Speaking at the opening of the BFL shareholders' meeting in Palapye on Saturday, Sebego said while the BFA was right in trying to appreciate their situation, there was no need for the mother body's further intervention, which included suspending the league structure.
Last week, the BFA at its Emergency Committee meeting on Wednesday, indicated it was suspending the BFL due to an ongoing leadership crisis. Two camps, one led by Sebego and the other by Nicholas Zakhem, claim leadership of the BFL.
The Sebego-led group, which enjoys the support of the majority of the clubs, recently removed Zakhem as chairperson, before he was suspended as a BFL shareholder. Sebego said Zakhem and another BFL director, Jagdish Shah had been suspended for taking football matters to court. Sebego told a grouping of 36 out of the 40 Premier League and National First Division shareholders that the BFL had sufficient statutes to address any internal challenge. He said the BFA, 'as a parent' can only intervene if the BFL fails to resolve its issues.
The former BFA president said in this case, the BFL was still resolving its matters and therefore there was no need for the BFA to step in. "The BFA rightly wanted to hear about our issues. But they overstepped their mandate as we are an autonomous body. We have documents and statutes that can solve our issues. If we have a shortfall in our statutes, we will refer the issue to our judicial bodies," he said. Sebego said the decision to suspend the league, which riled the BFA, was taken after the realisation the situation was not conducive to continue playing football.
"We want to return to play and what we will discuss, I plead with you, should be geared towards the return to play," Sebego said ahead of the Saturday closed door meeting. "We are here to try and find a solution that will return us to play. We could not go to the ground and play when we are disgruntled. We are not boycotting games," Sebego added. He said it was surprising that the BFA was interrupting their plans and that the suspension of the BFL was unfortunate. "We told the BFA we are going to Palapye to iron out our issues. I don't understand why they were quick to suspend us," Sebego said.
"We cannot have a third party suspending us. It is wrong and it is not legal. We have our autonomy to protect and if we fail to protect our autonomy, this whole thing will never end," he further said. Sebego said the trigger of the BFL crisis was the relegation of teams, which saw Zakhem go ahead and implement the trimming of teams from 16 to 12 without the consensus of the rest of the shareholders. In a thin veiled attack on Zakhem, Sebego said the BFL belongs to the clubs and suggested there was no open engagement previously. He urged teams to discuss issues freely. "We are not your principals (as the interim committee).
You are the bosses and we are the servants. You need to engage freely and speak out without fear." The Palapye meeting agreed that teams return to play although no specific date was publicly given. It is expected that action will resume this weekend. Sebego said it was ironic that the BFA postponed the start of the Orange FA Cup last week to sort out some issues, but chided the BFL for suspending league games due to the ongoing issues.
