BFL to appoint Mbatha as new CEO
Sport
The Botswana Football League (BFL) which has been without a substantive Chief Executive Officer for three months since Solomon Ramochotlhwane resigned will appoint South African Senzo Mbatha as the new chief, WeekendSport can reveal.
BFL chairman Nicholas Zackhem revealed that on the 19th October last year on board meeting, Botswana Football Association (BFA) president Maclean Letshwiti suggested a certain South African guy who has experience in sports administrations from different clubs. He further noted that BFA was instrumental in helping them (BFL board) to secure the services and pay the wages of the South African administrator.
“So we don’t have to carry the whole bill and he is a very experienced somebody and that name was put onto board and very board member was impressed by his resume,” Zackhem said and added “We are looking for a local administrator, so we have been negotiating with this guy to come on one year contract and put somebody understudy him as he is familiar with transformation.”
According to Zackhem, the UEFA project which was launched in 2017 by UEFA to share its expertise and knowledge with other continental football bodies has since stopped and UEFA was putting them under pressure as transformation had stopped completely.
“We needed somebody to come, who knows the systems, knows what is happening and he worked that before to come and assist us with the finalization of transformation. Now UEFA is very upset and they have funded their projects hence they are looking forward and not we have not finalized it,” he mentioned.
“So this one of the reason that we need to engage him and the second one was his best experience in all management as he has worked in African continent before so we thought these will be good opportunity as it will save our finances as BFA and UEFA will assist on his wages. We have finalized the negotiations and we about to sign the papers.” The Gaborone United director revealed that the understudy will be employed by BFL and he will be supervised by the new CEO who will guide him, share knowledge and skills. Nevertheless, BFL board chair said the understudy will succeed the Senzo Mbatha when his one year contract elapses.
Reports reaching this publication are that of the three local administrators thus BFA Competitions Manager, Olebile Sikwane, Tiro Kganela and Billy Sekgororoane stand a chance to be the understudy of Mbatha whom will be appointed this month.
However, Mbatha is expected to tackle the big elephant in the room which has been tormenting the BFL for almost two seasons thus, lack of sponsors and absence of monthly grants which were helping clubs to stay afloat.
Already some BFL shareholders allege that Botswana football has lost its good image lately hence it’s one of the reasons why sponsors are reluctant to come on board and clubs are struggling. The disgruntled shareholders are also planning to petition the BFL board. They were also threatening to boycott some of their fixtures in February owing to financial constraints.
Who is Senzo Mbatha?
He is a South African football Administrator who previously worked for Orlando Pirates between 2011 and 2013, now-defunct Platinum Stars in 2013 among other clubs during his 23 years in Football Administration. Mbatha moved to Tanzania in 2018, the territory he had never experienced before especially as a football administrator.
He left Young African also known as Yanga in July 2022 having turned them into one of the professionally run clubs in the Tanzanian league. During his stay in Tanzania, Mbatha worked for two most respected teams in East Africa thus Yanga and Simba. Meanwhile before his appointment to the Tanzanian giants, in 2018 he was linked with the role of PSL CEO.
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“Africa is home to the fastest growing economies before the crisis, no longer on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). COVID-19 deepened interdependence between SDGs, making them harder to achieve, especially SDG 10 (reducing inequality) and SDG 5 (gender equality_ as the pandemic had a disproportionate impact on poorer countries, and heavier burdens (such as care work) fell to women.”
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“The sports economy worldwide is estimated at 5% of GDP, but only 0.5% in Africa. If exploited, Africa’s sports and creative industries can offer policymakers innovative solutions. Especially, as regards job creation, and providing employment to the 15 million people entering the job market annually.”
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Mabiakop indicated that policymakers can use these industries to tackle multiple crises- jobs, poverty, and climate risks. Sports diplomacy- defined as communication, representation and negotiation in or through the prism of sports- has proven effective in building inclusive and cohesive societies. Moreover, sports and the creative industry can support better mental health and well-being, both important for productivity.
“Policymakers can also be true to the game by leveraging culture and tradition to celebrate identity and reap commercial value in sports, textiles and jewelry. Creative sectors allow deeper connection with culture, are not easily copied and provide great economic potential.”
He said supporting grassroots sports has powerful distributional effects. “Fortunately, technology has made reaching wide audiences easier, generating higher rates of success when talent is discovered.”
However, Mabiakop held that potential pitfalls must be highlighted. “First avoid build it and they will come policies with infrastructures denuded from the rest of the ecosystem. Like the many sports stadiums left largely unused.”
“Policymakers must remain mindful of how these sectors move the needle in human capital development. Also, align the requisite public policies needed for progress from grassroots participation to professional sports, and even to international sporting events. They should also support investment instruments to render these sectors performant.”
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