27 Nov 2017

Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC) chairperson, Solly Reikeletseng has saluted President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama for a job well done and sterling support in sport development.

Speaking at the BNSC annual general meeting in Gaborone on Thursday (November 23), Reikeletseng said it was pleasing that at every State of the Nation Address and amongst other gatherings, matters of sport were reported.

He said many national teams and sports people have had a meal with President Khama at the State House to appreciate their contribution to national unity and pride.

Reikeletseng said President Khama was a patron of many sporting organisation amongst them, the Botswana Softball Association, Botswana Volleyball Association, Botswana Cricket Council and the Botswana Football Association.

He said President Khama had also pioneered outdoor sport activities such as the Khawa Dune Challenge and the Makgadikgadi Epic, to mention a few.

Reikeletseng said this was very important for Batswana, adding that there was hope that such connections with sport would continue.

Also, BNSC chair used the event to request for an increase in resourcing sport as the needs and level of value addition had exceeded the current level of funding and other forms of assistance.

“For many years, we have been receiving a grant in the region of P54 million annually, which has proven to be far smaller than BNSC need to run its programmes,” he said.

Reikeletseng also reported on the good performance of various sport codes, which excelled in major international events.

These include 400m runner, Baboloki Thebe, 4X4 ladies relay team, 400m and 200m sprint runner, Isaac Makwala, 400m and 800m athletes.

Also, he said the senior men national softball team attained top eight out of the 20 countries at the International Softball Federation World Cup, while the Netball Under 21 national team attained position 10 out of 20 countries at the Netball World Youth Cup tournament, which was held in Botswana in June.

Furthermore, the chairperson encouraged different sport codes to host events in line with BNSC High Level Target even though there had been a disturbing trend where they make commitments to host before due process could be fullfiled internally.

Reikeletseng also urged the codes to seek permission from BNSC if they wished to host international events so that the commission could seek approval from Cabinet.

“As a matter of fact, no national sport association is expected to propose to host any high profile event within less than 12 months. This is necessary to enable submission to be made to government, and for all government protocols to be followed accordingly,” he added.

In addition, he said invitations to President Khama, Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi, Cabinet ministers and high ranking officials should be made through the office of the BNSC.

For her part, co-chairperson of the International Working Group (IWG) on Women and Sport, Ruth Maphorisa explained that 2017 had been an eventful year as the association had seen a number of sport codes signing up the Brighton Plus Helsinki Declaration.

This, she said represent commitment by the codes to see to it that there was gender mainstreaming in sport.

She explained that it was upon this background that in the past four years, the group had been working tirelessly preaching the gospel on the need for equal participation in sports and physical activity by both men and women for a more sustainable sport development across the globe.

“It is therefore encouraging that we have so far 562 organisations that have signed against our target of 619,” she said.

She encouraged all the codes to take part in the up-coming 7th IWG World Conference on Women and Sport on May 17-20, 2018, adding that registration was still open. BOPA