Representatives of Government;
Representatives of the Botswana National Sports Commission;
Representatives of the Botswana National Olympic Committee;
FIFA Development Officer and your staff
Members of the Outgoing BFA National Executive Committee
Chairpersons of Regional Football Associations
Representatives of the National First Division Leagues
Chairpersons of the Premier League Clubs
Members of the BFA Standing Committees
Distinguished delegates
Sponsors’ Representatives
Members of the Media
Invited Guests
Ladies and Gentleman

Good morning.

I am once again honoured to be addressing this honourable house this morning at the occasion to mark the end of my full term as the President of the Botswana Football Association (BFA).  My four years at the helm of the supreme body of football in the country have been quite an experience, marked by memorable occasions and activities as well as moments of disappointment and sorrow in the same measure.

Distinguished delegates, as you would have noted, the new Constitution prescribes only one report from the NEC; the President’s Activity Report, which is expected to contain the activities since the last General Assembly. You would have noted the Activity Report in your meeting packs.  The report gives an insight on the activities of the BFA in general at both high strategic and operational levels. In this address, I will keep on picking some items from that report for elaboration and referring you to the same report for detail on what I would be addressing you about.  When we finally reach that item, on the agenda, I will delegate the Secretary General to lead the presentation of the report.  In this speech, I will endeavour to focus on high level strategic presentation and leave the operational matters to the report that I have just alluded to.  You would have noted from the report in your packs that, notwithstanding the challenges that we went through for the better part of the year as the NEC, a secretariat that is not adequately capacitated and Regions and other structures that continue to operate with a shoe string budget, there continues to be growth in our football. For this I wish to thank particularly all our structures, leagues, the Secretariat and some members of the NEC who dedicated their positive energies to our quest to turn national football around.  The continued contribution of our structures, all of whom are volunteers, cannot and should not be allowed to go unrecognised.   For the record, other than the Botswana Premier League (BPL), none of our structures receive meeting allowances; yet they invest so much of their time, energy and intellect in striving to aid our football to another level.

As a result of this, and as you have already seen, I continue to identify some individuals who have made special contribution to Botswana football for special recognition.

GOVERNANCE

Constitutional Matters

By now you would have all noted that our new Constitution is under implementation, having received both the approval of FIFA and the Registrar of Societies. Attempts by the Statutes Committee to have the Constitution rolled out to structures were frustrated by inadequate funding.  Notwithstanding, we still have an intention to rollout the document to all our structures throughout the country.  This shall be actualised once the financial situation permits.  You would have also noted the transformations brought about by the Constitution in its various sections; some of which are the establishment of structures and instruments to facilitate BFA elections, starting with our elections at the end of this meeting.    The other highlight is the elevation of some of our strategic partners into Associate Members.  To this end, I wish to once again welcome the following into our:

• Footballers Union Botswana (representing the interests of the players);
• Botswana Primary Schools Sports Association;
• Botswana Integrated Sports Association;
• Botswana Tertiary Students Sports Association;
• Botswana Brigades Sports Association;
• Social and Recreational Football.
• Botswana Private Schools Sports Associations.

Also as part of the new Constitution, this meeting is expected to appoint the judicial bodies and the Audit and Compliance Committee.  The election of the judicial bodies will be on the recommendation of the Electoral Committee.  All these shall be appointed at the end of the meeting after the election of the new NEC, who would naturally have interests in the structures they would be working with.

We thank the Statutes Committee and all of you for your respective roles in the finalisation of the new Constitution to the point of implementation.

Restructuring of the BFA Secretariat

I am happy to report that the Organisational and Methods Review (OMR) exercise initiated in the past year has been concluded. At the end of the exercise the consultant made two presentations to the NEC.  The NEC is generally happy with the report, subject to the availability of a budget to implement it.  The new structure has been benchmarked against best practice in the region and internationally, and has been quality assured by FIFA, who were sponsors of the project.  The new structure will be broken down into various levels, with the introduction of directors and managers.   The structure serves to strengthen the BFA Executive Office with the introduction of a Corporate Secretary.  Our experience over a period of time is that our activities are becoming more legal as our structures become more enlightened.  Our legal challenges have grown to a point where we have now turned our Legal Advisor into a fulltime BFA officer yet he has fulltime employment elsewhere. We strongly believe that time has come for us to have an in-house legal mind to deal with legal matters as and when they come.  The introduction of the new Constitution and other statutes also brings its own challenges.  Such service can also be accessible to our Members and structures in terms of interpreting legal issues as they arise.

