16 Nov 2016

In his acceptance speech after being elected the new Botswana Football Association (BFA) president, Maclean Letshwiti, made it clear that there is need to restore stability and dignity in football.

He said in the last four years, football was faced with myriad of challenges, which affected players, coaches, referees, supporters and administrators in the country.
Since he assumed power, there is a lot happening at the football village, Lekidi.

The issues ranged from  suspension of both BFA chief executive officer, Kitso Kemoeng and Botswana Premier League CEO, Bennett Mamelodi.

As if that was not enough, BTC Premiership 2016/17 season started late when supporters thought it was now all systems go, the referee’s downed tools, demanding their payments from last season, and that alone nearly put football into turmoil.

BOPA reporter, Anastacia Sibanda had an exclusive interview with the man in the driving seat to hear his views concerning the state of Botswana football.
BOPA: Good afternoon Rre Letshwiti

Letshwiti: Hi Anastacia, how are you how may I help you?

BOPA: Ok, a lot has been happening in football, suspensions, resignations in a nut shell there is a lot of shenanigans in the game, what‘s your take on that?

Letshwiti: When people resign, wait!!!!!!what surprises me is that the very same public and journalists who said things were not right at the association and they need to be fixed, now when I am addressing exactly that, and people leave the association, you people are also complaining.
Did you expect me to come into BFA and not do anything, and people are not resigning because of me, but because of their personal circumstances.

BOPA: Ok let us now talk about the suspension of the two CEO’s, Kemoeng and Mamelodi, why were they unceremoniously suspended.

Letshwiti: The suspension of BPL CEO was already in progress when I came into office, it was not initiated by me.
Concerning Kemoeng, I said it’s an internal matter and I am not going to comment further on that, yes he is suspended, but once everything is resolved, I will come back to the press and explain why he was suspended and what exactly happened.

BOPA: Are you not worried that Makhwengwe who served BFA for the last 17 years and had a vast of experience has resigned.

Letshwiti: Any resignation will be a loss; Makhwengwe has done a lot of good work for the game and BFA in general, but he has personal interest that he wants to pursue, so it’s a personal choice, it could have been nice for him to stay, but it is normal that after 17 years people want change in an environment or people want to pursue something which is more fulfilling, like me I can’t stay in a board of a company for more than seven years, I have a policy, I only stay for seven years, after that it become boring.
 So 17 years is a long time, he has personal interest and we have to respect that.

BOPA: But there are allegation that you are suspending people so that you can pave way for your foot soldiers; rumour has it that you want to reward people who were helping you during your campaign, let me give you an example, you have since replaced the security manager, Bikkie Mbenge with Ookeditse Malesu, and reason why you suspended Kemoeng is that you want to fill that post with one of your lieutenants in addition to that, the Public Relation Officer post was not advertised, why?

Letshwiti: Ok let’s start with Malesu, you know when you campaign you campaign with a group of people and you indoctrinate them into your philosophy, ideally you want to move with the whole group.
And yes it’s true, where they qualify; you have to reward them on merit that is if one believes they can do a good job and they qualify on merit, I will give them priority.

BOPA: Oh okay.

Letshwiti: But it is not just a question of rewarding, somebody must have something to offer, but it is not intentional, it’s just that people qualify and you will reward them, and normally you draw from the pool of people that you believe can support you and deliver your dream.
I have come into BFA and the people I was campaigning with have been with me for a very long time, they know how I think, and how my programmes are.
So they are the ideal people to support me in achieving my dream, so sometimes it is just a natural thing.

 BOPA: Is it not a bad practice

Letshwiti: It becomes a bad practice when you just reward people just because they were supporting you.
You reward them because they were supporting you and because they are better qualified to deliver on your product.
But at this stage, I don’t think I have rewarded anybody.
You talked of security; that position is very important, you can’t just give it to anybody, the person you are talking about, Mbenge, he was campaigning for other people, so how am I going to trust him with my security issues, because it is like political parties going into campaign at the end you reward the opposition; it doesn’t happen and why should it happen in football, you take your trusted people.
Nna I don’t see any problem in rewarding people who were supporting me.
They worked hard for me to be where I am and they deserve the credit, those that qualify if there are positions in my administration, I will give them preference, because they qualify and they are better and I know them, I wouldn’t even blink.

