22 Jan 2024

Batswana across the country will once again enjoy the crème of football, and thanks to Botswana Football League (BFL) stakeholders and Botswana Football Association (BFA) for reaching a common ground to return to play. BFL shareholders had suspended the league games including those of First Division League.

Addressing a press conference January 22, BFA president Maclean Letshwiti said as the football fraternity, they had come out of impasse united.

He said the last few weeks had been extremely difficult for Botswana football, adding that at the end of it all they managed to resolve the issues because football was about unity, peace, friendship and entertainment.

He said now that football was back, important lessons had been learned from the impasse, adding that what they went through would not be repeated.

Letshwiti said what they had also learnt from the debacle was that effective communication and adherence to the constitution was important. He stated that football was not run in a vacuum, but through statutory instruments and adherence to all the regulations was necessary to ensure smooth running of the game.

Asked as why it took him long to intervene, Letshwiti said BFL was an institution and the BFA as a mother body would only move in if BFL failed to resolve its own issues.

Letshwiti said he was cognisant of the fact that Nicholas Zakhem took football to court, and since the matter was still before court, and once that had run its course the sport judicial bodies would then act.

“But at the moment, there is nothing that can be done until the matter is heard and closed in court,” he said. ENDS