BONGANI MALUNGA
The Botswana Football Association’s National Executive Committee (NEC) was considering suspending BFA president Maclean Letshwiti in protest of the appointment of Ookeditse Malesu as the new Chief Executive Officer. The committee was planning to organize the emergency NEC meeting during the president’s absence this week.
It is an open secret that vice presidents Marshlow Motlogelwa and Segolame Ramotlhwa are strongly angered by the aforementioned appointment. A highly placed source has informed Gazette Sport that the key players of the NEC were considering filing a motion of no confidence against the BFA leader while he was attending a CAF Election Congress in Ethiopia this week.
In the president’s absence, his deputies can assume powers on an acting basis and they have the right to organize an NEC meeting and even stage a vote to suspend the president, provided the whole of the committee agrees with the plan. Unconfirmed reports state that the NEC is still divided and reeling from being overlooked on crucial decision making processes.
However, the plan appears to have been abandoned or delayed because one of the reported key protagonists of the plan, Motlogelwa, will accompany the president to Ethiopia to cast Botswana’s vote during the election contest between Issa Hayatou and the mononymous Ahmad. Motlogelwa and Letshwiti will leave for Ethiopia today (Tuesday).
The source has speculated that the Ethiopia trip could be the turning point in their alleged misunderstandings that have affected their working relationship. “They cannot avoid each other on this trip, they could take this opportunity to regain a cordial understanding. However, that’s only far fetched speculation,” the source stated.
Motlogelwa is no stranger to challenging leadership when feeling aggrieved, he famously wrote a formal complaint to FIFA last year as he protested the leadership style and accused Tebogo Sebego of bribing delegates ahead of last year’s BFA Elections but his efforts were shrugged off by FIFA.
An NEC meeting will take place in a fortnight and it remains to be seen if the said plan is still in the minds of the disgruntled committee members.