Kgomela. The suspension came on November 20, just 9
 days from the suspension of Babitseng.

In their 
communication, the BFA did not state the reasons for the suspension save to say 
that it was enforced pending investigations into allegations into certain 
matters which it is anticipated will be expeditiously attended to. Kgomela was 
however reinstated seven days later. Still no reasons were advanced for the 
suspension.

BFA only
 claimed that the allegations against the technical director which led to his 
suspension had been dealt with administratively through the association’s 
disciplinary process and in accordance with the provisions of the staff
 conditions of service.

Responding
 to the issue of suspensions, FIFA development officer, Ashford Mamelodi said
the development should be a source of concern to the leadership as it should be
local followers of the game. He said such 
developments could only stifle any positive development of the game.

The FIFA
officer added that in the absence of any facts that could be the cause of the
development and speaking in general terms, when such movements occur, it could
be a case of poor governance structures and or a lack of understanding of roles
both at the governance levels and between management and the executive.

“Sadly these
problems are known to have an effect of taking focus away from core business of
football, resulting in retarded growth of the game. I am however hopeful that 
BFA leadership will hasten to address these matters so that a sense of normalcy 
and confidence in the association can be restored,” he said.





For his part, Sebego said 2014 was not an easy year, more especially when the association 
was in the building phase. Talking about staff suspensions, Sebego said
according to him they were necessary under the circumstances.

He said he
 suspected that in the past, some of the issues were swept under the rug, and
action was not taken, saying that unfortunately, that was not his leadership
approach.

He explained that his approach was that if somebody has been accused
of wrong doing, that person should to clear his/her name, and that as BFA, it
was imperative that they protect the credibility of the game.

He said
 people picked the suspension issues and exaggerated only because the national
team was not doing well, saying had the team performed well, focus would be
given to their success.

Sebego however said
, he has learnt over the past two years, that their human capital was 
deficient in terms of training, resulting in rendering implementation of ideas 
difficult. As a corrective measure, the association was engaging in a very
 extensive training programme.

He said they 
had training programmes that they would embark on using FIFA bonus money, saying 
they have already started training in areas such as Kgatleng. He said the 
training would be rolled to all the regions in the next two years. The idea, he
said was to develop their human capital because that is where their problem is.

Sebego, who 
is the former BFA legal advisor said they had passionate administrators but 
the main problem was that there were not trained, hence people who run teams, 
regions even the NEC should go for football administration training. On the
 performance of the Zebras, the BFA president admitted that the team had not
been doing well.

“We have 
been losing the game, but I can assure you that next year when we start playing 
with the teams that are in the same level with us; those in category B and C, we
are going to do well, and people are going to suddenly forget that we were 
beaten by teams such as Senegal, he assured the twelfth player.

He said 
Zebras had a good pool of players, who have been exposed to all environments, 
saying now they were ready to face competition; hence he was confident that,
 2015 was going to be exciting for the national team. ENDS