'Ministerial appointment best day of my life'
Calistus Kolantsho | Saturday March 30, 2024 06:00
As Rakgare's first term in office nears its end with the general elections around the corner, the minister reflects on an often difficult journey. Rakgare was appointed minister on November 6, 2019, and he describes it as the best day of his life as he knew it was an opportunity for him to change the landscape and influence decisions affecting the youth, sport, and culture. “Remember by then that gender was not part of our ministry. It only came in after the rationalisation of government departments. I was still a young person when I was appointed. I had just turned 36-years-old. Having worked on radio, I have interacted with the creative sector but with sport, it is my way of life. The privilege I have had, as a Business Administration graduate, I was majoring in General Management. I did a lot of governance courses where I understood integrities around corporate governance,” he said.
Rakgare said upon arrival at the ministry, he took time to have a better understanding of the people he was to work with. He said there were issues he could not condone such as corruption, dishonesty and demanded professionalism. Unfortunately for him, when he was about to find his footing, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. “During the outbreak, we were one of the few ministries that decided to assist our constituents. There was financial assistance to professional athletes, Premier League players, and First Division players amongst others. The biggest issue in this ministry is youth unemployment; people expect us to create employment, and people expect me to criticise government in Parliament. I cannot do that. What I do is to advise government on matters affecting young people and that is not done on the floor of Parliament. There are different platforms including Cabinet where decisions are taken,” he said. Rakgare said he is happy about his achievements but it is a work in progress and there is a lot to be done. He said his dream is to see athletes becoming professionals, making money, and supporting their families. “When I arrived in this ministry I took a decision that sport should be administered by sportspeople. We have sportspeople in the ministry but the right people to administer and implement sports programmes are the people who work in sports daily. I think I made the right decision when I appointed Marumo Morule as chairperson and Tebogo Lebotse-Sebego as the sport expert,” Rakgare said. He said those were the right appointments and he would like to have them on the board any day because they provided leadership.
He said athletes deserve to be rewarded handsomely, which is why they looked into the incentives for national team athletes that did not cater for the Under-23 athletes, which was introduced. “Nijel Amos did not benefit because he was 18 years old when he won an Olympic medal. I said the Olympics is a prestigious competition; we need to demonstrate that our Olympians are a rare breed, so each athlete received P25, 000 when they left for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The moment an athlete qualifies for Paris 2024, they are entitled to a P8,300 allowance until the Olympics. I also said we should look into the package and scrap off the amounts that were meant for winning and introduced houses instead of cash,” he said. Rakgare said athletes were paid $30 (approximately P400) per day while at international competitions but now they are paid $60 (approximately P800). He said when athletes prepare for competitions such as the Olympics, they should be in camp for a long time to avoid fitness concerns. He said what is now left is for the Botswana National Sport Commission BNSC to increase local camp daily allowances for athletes from P50 to P100.
The minister said the recent increase in the sports budget by 317% to P200 million is an indication of the confidence the government has in sport. Rakgare said the government has done its best and there is a need for the private sector to come in. However, he said the private sector can only support if there is discipline in the sport fraternity. “We just had First National Bank of Botswana (FNBB) coming in to support the (football) league and The Mares. Look at what is happening in football today. Do you think this sits well with FNBB? No, it does not; we need to be disciplined for us to attract and retain our sponsors," he said. "If we can stop fights in some of our NSAs, that is when the private sector will assist in large numbers,” Rakgare added.
Meanwhile, Rakgare said there were delays in the appointment of the BNSC board, as other ministries took longer to submit names and he only received names of National Sport Associations (NSA) representatives in February. “The appointment of the BNSC board is very key. We are still on course with merging the BNSC and the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC). The Bill is set to be discussed in the July sitting. The idea behind this is to save money for sport, as there is double dipping (currently). We need to stop that; we are a small country. We need all our skills at the same organisation serving sport. Right now the BNSC was in charge of preparations for the African Games while the BNOC is preparing for the Olympics,” he said. Rakgare said he understands that the BNOC needs to be independent and it will remain independent, but the mandate of the BNSC will change. He said under the new arrangement, the BNOC will have a lot more to do, including athletes’ development that was being done by BNSC. He said the BNSC would be there as the regulator.