Fani defiant in the face of a gathering storm

| Friday June 22, 2012 00:00

 

Mmegi Sport: With the amount of negative publicity at BFA at the moment, have you not at any stage decided to throw in the towel?

Fani:  When I accepted nomination for the position of BFA President and was subsequent elected to the position in 2008, I did so with the full knowledge that there would be challenges and I knew exactly what I was getting myself into.  Since it is not in my character to run away from challenges, particularly those that I know I can deal with, the thought of quitting has never crossed my mind.

Mmegi Sport: How do you hope to rectify the situation at the association if you are re-elected, for instance the poor finances and re-build the image of the BFA?

Fani:  BFA gets a subvention allocation from Government. It also gets financial and other forms of assistance through FIFA programmes.  In addition, BFA has sponsors for various activities.  It gets a bit of money from gate takings from national team matches, although this is not much, particularly in the last few years when sizeable stadia were out of use. 

From time to time BFA receives donations.  All these sources of funding are however, not adequate to meet BFA funding requirements, especially funding for administration and development.  Just as an example, for the financial year 2012/2013, BFA's budget request to the Botswana National Sports Council was around P48 Million, but the allocation is only P6 million which translates to 12.5 percent of what BFA requested. Whilst Government is trying its best within constraining economic conditions, what BFA gets is not enough.  Consequently, the BFA must do more to generate its own funds to finance its programmes.  We will need to explore alternative revenue streams to augment what the Association gets from Government, FIFA and sponsorships.

As regards the image of BFA, there is no denying that there is need to build a more positive image than currently prevails.  I will propose to the National Executive Committee to undertake effective stakeholder engagement initiatives to attain value-adding stakeholder participation, including the media.  It is unfortunate that more often than not it is the negative things about BFA that are given prominence at the expense of positive ones.  I am not saying that the media is to blame.  I am rather saying that perhaps we have not done enough to make the media see themselves more as partners in the development of football in Botswana.

Mmegi Sport:  Some people are of the view that you are no longer the right person for that office given recent developments, eg zero balance, Zebras' players welfare, what's your comment?

Fani:  Quite obviously, I cannot be my own judge.  The people that I and the National Executive Committee serve are best placed to pronounce on whether I am no longer the right person.  As far as I am aware, they have not done so.  What I am aware though is that some individuals have expressed their opinions, which they are entitled to do.  But like I said, some people prefer to give a blind eye to notable achievements that have been made such as the increase to the value of Lekidi Centre with the construction of an additional double storey building through the implementation of the FIFA Goal Project II, successfully applying for FIFA Goal III which will take the value of the Centre to more than P13 million,  twice achieving bronze in the COSAFA Under-20 tournament (in 2009 and 2011), raising the standard of the Zebras which led to the team qualifying for the first time for the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, improving its FIFA ranking and being recognised as one of the top performer for 2011 by FIFA and Botswana National Sports Council both of whom awarded the Team the honour of being the team of the year, substantial growth in sponsorships and working with the regional structures to establish them as a solid foundation for progression of the game of football.  These are some of the achievements made in the recent past on which we can build to achieve even more.

Mmegi Sport: Your opponent, Tebego Sebego has said that there is a lot of nepotism at BFA and that you lack entrepreneurial skills necessary to move the association forward, what is you take?

 Fani:  By virtue of being BFA Legal Advisor, Mr. Sebego is a member of the National Executive Committee, which provides him with a forum to raise whatever issue he has on any matter.  He has never raised this as an issue and I am not aware of any nepotism that is being practised in the BFA.  In fact, I would find it unfortunate and tantamount to lack of honesty if indeed Mr. Sebego made this allegation.  The National Executive Committee operates as a collective and, if Mr. Sebego is trying to suggest that he possesses better entrepreneurial skills than other members of the Executive Committee, some of us have not seen any demonstration of these skills from him during the four years that we have worked with him.

Mmegi Sport: Why has the BFA failed to account for funds donated for Zebras' campaigning leading to the BNSC taking action?

Fani:  The BFA has not failed to account for any funds availed to it for the Zebras AFCON  campaign.  The BFA office and that of the Botswana National Sports Council have just completed a reconciliation of the financials, which has shown that the files of the two organisations have been reconciled.  We currently await the BNSC's advice on the way forward.

Mmegi Sport: How confident are you of retaining the post, and please give reasons?

Fani: The development of football is not an event, but a process.  Similarly, leadership of the game in any capacity and at any level is also not an event.  I believe that this is how people in football see things.  As an organisation, we have to learn from past experiences to build a better tomorrow.  I have worked well with the BFA structures and they understand my vision for Botswana football and know that, together, we can achieve something that the people of Botswana will look back on with pride.

Mmegi Sport: Why do you want to continue as BFA president and not to give way to fresh blood?

Fani:  I have unfinished business in terms of my vision for Botswana football.  With the cooperation of everyone, another term will take me very close to achieving the best that I can for the game of football in Botswana.

Mmegi Sport: How do you rate your performance at the helm of the association?

Fani:  Looking at the achievements that BFA has attained, I think BFA has done well.  In fact the achievements far exceed any that have been made before.  Challenges are still there but they are not insurmountable.

Mmegi Sport:  What assurances are there that once given the nod to lead the BFA again goofs and financial struggles will be a thing of the past?

Fani: The fact that the BFA secretariat suffers from lack of adequate capacity cannot be denied.  There is need to fully capacitate the office so that it can improve its service delivery.  There is an immediate need for a shake-up at the office so that service delivery is of the expected level.  Hopefully, the financial situation will get better, particularly as we intend to create new revenue streams.

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