Other highlights are the establishment of the head of Finance at Director level.  This is no doubt a requirement, given the fact that our new Constitution has done away with a specialised post in the NEC.  This should greatly assist in addressing financial matters at Secretariat level, with the NEC only being updated through Management Accounts on a quarterly basis.  You would have also noted that the new Constitution also prescribes the establishment of a Finance Committee to interrogate finance issues before they proceed to the NEC.  Like all other standing committees other than the Audi and Compliance Committee, the Chairperson of the Finance Committee shall be a member of the NEC.  This is important for good governance and accounting.  The chairing of Standing Committees by Board members is not only a good governance move, it is best practice in the corporate sector where good results are an emphasis.  It should never in any way be seen as an excuse for Board members to be operational.  The way we have been structured has been such that members of the NEC were operational, with some of the operational powers being exercised at NEC level. Among the evils that this brings is stalling of progress by NEC members who have neither the time nor, in some instances, the necessary expertise to facilitate some operational activities. In some cases, this has been abused by such NEC members as they gain access to some sensitive documents the contents of which, in some instances, end up in the back pages of some local newspapers and as topical issues in the media across the board.  Empowering the Secretariat in general will obviate this unfortunate tendencies of abuse of power by some members of the Board; especially during an electoral year like this one.

The new structures also seeks to strengthen the Technical and Development as well as the Competitions departments; key departments for our mandate.  There will also be established a full time office to coordinate the activities for Regions, and a full time national coach for Women. Marketing and Communications would also be strengthened with the establishment of a Commercialisation and Communications offices at Director level.  This should impact positively on our brand as the BFA as we seek to optimally exploit our properties and improve our image to the delight of our partners and would-be-partners as well as our stakeholders.  The structure also takes full care of the need for facilities’ management in our operations.  This is one key area that has never been adequately addressed at the BFA with resonating needs throughout the country.

The positions of Technical Director and Senior National Team Coach, continue to exist in the new structure.  As may be common course, contracts of holders of the two positions come to an end in the first quarter of the coming year.  Work has to start immediately on the future of the positions in terms of the personnel to run the two offices.

In our view, the new structure is what can take our football to another level.  Depending on the budget, the structure will be implemented in phases, with areas of priority given precedence.

Standing Committees

According to the old Constitution, we had thirteen standing committees; only seven of which were active.  Other committees were dormant, largely due to resource constraints.  The committees that were active were:

• Players’ Status Committee
• Statutes Committee
• Medical Committee
• Technical Committee
• Referees’ Committee
• National Disciplinary Committee

The new Constitution prescribes fourteen standing committees with the inclusion of new committees such as the Audit and Compliance, Marketing and Social and Recreational Football committees and the graduation of the Disciplinary Committee into a structure of the AGA.  Other standing committees have been retained, with some altered in name but not in mandate.

All these standing committees are for a purpose.  They need to be urgently resuscitated for them to fulfil their mandate and, as such, raise the efficiency levels of the Association as intended. For them to operate effectively, there is need for resources.  First and foremost, there is need for adequate personnel at the Secretariat to support the activities and operations of the standing committees.  Ideally, each committee has to have a dedicated officer to support.  With a thin staff, as currently the case at the Secretariat, some of the committees are bound to suffer from lack of support.  There is also a need to support the activities of the committees financially.  A budget estimation has been compiled to this effect and subject approval by this meeting.

AFFILIATION & COMPLIANCE

Clubs Affiliation

By now all should have noted the deadlines by which all clubs should affiliate and pay for membership fees on time within the deadlines stipulated in our statutes. It is therefore expected that all affiliates should have paid their affiliation fees by 10th of August as per Article 78.4 of our Constitution. You would have also noted from Article 78.3 that any late payment of membership fees and/or subscriptions shall be liable to a penalty as determined by the NEC.  Unlike before, the membership will not be automatically terminated, but the right to play and voting rights shall be suspended forthwith for the season.

