Nchingane in hot soup

Botswana Football Association (BFA) 1st Vice President, Masego Nchingane could find himself in deep trouble following his involvement in an attempted plot to discredit the Botswana Football League (BFL) Chairman Nicolas Zakhem, BG Sport has learnt.

Former national team captain, Nchingane, was among the signatories of the recent letter of objection addressed to the BFL Chairman, alongside former BFA President Tebogo Sebego, former Jwaneng Galaxy chairman, Njabulo Gilika, Kagiso Magosha and BFL board member, Johane Mchive.

The aforementioned administrators indicated through a signed petition that they were not entirely happy with the way the BFL chairman was conducting the business of the office. The three points they raised regarded the format of the prize money allocation; the Chairman's apparent unilateral handling of the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer. "In this regard, the board had agreed on a methodology of recruiting for the said position but you halted the process at an advanced stage with no regard to majority position," reads the petition, which also demanded that, "the Chairman commit to the principles of good governance and uphold majority decisions at board level."

With the BFL now an independent organization, Nchingane’s active participation in matters affecting the newly formed entity has been deemed as clear unwarranted interference by the BFA executive member.

The infamous Nicolas Zakhem and Maclean Letshwiti fall-out was apparently due to the latter’s interference in the affairs of the BFL, and an agreement to smoke peace pipe came about after Letshwiti reportedly agreed to back-down and stay away from BFL matters.

The larger part of Wednesday last week saw BFA deadlocked in a NEC meeting to discuss several issues affecting the association. Nchingane’s position in the BFA NEC was also discussed with a possible suspension mooted as a result of his actions.

“It is a clear interference on the autonomy of the BFL, he should be called to order and the contents of that letter will bring football into disrepute. Maclean is said to be fuming at the actions of his right hand man,” a source close to the matter revealed.

“Nchingane is in deep trouble, he couldn’t defend his actions, and the BFL board has already barred him from attending their meetings. He has been asked by the BFA leadership to recuse himself from the contents of the letter and write an apology. The BFA will still however be expected to carry out an investigation and slap their 1st Vice President with a charge of bringing football into disrepute,” a source close to the NEC dealings told BG Sport after the Wednesday meeting.

According to inside information, last week Thursday, the BFL held an emergency meeting to address the issue. The BFL chairman is said to have maintained his innocence and insisted that he has not done anything wrong. The petitioners are said to have apologised to him following a lengthy discussion.

Previous fall-outs between the BFA leadership and Zakhem saw Setete Phuthego, Tico Kamati and Marshlow Motlogelwa all hit exit doors at Lekidi, Phuthego and Kamati are currently serving suspensions while Motlogelwa resigned.

While Nchingane’s status on the ranks of the BFL hangs on a pendulum, Njabulo Gilika has been told to resign with immediate effect after Jwaneng Galaxy appointed a new chairman in December last year, who was also confirmed as the representative of the club in the BFL board.

With the BFA heading for elections next year, close observers have noted that getting rid of Zakhem will deliver a blow to Maclean Letshwiti's chances to retain the position for the third time.