13 Sep 2018

The Gaborone United Committee of Elders, which has steered the ship of the domestic football giants for a three month period, has confirmed that the club has put to bed the issue of the debt the club owed to former player Bismarck Appiah.

Addressing the press in Gaborone on September 12, the GU elders explained that as they prepare to hand the club back to the general membership during Saturday’s special general meeting (SGM), they are pleased to have addressed the Appiah issue.

Kgosi Oarabile Kalaben, who has been the interim president of the club since the elders took over, explained that they have managed to clear all the debt the club owed to Appiah, after a long drawn out process.

Flanked by fellow elders Mompati Nwako and Tymon Katholo, Kalaben did not spare club financier Nicholas Zakhem of criticism, outlining that he had absconded from responsibilities after handing Appiah his contract when the Ghanaian got to the club.

With GU ignoring the initial domestic labour arbitration ruling, Appiah is said to have then appealed to the world football governing authority, FIFA, whose Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC), had given GU the chance to state its case.

“Once more, the GU leadership of the time ignored the FIFA DRC, and the club ended up being sanctioned over P400 000.  Only later did GU, through the then general manager Olebile Sikwane, tried to write to FIFA to seek a grace period to be able to pay the fine, but that plea was turned down,” Kalaben said.

Due to this and other issues affecting the club, a decision was taken by a general meeting of club members in Palapye last June 16 that the club was deemed to be in a state of crisis and clause nine of the GU constitution was invoked to hand over the affairs the club to the Committee of Elders for a three month period.

The elders say they used this period to stabilize the situation at the club, and while admitting that there are still challenges, they said they had managed to deal with the Appiah issue, and worked on negotiating with potential sponsors for the club, and received proposals from different suitors, including Zakhem to assist in the future financial administration of the Reds.

“After we were asked by the general membership to temporarily administer the club, we made a situational analysis of the condition of the club, then met with the branch chairpersons to brief them. We also paid a courtesy call on Zakhem, who indicated his willingness to assist.  He made a proposal to the club, but its details required extensive discussion.  We wrote back to him acknowledging receipt of his proposal, and while requesting for further discussion, we were surprised to read and hear media reports quoting Zakhem as saying we had rejected his proposal,” Kalaben said.

The elders say Zakhem further refused to agree to a mediation process they had sought from the Botswana Football Association (BFA).

“We then ask ourselves of what genuinely was the thought process when contracts were signed that do not match what the club was going to be able to pay, proper governance processes were not followed by individuals who then pulled back and did not address the situation as it unfolded,” Nwako chipped in, with Katholo adding; “Thankfully, we managed to get the funds we needed to put the Appiah situation to bed from good Samaritans in society, GU supporters who assisted their club. We have not addressed all the issues but we have worked on stabilizing GU and we will brief our general membership at the special general meeting.”

On the other hand, the GU faction sympathetic to Zakhem has in various public platforms and social media expressed the view that modern football needs investors who would be able to ensure financial stability, and that the club should be handed to Zakhem, who has over the years bankrolled the Reds.

The two factions are likely to go head to head at the decisive SGM.  ENDS