BFA power struggle begins

Bickering within the Botswana Football Association (BFA) National Executive Committee (NEC) looks like the beginning of what is shaping up to be a protracted internal wrangling. 

That is until someone in the NEC warring parties quickly taps out of the political chokehold. As things stand within the BFA NEC, brutal Machiavellian tactics including systematic sabotage are expected to be the order of the day. This week BFA Insiders said the seeds of discord between president Maclean Letshwiti and two influential members of the BFA NEC were being sown even before they (current regime) toppled the former regime at last year’s watershed BFA General Assembly. 

According to impeccable sources close to the matter, the recent appointment of BFA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ookeditse Malesu was a calculated move by Letshwiti to use his recruit as a bulwark against any attempt by NEC members to eject him from the plum post. “Letshwiti needed someone who could directly deal with defiant NEC members who are seeking to control both him and the BFA,” said a source, adding that some NEC members were hoping to serve as puppet masters to the president but this has since backfired.

Moreover, the BFA source said like Kitso Kemoeng before him, Malesu will be tasked with dealing with power hungry NEC members and provide some sort of protection to the BFA president. However, well known BFA king makers who allegedly helped to orchestrate Letshwiti’s quick rise to power, will stop at nothing to see their own creation deposed from Lekidi.

“The idea was to dispose of Sebego and bring in their own candidate being Letshwiti.  However, things have since played out differently as Letshwiti has his own ideas on where he wants to see the association go.” The source explained that Letshwiti should anticipate stressful NEC meetings where he is likely to ward off ‘motions of no confidence’ at every corner. “The problem with the BFA is that politicians meddle in the secretariat, to the extent that they event sign cheques and approve trips around the country.”
The source with close ties to the BFA argued that the association’s secretariat should have been running autonomously without NEC members meddling in its operational matters.

“This is why the former CEO had to leave because he stood up to some of these irregularities. This is what FIFA is advocating as now its own secretariat is fully autonomous from the council.” The source said the high-ranking NEC members will ensure that Letshwiti fails by sabotaging him at every opportunity. “This will be their common goal unfortunately. Their ultimate goal should be football but this will not be the case. In this situation, there will be no new ideas generated on how to improve football as most of them lack business background”