I am still in charge- Zakhem
Mqondisi Dube | Saturday January 13, 2024 06:00
Following a meeting held in Palapye last month, which had the approval of 13 of the 16 Premier League clubs, Zakhem was removed from the BFL board.
This week he was suspended as a BFL shareholder and was subsequently removed from a meeting called by the Botswana Football Association (BFA) to find a solution to the impasse on Wednesday night.
The stand-off has seen the suspension of Premier League and First Division matches, as the majority of BFL shareholders want their December 16 meeting resolutions to stand. The BFA had said it does not recognise the Palapye resolutions, which saw the expulsion of Zakhem and board member, Jagdish Shah.
The shareholders also reversed the trimming of Premier League teams from 16 to 12 over the next three seasons. Despite the recent developments, Zakhem told MmegiSport this week that he remains the legitimate leader of the BFL. “I am not a guy who can surrender due to intimidation and unlawful procedure. I’m the duly elected chairman of the board mandated with terms to guide the league until the end of the 2024 season,” Zakhem said. “If each leadership succumbed to unlawful pressure and intimidation, then we will have nothing left for our next generations to enjoy and prosper,” he added.
Asked why he does not leave office as the majority shareholders have spoken, Zakhem said he had done nothing wrong to warrant his exit. “I’m staying because I have done nothing wrong but to implement board resolutions; some have been pending for periods of time and causing the game to regress. Also I’m mandated to make sure the transformation period to be achieved by the end of the season. Honestly, I am not involved in narrow politics. All I wish is to see the league move forward without petty issues,” he said. The shareholders have accused Zakhem of taking arbitrary decisions particularly on reducing teams.
But Zakhem said these were long standing resolutions. He remains steadfast that the league must be downsized. “The cutting of teams will reflect significantly on the growth of our game and it will give us a sustainable and healthy league,” he argued. Zakhem said he will stay on as chairperson until the Arbitration Tribunal makes a ruling on the matter.
“Everything is done now and what is unfolding is contemptuous of the organ of the law.” Zakhem initially took the matter to the courts of law, but believes it was the right move despite calls for the BFA to sanction him for taking football matters to court. “I strongly believe that what I did was proper.
Nevertheless, the BFA made a statement in this regard and now the case is in front of the BFA Tribunal, but what puzzles me is that corners of shareholders’ representative acting unlawfully in contempt of the court order and further trying to pre-empt and under-mine the BFA,” Zakhem said. Godfrey Ratlhaga, installed as the BFL chairperson after the removal of Zakhem said BFA’s efforts to resolve the matter did not bear fruit on Wednesday. “The meeting didn’t resolve anything. We are still where we were before the meeting,” Ratlhaga said.