Amateur boxers to pay P20 Weight-In fee
Calistus Kolantsho | Tuesday August 25, 2026 09:51
The situation worsened by Botswana National Sport Commission’s (BNSC) declining annual subversion, has forced bodies like Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA) to adjust their approaches. The boxing body got the ball rolling and adopted a new financial policy which includes the introduction of P20 weight-in fee for boxers. BoBA agreed to the strategy during a Special General Meeting (SGM) that was held over the weekend. The association’s public relations officer, Kabelo Seleka, told Sport Monitor that the new requirement is part of the adopted financial policy. He explained that the policy is all about compliance and how the association is spending the grant and BNSC requires that there be a policy in place. Seleka stated that it indicates how much referees and judges are paid during tournaments.
It also looks at how much members of the executive committee are paid when they officiate or when they go for trips, including accommodations costs. Seleka said from now on, boxers will pay weight-in fee of P20 per tournament and the funds will be used to pay prize money for individual awards such as best bout or best upcoming boxer categories. He noted that on average they will have around 60 or 80 boxers, which would mean P1,800 from weight-in and the funds will benefit the boxers. “We have also introduced P50 late registration fee which is meant to encourage clubs to be professional and register on time. We also touched on another issue that we now have new membership class in which we will be accepting public and private schools as BoBA affiliates including gym rooms.
“We no longer want to depend on societies only to affiliate to BoBA. Referees and judges will also be paying annual registration fee,” he added. On other matters, Seleka said the boxing body’s commercial wing will assist in building long term partnership with companies, as a way of fund raising instead of depending on the government. BoBA is in tier two under the BNSC funding model that allocates financial resources to NSAs based on their performance, impact and alignment with national strategic goals. In 2023, BNSC took a decision to slash funding which saw boxing being demoted to tier two, moving from tier one. Boxing has always been one of the NSAs that received more funding and positioned in tier one alongside athletics, football amongst others.
Seleka revealed that under the current financial year, they received a grant of P500, 000 from BNSC. He noted that the goal is to move back to tier one hence emphasis on compliance issues. “Tier one grant is P1 million and that can go a long way in assisting us to push our mandate,” Seleka said. “We had a productive meeting, motions like constitution review request, commercial wing, financial policy, internal dispute policy and we also launched BoBA 2025-2028 strategy.” “Regarding the constitution review, the executive committee led by president Dirang Thipe is seeking permission for legal counsel on the matter and set up a committee to review and amend it and bring it back to the assembly.”