GABORONE, Botswana – The Botswana Football Association (BFA) President, Maclean Letshwiti has acknowledged the positive strides made by the Kweneng Regional Football Association (KRFA) Division 2 teams to turn professional and sustainably commercial for the future of football. Letshwiti made a clarion call over the weekend at Lekidi Football Centre in Gaborone during the Kweneng Division 2 Teams Transformation workshop where he commended their commitment of transforming from societies into professional entities.
He acknowledged that football was responding positively to a plethora of challenges, amongst them Covid-19, and called for a re-examination of priorities that would ultimately ensure the future of the footballing industry and its people. The KRFA clubs have vowed to at least attain 30% progress to turn professional by the end of the 2021-2022 footballing season.
Kweneng Regional Football Association Chairperson, Lekgotla Raditloko
“This is a serious intent and commitment to the course, and it must be applauded. I am so humbled by the initiative. Coincidentally, I was in Kgatleng two weeks back to witness a similar initiative by a regional team (City Polar). How I wish the big teams could benchmark from these regional teams and assist BFA to achieve its mandate. Upon my assumption of the BFA presidency, I declared to professionalize the game, focus on grassroots and youth development because I believe this is the only way to compete with the best in the world. Integral part of this is corporative governance and accountability. The BFA’s vision is ‘To be a self-sustaining organization of excellence,’ and I am convinced that no one can be self-sustainable if he or she does not generate income,” said Letshwiti.
Furthermore, the BFA president said part of this professionalism and growth should be spurred by the need to create partnerships with corporate companies, communities, and individuals. And while he warned that the challenges ahead were great, he acknowledged that they were not insurmountable.
“I am extremely humbled to hear that VTM Security has come forth to sponsor this noble initiative, courtesy of its partners in Qatar. The Kweneng RFA has broken new ground, and I hope it will open a pathway for our talented players to penetrate the international market, outside the continent,” added Letshwiti.
The KRFA workshop was blessed to have the tutelage of the various BFA departmental experts ranging from governance to technical.
BFA President Letshwiti awarding balls to the KRFA teams, donated by VTM Security
The BFA Regional Coordinator, Setete Phuthego made a presentation on the transformation of clubs from societies to companies whilst Technical Officer, Tshepho Mphukuthi underscored the importance of basic technical points in the game. The organization of the workshop was under the auspices of VTM Security and its partners in Qatar.
For his part, Kweneng RFA Chairperson, Lekgotla Raditloko pointed out that today’s workshop on transformation heralded a new dawn for his region, a new model developed for football worldwide. Raditloko further challenged the teams to use the modalities of today’s workshop to attain their set targets.
“We want to transform our teams for the better. We believe teams can progress from the region’s perspective. We applaud VTM Security for the caliber they bring to our region. The Kweneng RFA fully supports the BFA’s drive to turn our football into professional and viable commercial entities as promoted by President Letshwiti from time to time,” said Raditloko.
BFA Regional Coordinator and Competitions, Setete Phuthego
He added that his region will capacitate the clubs and further implored the BFA to avail trainings in technical and governance periodically.
“The BFA’s Administration course dubbed Time for Change will be vital in our region as we highly regard the outcomes of the course,” said Raditloko.
Meanwhile, VTM Security donated a total of 100 balls to all Kweneng RFA teams to be distributed equally. The Saturday workshop was also attended by BFA NEC members; Tico Kamati, Alec Monyake, Kweneng Division 2 Chairman, Vincent Mafuta, Kweneng RFA committee including representatives of the Kweneng RFA clubs.