BNSC and BNOC

I am pleased to confirm that the BFA continues to be an affiliate of good standing of both BNOC and BNSC.  The Association continues to participate in the activities of the two.  Lately the BNOC hosted the final of the Corporate Governance workshops, paving way for all its affiliates to sign a declaration committing themselves to good corporate governance practices.  The BFA also continues to attend meetings and workshops convened by the BNSC.  Since the last meeting, the BFA office has attended all the general meetings of the two bodies.

At operation level, the BNSC has been part of our efforts to address issues surrounding players’ allowances and incentives, in most cases assisting us to find a solution to the situation.  The only problem was when, at political level, they interfered with our activities by halting a play-off match between Mochudi Centre Chiefs and Township Rollers in advance of the COSAFA Challenge Cup recently held in Windhoek, Namibia.  Although at that point the season was running late in terms of when it should have been completed, the move cost our BPL clubs an opportunity to have their prize monies released by the sponsor well ahead of the opening of the transfer window. 

COSAFA

We also continue to remain in good standing with COSAFA with our past President Mr. David Fani continuing to do some good work in that body.   You should all by now be aware of the impressive performances by our Senior National Team at the last COSAFA Challenge Cup held in Windhoek, Namibia, where our Men’s Senior National Team controversially lost to South Africa in the finals.  We congratulate coach Peter Butler, the technical team and the Management for this achievement.  We thank the government through the BNSC for their role in contributing to the preparations of the team for the games.

On a related matter, in the past year, COSAFA reminded us of our turn to host the Challenge Cup in 2018.  We have since started preparations for hosting this event and continue to engage government through the BNSC for support as this is not doubt a huge task to undertake.

CAF

In the past year, we received a team from CAF to run a Club Licencing workshop for us in order to prepare us for the introduction of the Club Licencing System in Botswana from the 2016/17 season.  We have since followed this up with an internal workshop to further prepare the BPL clubs for the programme, as we await a follow up workshop from CAF to aid our clubs further in the maiden year of the programme.  CAF has been very understanding in relaxing some conditions for us on our first year, but will insist on whoever represents us in the continental club championships to have fully met the Club Licencing requirements as we trial-run the programme for the rest of the BPL teams. In the meantime, the NEC has approved the Club Licencing Manual and the Club Licencing Appeal Body in anticipation of the BPL finally recommending people for the First Instance Body.   In anticipation, a Club Licencing team from both the BFA and BPL is in the middle of visits to individual BPL clubs to assess their readiness and assist them towards compliance.   Eight clubs have already been visited in this regard.

FIFA

Congresses

As is the case with CAF, the BFA remains in good standing with FIFA, where I continue to serve in the Marketing and Television Rights Committee. In the past year, we attended two FIFA Congresses; an Extra-Ordinary Conference in Zurich, Switzerland, where President Giovanni Infantino was elected to replace Josep Blatter and the 66th Congress in Mexico City, where President Infantino announced the appointment of Ms. Fatima Samoura to the position of FIFA Secretary General.  Also at the same meeting, FIFA introduced a new funding model which puts emphasis on funding Member Associations according to their needs rather than according to FIFA programmes. Under this model, the normal administration funding (FAP) has been raised from US$250 000 to US$500 000, with a further US$750 000 set aside for specific Member Associations’ needs.  We have already filed an application for a further US$250 000 to top up the original US$250 000 into the US$500 000 dispensation as availed by FIFA.  The Secretariat is running around the clock to also apply for anything from FIFA that we qualify for this year under the new dispensation.  The Secretariat will then file further applications for the coming year, based on our specific needs as Botswana football; especially as would have been informed by our strategic plan that would be developed soon after the ongoing review spearheaded by the BNSC has been concluded. Our strategic plan going forward should be informed by our core mandate.  It should be widely consulted so that it takes on board the needs of the regions and such that it recognises the regions as our basis of football development. 

Player Registration

FIFA and CAF are working on a new player registration system called FIFAconnect to replace the current Licence+ system.  Our team has been workshopped on the new system and only awaiting configuration by CAF to move into the new system.  In the meantime, Licence+ remains in operation, with the BFA and BPL registration offices paying close attention to the existing quotas. 

