28 Jun 2016

Deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Youth Sport and Culture (MYSC), Kgopotso Ramoroka says his ministry is committed to addressing challenges that face constituency tournament as a way of improving it. 

Speaking to athletes at the beginning of the national sport constituency tournament held in Francistown over the weekend, Ramoroka said MYSC wants to address challenges such as late payments of teams. 

To ensure timely payments, he said teams would be expected to provide all their details and appoint the person who would collect their funds at the point of registration at the beginning of every financial year. 

For his part, MYSC chief programmes officer, Lincoln Goitsemang said as part of improvements, the ministry would restructure the appeals structure so that all queries would be addressed at all levels instead of at headquarters only. 

He said there has been realisation that in some areas, there were no functional league committees and as a result, the tournament was run by individuals. 

“To address this challenge, committees made up of representatives from all the teams in each constituency will be selected and trained in order to run the games effectively,” said Goitsemang. 

In the current cycle of 2016/17 financial year, he said the ministry introduced medals for the winning teams and an award for the best disciplined team. 

The chairperson of the Francistown Regional Football Association, Maokaneng Bontshetse commended the constituency league for closing the gaps where Botswana Football Association (BFA) does not reach and keep the youth meaningfully engaged. 

Earlier in his welcome remarks, the acting mayor, Cornelius Gopolang said the games embrace the spirit of tolerance among the players and it also inculcates sportsmanship. 

Gopolang, who is also the councillor for Kanana Ward said the games were a government initiative meant to promote mass participation in recreational sport and ultimately enhance the nation’s physical fitness and health. 

He said when the games started, 28 476 youth participated, but participation had grown to the current 76 000. 

Gopolang said since inception in 2008, about 275 participants joined the mainstream league and some teams had used their winnings to establish small businesses such as internet cafes. 

He urged the participants to take the league as an opportunity to explore their talents and take the league to greater heights. 

Gerald Estate Customary Court president, Paul Motshwane raised a concern that after eight years of running, some teams still lacked discipline. 

Therefore, Motshwane urged teams to discard ill-disciplined players as they do not only tarnish the images of the teams but the league as a whole. 

On a different note, Motshwane complained that some local coaches were not patriotic, noting that some of them usually do interviews on Botswana Television (Btv) wearing replica gear of foreign teams. 

Meanwhile, in the football category, Etsha Highflyers from Etsha representing Region II emerged the champions, while in the netball category, Ghetto Ferns from Francistown scooped the first position representing Region IV. 

In the men’s volleyball, Kasi IV from Selebi Phikwe representing Region V scooped the first position and in the ladies category, Hustlers from Maun took position one representing Region II. 

All the teams walked away with P9 900 each, medals and trophies.

The award for the most disciplined team of the national finals cycle of 2016/17 went to Super Zone from Gabane representing Region VII.  

Teams in the second positions won P7 700, medals and trophies each, while those in the third positions won P4 000, trophies and medals each. 

Eight regions  made it to the finals and the games marked the end of cycle one of 2016/17 financial year. Ends