22 Nov 2017

Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) chairperson, Solly Reikeletseng has been elected board member of The Association for International Sport for All (TAFISA) during the organisation’s annual general assembly held in Seoul, South Korea recently.

Reikeletseng will serve a four-year term as a board member and together with the vice president Leonard Thadeo, they are expected to represent Africa which was lagging behind compared to other regions in activating TAFISA.

Steve Botlhasitse, who was Botswana’s campaign manager said in an interview that for Reikeletseng to be elected in the board meant a lot for the country, adding that Botswana through BNSC was new to TAFISA board.

He said although BNSC had long affiliated to TAFISA, it had not been active.

“I think it is a great thing for us to be represented in TAFISA. Remember we are a small nation and that will be a learning curve for us,” he said.

Furthermore, Botlhasitse said they would like to see TAFISA events coming to Botswana, adding that their strategy was to have Botswana as a hub for the organisation.

“We want to be the host of TAFISA office in Africa. So as we resuscitate the organisation, we know that Thadeo is the vice president of Africa, who is based in Tanzania.

However we have agreed that we will want to see Botswana taking the lead,” he said.

He said the reason they wanted to take the lead was the fact that Africa Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 was the only active region, compared to other regions.

Botlhasitse said Botswana would host AUSC Region 5 next year, therefore his intension was to see TAFISA leveraging on the participating 10 countries to sign into TAFISA and ultimately have TAFISA, Africa headquters in Gaborone.

According to their website, TAFISA has over 300 members from more than 160 countries on all continents.  

Their primary focus is on providing global and regional networking and experience sharing opportunities for its members, supporting member development by providing appropriate programmes, events and consulting services, supporting and lobbying internationally for sustainable Sport for All and physical activity. ENDS