Goal Project

For the past two or three years, we have been talking about plans for the Francistown Region Football Association (FRAFA) to host Goal Project IV at the Francistown Old Stadium or at any other available venue depending upon readiness of the lease agreement as required by FIFA.  Together with FRAFA, we have spent a good part of the past year visiting Francistown and engaging the authorities in that City for the lease agreement in respect of the Old Stadium. We gave up in January this year at the last minute when the Francistown City Council continued to shift Goalposts until it was clear that they would not release the lease by the deadline.  At that point, the only option was going back to Lekidi, whose lease agreement was readily available and which facility met the other Goal Project requirements. Other options could not meet the requirements under the tight deadlines we were working under.  Goal Project IV will be in the form of an artificial turf for the grass pitch at Lekidi that has not been used since water restrictions.  The facility has been visited by various FIFA preferred suppliers to progress tender bids for the job, with the tender submission of 8th July 2016 having already passed.  The stage is now at a point where FIFA has to award the contract, if that has not been already done. Had we failed to relocate this project to Lekidi, it would have meant an opportunity lost for the next four years.  Perhaps at this point I should extend a word of gratitude to the Secretariat for working so hard to progress this project as it has been pending for quite some time.

Goal Project IV will add onto other BFA properties being Goal Projects I, II and III (all at Lekidi), and pieces of land allocated to the BFA by land authorities in Francistown and Tonota.  Plans are under way to fence the latter plots and propose a master development plan for them. The new FIFA need-based funding programme will come in handy as we plan for the development and management of facilities countrywide.

Taking Football Matters to Court

On a different but related matter, we continue to remind our affiliates to avoid taking football to the Courts of Law contrary to our Statutes.  I have cautioned in the past that stronger sanctions shall be placed on the teams that continue with this trend, when we have structures in place for dispute resolution which are there for exploitation by all our affiliates. As part of the agenda of this meeting, the General Assembly will be requested to endorse a suspension imposed on a member who continues to take football matters to the Courts of Law.

Alignment of Statutes

On another matter, the NEC has approved a recommendation from the Statutes Committee, soon to be Constitution and Legal Committee on the next appointment; for the recruitment of a suitable law firm to align the BFA Constitution, Play Rules and Regulation, FIFA Reforms and such other statutes such that they all speak to one another.  The Secretariat is working on facilitating the process with the hope to have the exercise completed by the end of the year.

COMPETITIONS, LEAGUES AND REGIONS

International Competitions

Our national teams have received mixed results with the Men’s senior national teams recording good results and performances in both AFCON and World Cup qualifiers, only to falter at the last hurdle.  The team’s best achievement in the past year was a runner up position at the just-ended COSAFA Challenge Cup in Windhoek, Namibia. Our other national teams continue to fail at first attempt due to inadequate preparations largely orchestrated by a lack of adequate financial resources. In the past year both our representatives in the CAF Club Championships; being Mochudi Centre Chiefs and Gaborone United withdrew from their assignments at the last minute.  Not only did the withdrawals amount to a lost opportunity, they also left us with penalties to pay and other financial liabilities to extinguish.  The two teams are still to make good their financial liabilities to us in this respect.

Botswana Premier League

On Monday in the past week, one of our structures, the BPL Disciplinary Committee, ruled that the unfinished match between Mochudi Centre Chiefs and Township Rollers that was abandoned in the past month be replayed within a period of ten days.  The Office of the BPL wasted no time in implementing this ruling by right away re-scheduling the match for Thursday 11th August 2016.  As we all know, the match was replayed at the Molepolole Stadium on the day, as scheduled, with Township Rollers emerging victorious through a 5-1 score.  This, in our view, brings the curtains down on the 2015/16 season.  Let me take this opportunity to thank the BPL office, through the CEO Bennett Mamelodi who has recently resumed work, for his speedy reaction to the matters that were outstanding such that the match is played to a result. Let me also thank the BPL prosecution team and Disciplinary Committee for also speedily facilitating the resolution of this matter, the two teams; i.e. Township Rollers and Mochudi Centre Chiefs for participating in the conclusion of the 2015/16 season.  Perhaps at this point I should once again apologise to the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTCL), sponsors of the beMOBILE Premiership, for the embarrassment and inconvenience that were caused by the irregularities surrounding the BPL activities. Let me also extend a word of apology to all stakeholders including members of the football loving community for a season that has been characterised by a series of undesirable activities that not only brought football into disrepute but also dented our relations with our partners and stakeholders. We regret all the stress and inconvenience caused and assure all that the process of putting things right once and for all has started.

