16 Sep 2014

Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA) former president, Michael Moroka has hailed the passing of the Sports Bill by the last sitting of Parliament saying it was long due.

Welcoming delegates at the association’s annual general meeting in Lobatse before being ousted from his position, Moroka said the sporting fraternity now anxiously awaited the new Sport Act with the hope that it would address some of the concerns in the sporting fraternity.

“We thank government and stakeholders who made this development possible after waiting for many years,” he said.

Moroka thanked BoBA members for their positive input in the newly reformulated constitution which had been approved by the Registrar of Societies but still with the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA).

He also appreciated that the association had been able to retain its two sponsors; Debswana and the Kgalagadi Breweries Limited (KBL) who funded the annual boxing awards and the annual Keone Mooka Mageu championships respectively.

He revealed that Debswana popped out P160 000 while KBL sponsored the champioships to a tune of P170 000 this year. KBL, he added, had since proposed to turn its focus to development in the future to make sure that things were done well from the onset.

“This is something we should embrace for the simple reason that our activities should be founded on a very solid development base,” he said.

He further thanked those in the boxing leadership for their continued support in making the sport attractive to the sponsors and at the same time challenged them to continue doing their best to make it more attractive to the overall corporate sector.

He also appreciated government support through the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) as the association received P1 million, an amount he said was an improvement from last year’s P750 000.

He said it was still relevant for boxing to advocate for a more slice of the budget “as it is at this point that it is one of the few sporting code that continue to bring credible glory to the country from major international games.”

However, Moroka regretted that against the good results the code posted at the 2nd African Youth Games, it was for the first time since 1994 that they failed to win a medal at the Commonwealth games.

“This is highly regrettable. We need to deeply introspect so that our way forward is duly informed by an extensive enquiry into our development structures,” he said.

Thus, he challenged all to see how best the code’s development structures can be strengthened. Moroka also urged members to turn up in good numbers at the polls for the national elections on October 24.

This country, he said needs our input in terms of political leadership at national level irrespective of political affiliation. He added that all can only endorse national democracy by not only registering for elections but rather taking yet another step to vote.

He thanked members for having given him the opportunity to lead the association for the past two terms adding that he had indeed enjoyed working with them in that capacity.

“I will always cherish the fact that while we differed in opinion with some, it has on the large part been handled responsibly by all parties and this I will always cherish,” he said.

Moroka also thanked the media for the support they have always given to boxing and urged them to continue to play their role as the watchdog of the community on national projects and programmes. Ends