Sports Act review shrouded in controversy
Calistus Kolantsho | Monday June 16, 2025 10:49
The Minister of Sport and Arts Jacob Kelebeng will table the Sport Act during the July Parliament session. According to information reaching MmegiSport, Kelebeng will present a document that has not been seen by the sport associations. There are chances that the NSAs could offer differing views on the document. Some of the items expected to come out of the review include changing the name of the Act to Botswana Sport Act. The Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) acting chief executive officer (CEO), Steven Makuke said the review will take place and there will be a separate session for the media. Meanwhile, the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) is yet to advertise the position of CEO left vacant after the departure of Tuelo Serufho on May 31. Serufho was appointed to lead the sports mother body in June 2021 on a four-year contract, which was not renewed. The BNSC board chairperson, Marumo Morule told MmegiSport that the commission will this week start the process of recruitment with an advertisement for the CEO position. “We will be relying on the human resource professionals to guide the process, but surely a speedy process is desirable,” Morule said. After interviews have been concluded, a report will be submitted to the Minister of Sports and Arts and it is his prerogative to choose a candidate that he deems fit to lead the organisation.
Serufho took over the reins at BNSC after making a switch from the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) where he was the founding CEO. The new CEO comes into a Commission faced with lots of challenges such as declining funding from the government, National Sport Associations (NSA) squabbles, dilapidated infrastructure amongst others. In recent times, some federations have accused BNSC of sabotage, especially when it comes to the release of funding. “National teams always prepare for games but when it is time for them to travel, they are told to reduce the number of athletes because there is no money. That thing on its own was demoralising. An example being the karate team that recently competed in Durban, (South Africa). They were instructed to reduce the number of the travelling athletes. The initial budget for the team was P250, 000 but BNSC later changed it to P75, 000. We cannot expect national teams to do well under such circumstances. Probably, it is time for the BNSC to take over national teams,” a source said. Some federations have complained that they cannot host tournaments without BNSC assistance and the only thing the Commission does is to ask how much will they cut from their budget. “We wonder what the role of BNSC is. NSAs only get a small amount from the entire funds that the BNSC receives from the government subversion. You start wondering where the rest of the funding goes. If we say things are tough, NSAs in tier one should be getting P3 million and tear two should be getting P1 million but you find that funding that goes to NSAs is not close to P10 million. Where does the rest of the money go?” the source queried. Further, there are complaints that sport codes are expected to fund all their activities from the grant, which include competitions, development, coaching clinics, and courses.
The incoming CEO will be expected to focus on local sports development, facilities refurbishment, development of sports policies and understand the landscape of local sports. The Commission needs a CEO that can help NSAs drive commercialisation of sports through development of facilities.