Awards postponement raises eyebrows
Football
The Botswana Football League (BFL) have this week released a statement announcing the postponement of the end of season awards, which were scheduled to take place next week Saturday. BG Sport has however gathered that there is more to the postponement of the awards than meets the eye, as boardroom wars are currently ravaging the BFL head office.
Inside informants from within the BFL office have told this publication that some BFL directors are actually doing their best to discredit the office in the wake of what has been termed a successful season, post lockdowns.
Township Rollers’s case of Onkarabile Ratanang has been mentioned as one of the reasons why the awards have been postponed to July 23rd.
The matter has been dragging for months now and despite the completion of the elite league, the unresolved matter is reportedly stagnating progress and planning for the next season.
Two weeks back, ABSA bank officials reportedly had a meeting with the BFA president to express their displeasure about the current animosity within the football circles instigated by the Onkarabile Ratanang registration case.
ABSA had also agreed to sponsor the upcoming awards but reports suggests that, one of the Chief negotiators (names withheld), from the BFL has apparently convinced the ABSA officials to put brakes on the deal until the case has been resolved.
“They are just trying to slow-down the BFL secretariat but these awards will go on, the logistics are not easy and it is even worse when we are all not pulling in the same direction,” a source at the BFL office revealed.
“This is one of the best football seasons we’ve had and they are trying to taint the good image of football. People are looking at their own selfish interests, others have proposed for the nullification of the league and for what? They have no respect for football and the Ratanang saga will completely change the scope of our football,” the informant added. The Rollers case has left divisions amongst some BFL directors, with some in support of the BFL chairman Nicolas Zakhem, whilst others are in the corner of Township Rollers director, Jagdish Shah; the matter has also raised polarized opinion within the local football’s high office, Lekidi, after one the National Executive Member, Tico Kamati was suspended.
Apart from Township Rollers, Notwane has also been accused of causing havoc within the BFL as they have twice proposed the nullification of the league. “It is a sad situation, Mascom and Orange are being compromised, these people are out there intimidating everyone and scaring off potential sponsorships and that is bad for our football,” our source added. Contacted for comment, the BFL Chief Executive denied reports suggesting that the postponement of the awards was instigated by boardroom wars.
“It has nothing to do with that, most of our nominees will be in South Africa for the COSAFA cup tournament; we also experienced minor logistical setbacks. I am not aware of any other reasons beyond what I have just stated,” Ramochotlhwane stated.
The former Green Lovers Chairman also dismissed reports that the ongoing Ratanang saga has anything to do with the deferment of the awards. “That matter also has got no influence on the postponement, it doesn’t affect our plans relating to host the awards, Thabang Sesinyi is the league’s top goal-scorer and that will not change, I don’t see how that case could influence our postponement,” the BFL Chief responded.
The judgment of the case is expected next week after all witnesses were cross examined by the prosecutor. The BFL office has already reached an agreement with the University of Botswana to use the indoor sports centre which has a reported capacity of 8 000 to host the awards, after a 50 percent discount.