07 Sep 2020

Is Tuelo Serufho’s appointment to act at the sport commission while still holding his BNOC position a first sign that Botswana is finally joining the majority of countries who have one mega sporting authority?

Countries such as South Africa have authoritative sporting organisations being the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC).

The August 31 press release by Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) announcing the appointment of Serufho as caretaker CEO fanned the fires.

The question on everyone’s mind is is it finally happening here? Is the acting appointment a first step towards a Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) and Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) merger? BOPA reporter, Anastacia Sibanda looks at the issue

With public perception generally being that BNSC and BNOC are not the best of allies, the appointment, as such, came as a surprise to many, especially that BNSC chose to settle for an ‘outsider’ ahead of internal senior staff.

This makes it another interesting dynamic.

That Serufho is qualified, ready and the right man for the job at BNSC is not in dispute, at least, by accounts of some sport pundits in the country. It takes him on a 360 degree journey back to where he started his sport administration career.

The BNSC will not be a completely new environment for him, in fact, Serufho will be rejoining quite a few of his former colleagues, but this time as their leader.

While at the BNSC in the past, he was credited with being one of the instrumental people in the successful delivery of the inaugural Botswana Games in 2007.

Two years later, he led the 2^nd edition as general manager and subsequently delivered some continental championships in tennis; consolidating his expertise in the area on major sport competition organisation.

While it is not in doubt that Serufho will have his work cut out for him at the commission, one particular area that is of interest to this publication is the long mooted merging of BNSC and BNOC.

Some research on this topic suggests that it dates back to 2011 when Shaw Kgathi was Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture. Particularly interesting is that there was a task team constituted with amongst others, Falcon Sedimo (then as director of Sport and Recreation), Kitso Kemoen (then BNSC CEO) and Serufho (BNOC CEO) to investigate and advise government of how Botswana sport could be streamlined.

 One of the recommended options was a merger of BNSC and BNOC, but of course, as it would emerge, a different option was selected. The choice of the other option was notwithstanding the fact that Minister Kgathi had on numerous occasions expressed his desire to merge BNOC and BNSC.

Most recently, former Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Thapelo Olopeng was vocal about his intentions to merge BNSC and BNOC to the extent that he tasked boards of the two entities to commence discussions on the subject matter as well as carryout some benchmarking.

The current minister, Tumiso Rakgare has also not minced his words about wanting to merge the two entities.

So the big question now is whether or not Serufho’s appointment to the BNSC is a precursor to actualising the intention? If that were to be the case; then it could indeed be a masterstroke.

With his extensive knowledge of both organisations as well as the world Olympic and sport movements, Serufho would no doubt be the best man to lead such a transition.

Of course the BNSC press release only states that Serufho will be there for up to six months; a period that will expire before the time the merge could realistically be completed.

Time will tell if Serufho’s appointment has anything to do with the merger or not.

BNSC chairperson, Marumo Morule said though Serufho’s appointment was in no way specific to merging of the organisations, the merger was still a priority.

He said as the recruitment for the permanent CEO commences, if interested, Serufho, would be expected to apply, just like any other candidates.

“To be honest our priority of course is merging, but for us to merge, we have realised that there are steps that we have to deal with before we get there.

But then again if we do not merge, then the ultimate goal would be to talk about Botswana sport and forget individualism,” he said. ENDs