I am nonetheless comforted by the fact that our last meeting with BTCL was very fruitful, with the sponsor still seeing opportunities in football, provided we put our house in order and restore our brand to that with which corporate giants like BTCL, Debswana and Mascom would want to associate with.  As we map out our path into the new season, I challenge all of us to do all in our powers to focus on issues that would build and not destroy our football. Our football has recently experienced very negative media coverage, largely orchestrated by us footballers.  There has also been a lot of unethical behaviour among some of us football leaders; with some getting out of their way to destroy than to build.  Some of us have found allies in the media, with whom we team up on a daily basis to destroy whatever good some football leaders are putting together.  I wish to caution that such behaviour shall not be allowed to go any further unchallenged.  I wish to warn those who have continued to ignore the BFA Code of Conduct that the party is over!

The BPL activities have no doubt brought our credibility as football into question.  While out there, the BPL activities of the just-ended season are viewed as national football crisis, we as the NEC, have always maintained that if there is any crisis, it is only at the BPL.  For the record, problems started with a protest filed by Gilport Lions after their match against Township Rollers which they lost 3-0. Gilport Lions then used their constitutional right to lodge a protest with the BPL Disciplinary Committee, arguing that in that match, Township Rollers used an improperly registered player.  They lost the protest.  Parallel to this the BPL Board met on Saturday 26th March 2016; at which meeting they recalled their Chairperson and his Vice and suspended their CEO and his Personal Assistant.

After losing their protest at the BPL DC, Gilport Lions once again exercised their constitutional right by filing an appeal with the National Disciplinary Committee (NDC), which ruled in their favour. The NDC Ruling found the player to be defaulter and referred the matter to the BPL to apply the relevant provisions of the Play Rules for the games the player participated on. Aggrieved by this, Township Rollers also exercised their constitutional right to appeal the decision of the NDC by filing the case with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Their appeal was on the substantive finding of the player being declared a defaulter.

Following this decision, the BPL Board, through its Interim Chairperson, in his/their interpretation of the NDC ruling, decided to deduct ten points from Township Rollers on the basis of the matches they played and garnered points from using the player who had been a subject of the protests and awarding them to the respective opponents. Aggrieved by this step by the BPL Board, Township Rollers filed a protest with the BPL DC.  The BPL DC heard this case, ruling that the matter was now beyond them as the BPL Board, on whose behalf they would have been acting, had already ruled on the matter.  Township Rollers then appealed to the NDC, who ruled that docking of ten points from Township Rollers was out of order.  In the meantime, the BPL, through their Board meeting of 5th May 2016, insisted that the final matches should go on. Attempts by both the Sponsor and ourselves (NEC) to halt the matches until the ‘ten points’ matter had been resolved were rejected by the BPL Board. With the new aggregates, the BPL compiled a log that guided them in determining the league winners.

This came to haunt us when the NDC reviewed the ‘ten points’ decision. Observing that the BPL Interim Board Chairperson was out of order to make such a decision. The NDC awarded points to Centre Chiefs and Miscellaneous; having docked seven points instead of ten from Township Rollers. This left Centre Chiefs still at the top of the log, but a play-off was ordered as Chiefs were leading as a result of the soft points they received. Sadly the play-off failed on the scheduled date as a result of interference by the BNSC.  The play-off failed again on second attempt as Chiefs failed to present enough players to see the match through.  Thankfully, the match has now been played and the season thus concluded.

When the BPL CEO and PA were suspended, a forensic audit was to follow, on which results charges, if any, were going to be pressed against any party found with a case to answer.  Before the forensic exercise could be initiated, the CEO was charged for misconduct, with an urgent hearing date.  The CEO then filed an urgent application to the Industrial Court seeking a stay of the disciplinary proceedings against him.  The case was postponed for both the BFA and BPL to normalise resolutions giving them powers to proceed with the case.  The NEC declined to support the continuation of the case; ordering that the CEO and his PA be returned to office, and charges against the CEO withdrawn.  The BPL Board refused to carry out these lawful instructions.  Instead, they went to court to file a case against both BPL CEO and the BFA.

