04 Jul 2023

Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) and Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to engage in robust public education on corruption prevention to clean the sporting fraternity.

Speaking at the signing of the MoU on Thursday, DCEC acting director general, Tshepo Pilane said corruption by its nature did not only threaten development and stability of a country but it also posed a serious threat to the integrity and credibility of sporting activities in general.

He said the DCEC wished to become a meaningful partner to BNSC by leading, developing and implementing an innovative sport delivery system.

“That also extends to the BNSC’s management of complex sport and stadium facilities, coordinating national sports association as well as hosting mega national and international events ranging from athletes, motorsports to football tournaments,” he said.

“All these activities may make overall BNSC mandate susceptible to corruption and other unethical matters, therefore the partnership of this nature is a welcome development, even to us as an organisation, as every collaboration is a learning opportunity and results in dividends to the organisation,” he said.

Pilane said the MoU was an indication that both parties were concerned about the seriousness of threats posed by corruption to the stability of Botswana and the credibility, fairness and cleanliness of its sporting activities.

He said both organisations were determined to implement new approaches and strategies in the fight against corruption and other related economic crimes with specific focus on making corruption a high risk enterprise.

Furthermore, Pilane said it showed that they were both recognising that promotion of safe sports, corruption prevention and the combating of corruption could substantially be enhanced by inter- organisational cooperation through sharing knowledge and expertise.

He however highlighted that DCEC had of recent noticed news reports of corrupt practices and declining integrity in sport both globally and nationally.

Pilane noted that it was therefore imperative to bring together their efforts to mainstream corruption prevention into day-to-day operations of BNSC, its affiliates and stakeholders to make the sport industry in Botswana corruption free.

A Joint Technical Committee, he said, had already been established for the purpose of implementing the MoU and a comprehensive work plan was being developed by both participants.

Pilane further said the MoU came at an opportune time when Botswana was bidding for Africa Cup of Nations 2027 hosting rights.

BNSC chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufo said the MoU was a commitment to tackle corruption in sport through public education, mainstreaming of clean and safe sport promotion initiatives and the development and implementation of anti-corruption frameworks.

He said the intention was to promote credible, fair and clean sport practices to ensure sport integrity, adding that sport represent something more significant than just a game.

“Sport brings people together, creates opportunities for athletes to showcase their talents, inspire hope and positivity in fans worldwide and most significantly, is a big industry and economic players have multitudes employed in it,” he said.Serufho said sport had also individual transactions in billions of dollars for just one event and attracted a lot of bookmakers.

The power of sport, he said had the ability to unite people from all walks of life, create a sense of community and belonging that transcended boundaries of culture, language and geography.

On other issue, he said the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2021 produced a 300 paged document entitled Global report on corruption in sport, that stipulated that the involvement of organised crime in sport was widespread and took place on global scale.

He said the report had detailed recommendations, amongst them collaboration, hence BNSC was partnering with DCEC.

Botswana National Olympic Committee acting chief executive officer, Wedu Motswetla said the sport industry was not all about record breaking, sport performances and winning of medals in competitions only.

Motswetla said sport had now become one of the main economic drivers in countries like United Kingdom, USA, Jamaica, South Africa and Egypt where a large chunk of the fiscal pie was driven by sport and sport tourism. Ends