18 Nov 2014

Botswana Integrated Sports Association (BISA) and Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) are both committed to develop excellence in sport.

The first vice president of BNOC, Moses Moruisi echoed this at the BISA annual general meeting in Ghanzi over the weekend.  Moruisi said his organisation’s commitment to sport had been demonstrated by the support for the development of sport in Botswana. 

He noted that some programmes were in place to advance the elite sport and mass participation, which BISA benefited from.  He said courses funded under the Olympic Solidarity included sports administration which covered areas of governance, finance and organising major events among others. 

He noted that such skills were necessary for ensuring that the country had the right capabilities at leadership level to take the country forth in sport. 

Moruisi commended schools and teachers for unearthing and nurturing talent, saying the young athletes who performed well at the 2nd African Youth Games and Nanjing Youth Olympics were discovered through BISA.   

For his part, BISA president Joshua Gaothobogwe indicated that his organisation needs other players from the society to help them carry their mandate. This, he said was necessary as the cost of running the association has escalated.

Although BISA  is an establishment of the Ministry of Education, Skills and Development, Gaothobogwe noted that they cannot always go to the ministry for funds and supplementary. Therefore, he said it was important that they forge links with other groups in the society to help them take the association forward. 

He said organisations such as Kgalagadi Breweries Limited, Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Unions (BOSETU) as well as Bee Mark are in partnership with BISA to help them roll out their mandate. 

Although they have secured partnerships, Gaothobogwe noted that there are still some challenges which include the welfare of teachers as opposed to participation in BISA events, which led to some regions missing out on competitions organised by BISA. 

Other challenges, he said included transport, insufficient funds for schools and BISA, as well as lack of facilities to host events. Nevertheless, he said these challenges went hand in hand with some of the success at BISA.

Gaothobogwe cited some of the success as aligning their strategic plan to Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC), sending their teams to COSSASA ball sports competitions which were held in Lusaka, Zambia, and hosting successful athletics and ball sports national finals.

He also noted that they were able to convince the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture to help fund COSSASA athletics championships as well as getting funds from BNSC. ENDS