23 Mar 2022

The Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) Act of 2014 is under review.

The aim is to position sport as a meaningful contributor to the economy.

Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Mr Tumiso Rakgare said this when presenting the ministry’s 2022/23 financial year budget estimates in Parliament on Tuesday.

“It is being reviewed with the intention of developing a sports act that will address all critical issues in the development of sport and establishing it as a sector that contributes meaningfully to the development of the economy.

Drafting instructions have been submitted to the Attorney General and a Draft Bill is expected to be tabled before Parliament in July,” Mr Rakgare said.

He added that the review of the Incentives and Rewards Policy of 2012 was complete and the new Incentives and Rewards Package would come into effect at the beginning of next month.

He said the review was made in an effort to continue motivating national team athletes.

Mr Rakgare also informed Parliament that the Botswana Footbal Association was in talks with its Namibian counterpart to bid for co-hosting the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations football tournament.

“They have considered our proposal favourably.

Once the details have been worked out and necessary clearances made, an announcement on the outcome will be made,” he said.

The minister added that establishment of the National Arts Council was also taking shape, with the board already appointed and the organisational structure developed.

He said the CEO and other leadership positions would be filled by May, while the rest of the posts would be filled by August.

He said the youth sector, which constituted majority of the population, continued to face challenges such as unemployment, poverty, drugs and substance abuse, as well as HIV/AIDS.

Mr Rakgare said the youth unemployment rate of 32.4 per cent was a course for concern.

“A multi-pronged approach is required to create employment opportunities for youth and Batswana in general, hence the implementation of entrepreneurship programmes, affirmative action initiatives and job preparedness through internship,” he said.

He said while youth economic empowerment programmes were this financial year disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry received a total of 8 383 Youth Empowerment Fund (YDF) applications, with 831 approved at a value of P81.8 million.

“The priority sectors for funding are manufacturing, technology and innovation, tourism and agriculture value chains,” he said, adding that the ministry also received over P4.6 million.

YDF loan repayments from youth funded businesses, against an annual target of P4 million.

He said a total of 1 133 funded projects were visited for monitoring across the country and the number of successful projects was encouraging.

Meanwhile, Minster Rakgare requested Parliament to approve a budget proposal comprising P964 964 060 in recurrent expenditure and P47 570 225 in development expenditure for the ministry’s 2022/23 financial year.

Mr Rakgare said P692 915 950 from the recurrent expenditure would be allocated to the ministry headquarters from which the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) and Botswana National Olympics Committee (BNOC) would be allocated P116 198 370 to cover both their operations, facilities maintenance as well as  forthcoming international sport competitions.

He added that P104 million would be allocated to the YDF while P27 150 000 would fund the School Sport Programme.

He added that P20 936 000 would be allocated to Constituency Sport Tournaments while the Constituency Arts Competitions and the President’s Day Competitions would be respectively allocated P18 025 500, and P17 999 000. ENDS