Straight talk from Letshwiti
Botswana Football Association ( BFA) headhoncho, Maclean Letshwiti, together with his executive committee, have come under heavy scrutiny in recent years and have been strongly accused of leading local football into a calamitous sorry state of affairs.
Football political instability marred by suspensions of and resignations of some high profile individuals, coupled with rather consistent gloomy performances of various national teams, Letshwiti’s administration is said to have put local football development on reverse mode. The Zebras, in particular, as the flagship senior national team have put up some unimpressive and lackluster performances which saw them finish bottom of the AFCON qualifiers in the last two editions of the competition. In an exclusive interview with BG Sport, Letshwiti has come out to defend himself against his detractors who entirely blame his administration for the current state of football. He insisted that the BFA are doing their part to lead the progress of football but called on other stakeholders, government in particular, to play their role for the local game to reach greater heights. “The fact that government gives us money to go and participate in competitions is not enough. We must expose and prepare our footballers to higher level training before they go into any competition,” Letshwiti shared. “When Egypt wanted to win the AFCON, they invested $ 300 million into their account and when they didn’t win, they fired a whole lot and I agree with them. In our situation how do you hold anybody accountable? “Our national teams are failing because they are not exposed to pre- competition trainings, when it comes to international competitions, government must inject the money to help prepare the teams, these are facts on why our national teams are not performing well and that
is the responsibility of government.
“All government ever say is ‘ there is no money’ and I don’t know when they’re going to have money,” Letshwiti questioned. Letshwiti further stated that, if the government invests more on the national teams, it will improve their results and subsequently make them attractive to the private sector. “The responsibility of the association is to develop, and we have been doing well in that aspect, FIFA and CAF have been supportive. We survive because of FIFA funding but anywhere else, the government assume the responsibilities of national teams. The biggest missing factor is the government support of the national teams, it is an expensive exercise, only government can afford it. National teams are the treasury of the country,
they know exactly how much we need, we share with them our budget yearly, so it’s either you fully budget or expect mediocrity. No national football team will ever be successful without government infusion,” he stated. Botswana National Sports Commission ( BNSC) Chief Executive Officer Tuelo Serufho recently announced that football gets the largest funding from government than any other sporting code but Letshwiti insists that government must double its current budget if football is to be successful.
Sponsors have taken a step back in sponsoring local football, with Botswana Football League going for a second year without a title sponsor.
“All our sponsors are in place, FNBB, Choppies, lactalis, the FA Cup and First Division are all intact, First Division sponsorship had expired but negotiations for a renewal are almost complete, BFL are the ones who lost sponsorships,” the BFA president argued.
Once more, the BFA president was quick to emphasize the power of football, stating the sport has the capacity to create employment and contribute to the economy of the country hence it is imperative to invest in the sport.
Before assuming the presidency of the BFA, Letshwiti preached development, when asked how much progress he has made to achieve his objectives, he cited disruptions caused by COVID- 19 but even moreso, the lack of school sport activities in the country.
“It is a very serious challenge not only for football but all sporting codes, you cannot develop football without schools sports, that is why FIFA and CAF are putting so much investment into schools football. It is a disaster, for Botswana not to have schools sports, lore lo ojwa le sale metsi ( you catch them young), school sport plays a critical role in the development of a player,” Letshwiti concluded.