BOPA: Let’s now move on to the Public Relations Officer, why was the post not advertised Rre Letshwiti?

Letshwiti: Ok we had a study on restructuring and there were two key positions of communication and the other one was marketing and communication, we were not going to fill the two positions, we knew they were key and the organisation badly needed those two positions.
But because so much was happening in BFA, we had to make a decision to find somebody as quickly as possible.
And the position that Tumo Mpatane holds is not a permanent position, once we go back to restructuring then we will substantively interview and fill those jobs on a substantive basis, and that is why the post was not advertised.
We needed somebody quickly and he took that chance; he might not have a job after six months.

BOPA: So that’s why you didn’t follow recruitment processes?

Letshwiti: Yeah, because we knew recruitment process is slow, it entails to advertise, short listing of candidates, invite them for interviews and selection test, but at the same time there was a media cry that BFA was not forthcoming with information, so we had to give you something to vent your anger through.
Remember this position is a short term, but of course if Tumo being a youngster do a good job between now and then, I will also not hesitate to confirm him, but it will be an open process they will compete for the position, it will be advertised, but obviously he will have the advantage because he is already in.

BOPA: Let’s now focus on the referees who refused to go to the league opener games because they were not paid their allowances.

Letshwiti: We have issues with referees, the matter is still being investigated and I will wait for the report from the referees committee, but as far as I’m concerned everything is now normal, there is understanding; I have not heard any further complaint about referees.

BOPA: Ok now let’s talk about women, during your campaign you said women football will be a priority to you, and yet all the leagues have started and women football is yet to start, why is that so?

Letshwiti: You see, when I was campaigning, I said football development in general men and women have suffered quite a lot, but answering your question, I said all the leagues must start, but due the lack of BFA’s governance caused women’s football not to start.
I personally carried my own research about women football in Botswana and I found that in 2014, there was a FIFA consultant who came to BFA and studied women football and came up with very sound recommendation.
One of the recommendations was that women football should be fully integrated into BFA structures and I thought that was done.
But when all the leagues started I realised that women football was not still integrated into BFA structures, and I said it cannot be, so we have to go back to the drawing board.

BOPA: Yes Rre Letshwiti, you can continue.
 

Letshwiti: Secondly, the recommendations were very clear that a woman should be appointed at the National Executive Committee level to fight for the women course, subsequent to the study there was a strategic plan by BFA which spelled exactly how women football is going to proceed based on the FIFA report , and one of the things was that  women football leagues should go back  to the regions as second division for a year and after a year some graduate to first division so that they can have a super league in place.
That was my understanding as to how women football must proceed; but for some reason that was not followed, and that is why it cannot proceed because the way they run it is anti FIFA and also anti your own strategy as women.

BOPA: Ok

Letshwiti: Now the question I am asking you is that, this report and strategy was done for whom, it was shared with whom, was it not shared with you women, now I am being blamed for things that other people have supposed to have done and they didn’t.
The truth of the matter Anastacia is that FIFA spends money to do this researches and recommendations, and I’m now expected to ignore those recommendations and a strategy that was done, and run women football they way FIFA said it shouldn’t be run, look I am very clear I want order and I want things to be done orderly, and I am not going to let women league to operate outside the structure of the BFA.
That is why football is not developing because it is not properly run, and I never stopped the women’s league I said lets follow the procedure and do things properly, that’s all I asked for.
Yes the problem with you women is that you are allowing people to run your affairs, so where did I go wrong my dear.

BOPA: One last question, would you say football in Botswana is run properly and are you happy with people attendance at the football stadium’s don’t you think football has now lost its vibe due to uncertainty that has besieged  the game of late?

Letshwiti: Look we are only three months in office, we are putting things in order, but it is not me alone who should ensure that football continue to appeal, I think we should all come together and build this brand of football, but what I can tell you is that football will come back where it was, trust me it will be entertaining.BOPA