31 Jan 2021

Government has temporarily stopped contact sports activities in the country, Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Tumiso Rakgare has said.

Rakgare was speaking at the funeral service for former national football coach Major David Bright, last Friday.

He explained that the decision to halt active participation in contact sport was a result of the continuing rise in numbers of coronavirus infections in the country as well as to protect sportspersons.

However, he said government would continuously assess the situation.

The minister further encouraged sport administrators to believe in Batswana coaches because the country had produced highly qualified coaches that had not always been given the opportunity to train top clubs and national squads.

Rakgare said although Bright and other local coaches had contributed much to the game, the football fraternity tended to overlook locals in favour of foreign coaches.

During the funeral service, a two-hour homily session held at his Block 6, Gaborone residence, Bright’s virtues were extolled for a final time.

In a message read to mourners, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi praised Major Bright’s contribution to the country, both as a decorated football coach and as a former army officer.  

The President said Bright had committed to serving the country and thus thanked the family for allowing him to do such.

Daughters of the deceased, Theo Lesole and Tshegofatso said their father was a strict, security-conscious mentor who instilled discipline and worked hard for his family.

Botswana Football Association second vice president, Masego Ntshingane, on behalf of the national federation, thanked Bright for his indelible contribution to the development and growth of local football.

At a personal level, Ntshingane further expressed gratitude for Bright’s fatherly figure he had been to him, who mentored a young Ntshingane as a footballer at Mogoditshane Fighters and as an army officer at the Botswana Defence Force.

Together with former Fighters and Zebras teammate, Barney Marman, Ntshingane said Bright cared about the plight of his players and frequently checked on them to gauge their living conditions outside the playing and training field.

Due to COVID-19 protocols, it was only after the homily session that the family was able to collect Bright’s body from Sir Ketumile Masire Teaching Hospital before heading straight to the Phomolong Memorial Park cemetery for burial. ENDS