BFA votes shrink
Kabelo Boranabi | Saturday June 8, 2024 06:00
The BFA will hold elections during its Annual General Assembly on September 14. The number of votes has been reduced from 60 to 38 after the Botswana Football League (BFL) was granted autonomy by the mother body three years ago. The Premier League used to have 16 votes while the First Division had eight votes. But when the BFL became autonomous, that number was reduced to two. The BFA recently rescinded its decision to grant the BFL autonomy and now clubs, who are meeting tomorrow, want their voting powers back. 'That should be the point of discussion, now that they have taken back autonomy. It means they will have to give us back our voting rights,' a Premier League club official said, on condition of anonymity.
The BFA CEO, Mfolo Mfolo, told a press conference yesterday that this year's elective assembly would have only 38 voters as compared to 60 in 2020. Mfolo said each of the BFL regional structures and the national women's committee will have two votes each. 'Actually, we have 38 delegates and those 38 are the voters. (The) 17 regions that make 34 (voters), (with) the national women's (committee) will be 36, and BFL will make 38 voters. Those who attend are the chairperson and secretary from each of those delegates,' Mfolo said.
The BFA's Elections Committee yesterday announced that the General Assembly will be held on September 14. Speaking at the press briefing, the Elections Committee chairperson, Moemedi Letina, said submissions from candidates are open from today until June 25. He further said the vetting process begins on July 3 and the initial candidate list and the appeal process will follow while the final candidate list will be availed on July 29. Seven positions, being that of the president, first vice president, second vice president, women representative, and three additional members are up for grabs. 'The requirement for the president is you should not be more than 75-years-old but older than 30 years, that is the main requirement for the president. You should not have a criminal record and also you should not have served in the BFA national executive committee for more than three terms. Those are the main (requirements) ones,' Letina said.