The NEC at its special meeting of Wednesday 29th June 2016 resolved to suspend the BPL Board for these misdemeanours.  The full list of issues that led us to suspend the BPL Board were:

• Activities of the BPL Board meeting of 26th March 2016 and the effects deriving therefrom;
• Condoning the match between Jwaneng Galaxy and Mochudi Centre Chiefs of 7th May 2016 against the wishes of the sponsor, which wishes were fully known to the BPL Board;
• Refusing a lawful instruction from the BFA NEC to re-instate the suspended CEO and his PA.
• Continued and unlawful interference with BTCL, sponsor of the beMOBILE Premiership;
• Continued engagement with the BNSC on issues that should be addressed with the BFA;
• Taking the BFA to the Courts of Law over a resolution made by the BFA NEC on a court case involving the BPL CEO;
• Continued derogatory remarks on the BFA NEC and its activities.

The NEC further resolved that the matter of the BPL be presented to yourselves the general membership to recommend a way forward on the matter.

Not much has been achieved in the area of autonomy of the BPL, largely as a result of the suspension of the CEO and the recalling of the BPL Chairperson and his deputy; all of whom were key to the progression of this project.  In the meantime, at the appropriate point in the agenda, we will consider a motion on the BPL from one of the structures.  The outcome of the motion should have a bearing, directly or indirectly, on how the management of the BPL would be handled in the future.

National First Division League

All the National First Division leagues completed their leagues on schedule, culminating in both of them holding their general assemblies on time. The Activity Report presented as part of the meeting pack presents further details on the activities of the NFD.  Notwithstanding, I wish to congratulate Black Forest, Mahalapye Hotspurs and Rolling Boys for their promotion to the Premier League.

As it is now common course, Debswana has renewed their sponsorship to the NFD.  Although the figures stay as they were in the last cycle, I wish to thank the Debswana Mining Company for this gesture. We are obviously challenged by the activities surrounding the sponsorship in the past cycle, where some of us elected to give the sponsorship a negative publicity instead doing what was on their powers to change things such that the sponsor enjoyed the positive publicity they deserve. Debswana is still to notify us of launch dates, after the original dates were moved on their request.

Regions

We continue to value the contribution of regions to our talent identification and nurturing efforts.  In the past year, we extended grants to regions and leagues to the amount of P30 000, paid in two instalments. Resources permitting, this will be reviewed in the future to continue to support the regions in their efforts.  The recent grouping of regions into blocs has brought regions a lot closer to the NEC and to the BFA office, with direct representation in the NEC.  More can however be achieved if this representation could be put to optimal use.  As structures, we have responsibility to ensure that those we send to represent us in the NEC do exactly that.  Avoid leaders who get into the NEC on your ticket and forget about you as soon as they walk into the NEC.  Your representation as structures should come first.  This would no doubt enhance your pursuits as structures and regions. As I stated earlier, as we revisit our strategic plan, we should largely be informed by our core mandate.  The strategic plan should be widely consulted so that it takes on board the needs of the regions and such that it recognises the regions as our basis of football development.  Our efforts to support the regions should gain traction from the newly introduced FIFA funding model.  Our access into more FIFA resources should impact directly into our regional activities.

To this point we should appreciate the good work that continues to be done by regions against the background of inadequate resources; especially with respect to development.  Players who end up in the big leagues by all means are generated from regions.

Regions

On the Constituency Tournament, there has not really been much progress.  Following the constant nagging of both government and the BNSC, we were notified of the suspension of the Working Committee activities pending some reviews.  Post this AGA, the incoming NEC should delegate the Secretariat to facilitate the establishment of the Social and Recreational Football structure to pursue this matter to the level where our involvement in this project shall be beyond reproach.  This structure is prescribed by the new Constitution to ensure that we comply with FIFA directives on the Constituency tournament.

TECHNICAL MATTERS

In the past year, no less than 15 courses were delivered in the areas of Grassroots, Youth, Fitness, Women’s Football Coaching and Goalkeeper Coaching; attended by no less than 430 participants.  Although this is something to celebrate, we should appreciate that there is still room for strong and sustainable development structures for success of our football and performance of our national teams is based on very strong development structures.

A detailed report on our technical and development activities is presented as part of the Activity Report to be presented elsewhere in this meeting.

