Zak vows to stand his ground as BFL fall-out continues
The fall-out between ousted Botswana Football League (BFL) Chairperson, Nicholas Zakhem and his fellow chairmen is far from over.
Despite being voted out by the league’s shareholders at a special meeting held in Palapye last month, the Gaborone United boss insists he’s going nowhere.
‘Zak’ reacted to his ‘firing’ by filing an urgent application before Gaborone High Court claiming unfair dismissal – a big ‘no no’ in local football.
The board hit back by suspending Zakhem for taking football matters to court.
Last Wednesday, in a desperate bid to map a way forward, representatives from clubs in the Premier League and First Divisions met with the BFA National Executive Committee.
However, tempers flared when Zak turned up, with the club representatives refusing to go ahead with the meeting until he left; which he eventually did.
Speaking to Voice Sport, one of the shareholders who asked not to be named, revealed BTV paid out P4 million for broadcasting rights towards the end of 2023.
“We were surprised last week to learn there is only around P600, 000 in the BFL account; what happened to the P4 million? We demand to see the bank statement not to rely on the financial speech that was shared by Mbatha [BFL CEO, Senzo Mbatha]. Zakhem is doing this deliberately because he wants his club to dominate the league. He wants teams to suffer and they come to ask for financial assistance from him. Look at the teams that he was paying for their coaches’ salaries Mochudi Centre Chiefs, Mogoditshane Fighters, Extension Gunners and Notwane, they all relegated. How do you expect the coach to thoroughly prepare and win when Zac is paying for his salary? This man must go, he has caused enough damage to our football,” seethed the source.
An equally fired-up Zakhem told Voice Sport he has no intention of stepping down, describing the move to kick him out as unlawful and unconstitutional.
“Until the shareholders have proper reasoning for kicking me out of the office, I’m going nowhere!,” he declared, adding he’s waiting for the tribunal ruling which will determine whether he continues down the court route or not.
“Everything from the first meeting the shareholders held in Palapye was wrong. I was thrown out of the shareholders meeting with the BFA National Executive Committee. That was an insult! I am a shareholder in good standing, and I had every right to be in that meeting to represent the interest of my club. The court granted me stay and the board went ahead to suspend me. Botswana is not a banana republic, we must abide by the law. I will serve my term until the last day. The law will take its own course. If they want to boycott the league, they can go ahead,” said Zakhem.
On the issue of finances, Zakhem said a large part of the money was used to pay referees, buy Mbatha a car which cost P450, 000, run the business and pay secretariat wages.
“The agreement was that teams get grants of P100, 000 this month; I was surprised to learn they now want P200, 000!”
Meanwhile, for the second week running, domestic action remains at a standstill.