24 Apr 2018

Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Botlogile Tshireletso, who is also Botswana Netball Association (BONA) patron, has urged the business community to assist in funding sporting codes.

She said they should fund the codes while preparing for competitions instead of coming in after the athletes have won medals and trophies.

Tshireletso was speaking at the Spar Group netball sponsorship launch in Gaborone yesterday.

The group was renewing its sponsorship deal with BONA for the national league worth P350 000 for this year. Tshireletso expressed gratitude to the Spar Group in their mission to develop netball and not just celebrating the players when they were victorious.

Tshireletso said she was grateful for the support Spar had been offering to netball, adding that what the organisation was doing was what every sport code would need, financial assistance.

The BONA patron highlighted that with such support athletes would be motivated to perform to the best of their ability hence representing the country well both locally and internationally.

Tshireletso said the netball national team that took part in the World Cup last year had proven to be capable of performing at international standards if adequate support was available from the development stage.

“They demonstrated that with financial support they could  match their peers from anywhere in the world,” she added.

Tshireletso questioned why the athletes should be crowded when they were victorious while they were left to struggle in preparing for competitions.

Tshireletso said she was aware that the Spar brand in South Africa was giving netball the required support, adding that she was hopeful that the group would do the same in Botswana.

Netball, she said, needed a lot of money to build facilities, pay players, buy sportswear, including a lot of practice games and exposure to the world stage.

She said the government and Spar could not alone face the daunting challenge of transforming netball into a winning code, whose value extended to paying wages to players.

She noted that the development of world class players needed different stakeholder involvement, not excluding individuals.

She urged BONA to assist individual clubs to strengthen their structures.

Representing the Spar Group, Retha Ingenbleek said Team Botswana’s performance at the World Cup last year showed the potential that the country had.

Announcing the sponsorship, Ingenbleek congratulated former BONA president, Tebogo Lebotse-Sebego for delivering a world class event together with a good performance by the national team.

She also noted that the local media was on its toes in covering the tournament  by reporting each and every incident.

Ingenbleek said they like to be involved in community developments, citing the South African national netball team as an example, adding that it was a women sport.

Netball, she said, was not enjoying enough support from the community and sponsors, adding that Spar would bridge the gap. She also noted that sponsors were rallying behind already developed sports such as football.

She said her supermarket would also support the national team at the All Africa games to be held in South Africa in August by covering their accommodation and food expenses.  Ends