SPONSORSHIP

Our sponsors as at the end of the 2015/16 season were:

• Mascom Wireless for the Mascom Top 8
• BTCL for the beMOBILE Premiership
• Tsa Gae as the National Teams Technical Sponsor
• Debswana for the National First Division
• DBS for the BPL
• British Council (Premier Skills)

We thank the foregoing for their continued support to football.  By end of the season, we had intensified our pursuit for sponsorship and had held talks with several members of the corporate sector; some of which are at a very advanced stage. Some of the members of the business houses approached have not hidden their concerns at the manner in which we in football conduct our business.  They have been concerned at the manner in which we discuss our partners in the media in a very derogative way, and at the manner in which we sabotage one another instead of supporting one another.  We have however demonstrated to them that things will be back to normal after the AGA when we will be having other structures in place to bring credibility to our football.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, as part of my report for the past year, I refer you to the Activity Report to be presented later in the agenda of this meeting for more detail. As I open discussions on what I have just presented, please note the following decision points for the general membership at this AGA as part of the agenda:

Appointment of Members to check the minutes

The NEC recommends that the AGA approves the appointment of one representative per Bloc, appointed by the respective Bloc, to form a team of four (4) who will check the Minutes the moment a draft is released.

Appointment of scrutinisers

The NEC recommends that the AGA approves the appointment of one representative per Bloc, appointed by the respective Bloc, to form a team of four (4) who will scrutinise the way the AGA is managed. 

BPL Late General Assembly

The NEC requests the AGA to ratify the holding of the BPL General Assembly on 25th June 2016, outside the 31st May deadline as stipulated by 12.5.1.5 of the BFA Constitution.

Ratification of the suspension of Notwane Football Club

At its meeting of Wednesday 29th June 2016, the NEC of the BFA took a resolution to suspend Notwane Football Club from all football activities for taking football matters to court.  The suspension is to run for a period of two seasons (2016/17 and 2017/18); one of which will be suspended for a year on condition that the club does not commit a similar offense to which it is being suspended.

The NEC will, at the appropriate point in the agenda, request the AGA to ratify this decision.

Ratification of Suspensions and Expulsions

The NEC will, at the appropriate point in the agenda, also request the AGA to ratify the following:

• Expulsion of Feed Seeds FC from the Kgatleng RFA (20/08/2015)
• Suspension of Tiny Rookies FC’s membership of FRAFA for failing to pay annual subscription
• Admission of Lerala Sporting Club by the Tswapong Regional FA
• Admission of Lecheng All Stars FC by the Tswapong Region FA
• Other decisions to be made

Also at appropriate points in the Agenda, the NEC will request the AGA to approve the following:

• Financial Statements
• Budget
• Appointment of independent Auditors
• President’s Activity Report

The AGA will also at appropriate point in the Agenda, be requested to approve the appointment of members of the judicial bodies as recommended by the Electoral Committee.

Let me wish all of us a very successful and fruitful meeting, and further wish those of us who are standing for elections at the end of this meeting the best of luck.  The choice of who should move football forward for the next four years is entirely in your hands as delegates.  Consequently, delegates should take full responsibility of the people they put into office.  At the end of it all, should it turn out that they made errors of judgement for one reason or another, they should take full responsibility for that.  In the same way they should rejoice if their vote vindicates them.  May the best candidates win.  As I always caution, let us remember to always put the game at the centre of the deliberations and ensure that at the end of the day, the winner is football.

As would have been communicated to those standing for elections, next weekend; i.e. Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st August have been scheduled for an induction of the new NEC.  This is an important exercise to usher new members into office and to prepare them for the realities ahead.  The induction will be in the form of a presentation by FIFA on its operations and programmes, corporate governance and on exposing the new NEC members to facts about the BFA.  This is an important exercise that all should do their level best to avail themselves for.  History has proven that those who have failed to go through this exercise or who have failed to take it serious have been constant hindrances on the general activities of the NEC.  I therefore urge all to take this exercise seriously.

I once again welcome you all to the 2016 BFA Annual General Assembly.  At the end of my first term of office as President of the association, I wish to express my humble gratitude for the support, advice and guidance that you the general membership have granted me as your President in the past four years.  As it is well documented, I wish to avail myself for another term to complete my unfinished business.

As advised, other matters not covered in this speech would either be in the Activity Report or reported elsewhere in the meeting pack for this AGA.

Ladies and Gentlemen I thank you for your attention.