14 Jun 2020

 As Botswana Football Association goes to the polls in August, different campaign teams have started to position themselves.

The elections have aroused interest from different sectors and five women from different camps have shown interest in contesting for different positions.

However, their fate is in the hands of the BFA electoral board. All candidates will be vetted to ensure compliance with the BFA constitution.

Contestants should be Botswana citizens aged between 30-75. They should also be serving or active in one of the football structures with no criminal record.

Joy Setshedi, Tsoseletso Magang, Itsholeng Disang will be competing for the seat of women representative while Kesego Okie and Theresa  Hirschfield will be vying for additional members seats.

The development has been welcomed by different women in leadership.

International Working Group on Women and Sport executive board member, Game Mothibi said the five women were making history by showing interest in leadership and decision making positions.

She said that alone showed progress although a lot of challenges stood in their way. She added that although they may not end up winning the positions, the fact that they showed interest was a good sign.

“Congratulations to the BFA for making history following Botswana National Olympic Committee. More women are raising up their hands that they are ready to lead,” she said.

She said they were working hard to get as many women as possible into leadership positions. She also said women need to develop new strategies.

She said it was imperative for women to communicate their interest so that they could strategise and support each another.

Mothibi also said they should avoid vying for the same positions and campaigning against each other, as it made it difficult for pressure groups and individuals who wanted to see more women in influential  positions campaign for them.

“If they find that they are contesting against each other, it will be wise to discuss other positions others so that no one drops out completely from the race.

We need the numbers so no should quit the race,” she said.

She added that for women to be succed, they should avoid being used to fight each other and being used in the power game. She said if they went for each others throat, it would create more room for their male counterparts to belittle them.

Mothibi also said women should focus on their capabilities and their vision for the BFA, and not on the personal lives of opponents.

She added that they should not use the gender card to advance reasons for being voted into office.

“They should leave the gender card to us who support women and will be campaigning for all of them,” she said. ENDS