Battle hardened Reikeletseng has no regrets
Mqondisi Dube | Friday July 25, 2014 16:18
Mmegi Sport: Please sum up your three-year tenure?
Reikeletseng: As I come to the end of my tenure, I have no regrets whatsoever. In fact I leave the place smiling. When I came in, small talk, bickering and back-biting affected me a lot until I learnt to focus on the ball and deliver on the mandate that I was given. What gave me motivation is that I was not given a chance, people thought I will fail but I remained focused. With the team I assembled, we managed to prove people wrong. There are so many policies I implemented that benefit all the players in sport. The incentive package benefits athletes. We have policies that benefit administrators. One setback was failure to find a solution to problem of teachers’ participation in sports activities. I don’t think we have found a common ground for teachers who are key players. The problem is that it became a political issue. As a former teacher myself, I feel I failed my colleagues.
The other failure is that although we have seen a stampede in sponsorship, we failed to liberalise tax laws. The tax incentives have nothing for the sponsor. We could have done better. It is not only about brand position, but what you get out of sponsoring.
Also, I am concerned that at times, we portray each other negatively as leaders, which is bad for sports. We need to unite and help each other. We have seen what we can achieve with the Youth Games.
Mmegi Sport: What do you see as immediate concerns?
Reikeletseng: Government’s buzz word which is rationalising or cost-cutting. It is a threat to sports success. When you are developing, you need a lot of resources. We have athletes who are good and are at the top. We need more resources than before but we don’t see the sports budget increasing. Rather, it is decreasing and in the next four years, we might not have the success we are having now. We are benefitting from investments from the past. As sports people, we have a right to be arrogant and call for more resources in sports. We have demonstrated we can contribute to the GDP and tourism. We have made this country to be profiled all over the world. It is unfortunate if we do not know the amount of resources required at this stage. We should be talking about a double budget instead of the normal budget we have been receiving.
Mmegi Sport: What are your views on the Sports Bill?
Reikeletseng: I am happy that we now have this Bill, which needs to be implemented right away. The current Act is not in sync with today’s time. We have developed and we are now among the top countries in athletics. It was important that this piece of paper is implemented. I know there was a lot of lobbying against this Bill and I don’t think that was proper. This is a document that we have always wanted as sports people. This Bill is one of the highlights of my term in office. We have seen the growth of minority codes and the entrance of new disciplines. People have diverse interests and this must be reflected in the different codes. Not everybody can play football.
Mmegi Sport: If you are to re-live the three years that you led BNSC, what will you do differently?
Reikeletseng: I wasted a lot of time getting worried about small talk and fights. I could have gone in a delivered immediately and probably we could be far ahead but otherwise, I don’t regret anything. If anyone felt hard done during the process, it was never personal. I was simple delivering on a job. Botswana has amazing administrators. Yes there are bad apples, but overall, the talent is amazing. I have been extremely lucky to serve at the helm of BNSC when Ian Khama is a big supporter of sport is the President. Then Vice President, Mompati Merafhe was a former chairperson of the BNSC and supporter of sport while Shaw Kgathi is a former soft-baller and director of sport. I also got an international CEO, Percy Raditladi, an academic like Professor Mokgwathi and Director of Sports, Falcon Sedimo provided guidance and I learnt so much. No two people are the same, but having spent time with the new acting minister, Vincent Seretse, I think they made the right choice. I have confidence that if the sporting fraternity provides support, we will go places.
Mmegi Sport: What do you make of the BNSC chairperson being a political appointee?
Reikeletseng: It is two ways. It can be limiting especially if you have a leadership that is not open to a different view. On the other hand, it is a big opportunity as the government has the trust to provide financial support if there is an individual they have done due diligence on. But there are things, which I feel I can say or do differently, but I cannot openly talk about them. I have been lucky to have a leadership that listens to my different views. I have no fear in saying what I think.
Mmegi Sport: Do you think the status quo should remain?
Reikeletseng: I think our environment will not allow for a BNSC leader who is elected. The majority of funding and resources come from the government and you want to have a stake in the decision-making. It is a control measure. My experience is that appointing ministers do not micromanage. The risk is when you have a leadership that micromanages. Kgathi and Vincent Seretse do not believe in micromanaging. But we have some officials in government who believe that because they are funding sport, they need to control sports people. It is a problem. It is a Catch 22, but again it is not a salaried position, so I will expect my views to be listened to since I am using my time. But the status quo should persist.
Mmegi Sport: What did you do during the three years to lessen financial dependency on the government?
Reikeletseng: We have tried to get funding from elsewhere to sponsor our activities, but we are not a First World country. We are 100% reliant on government. Except in South Africa, other sports bodies in region also depend on the government.
Mmegi Sport: Why do you think it is difficult to convince government to increase funding particularly looking at recent success stories?
Reikeletseng: I don’t think the government is refusing to be convinced. I think it is people within the ministry who are not convincing government for an increase in funding. The good will is there but the challenge is the people who are supposed to be arguing on our behalf and they are not doing that. We need to stop the power struggle and understand that the role of civil servants is to facilitate and that of Sports Council is to implement. More often than not, we are running after a perception that sports people are fraudulent. But some of these people are professionals where they work and have their credibility to protect. This perception will limit us from delivering in sport. I think the President has appointed the best ministers for us but until we provide them with ammunition to speak for us, all the effort will go to waste. We used to get P70 million, but its now at P50 million per year.
Mmegi Sport: And how do you feel about this reduction?
Reikeletseng: It is unfortunate and I feel I let the affiliates down. We are now dysfunctional. We cannot sustain performance with this budget. These (affiliates) are volunteers and if they feel they are not appreciated, they lose interest. We should not be at a point where we have to justify ourselves. We deserve more funding, but I have faith that we will reach a compromise and be able to get more funding.
Mmegi Sport: Regarding the constituency tournaments, do you think the matter was handled properly?
Reikeletseng: I think the matter was handled wrongly. It should have been handled better. As sports people, we should have engaged government and come up with a position. We should have had a position when FIFA came here. We are the eyes and ears of FIFA, not government. We should have assured them that issues were being debated or are at the negotiating stage. We finally did and I should give credit to the BFA president (Tebogo Sebogo) that is why we have been given up to September (to sort the matter). The public hype was unnecessary that is why we are now attacking each other instead of coming together. You can see that I am now the dart board, but I do not regret what I said. But I am confident the matter will be handled better and will be concluded. There are no points to score here.
Mmegi Sport: What is your future, have you discussed it with the minister?
Reikeletseng: Our term is coming to an end on Saturday (tomorrow). Most of the chairpersons have served three years and they move on. It is the prerogative of the minister who he will appoint...
Mmegi Sport: Are you prepared to continue if the minister re-appoints you?
Reikeletseng: We will obviously have an engagement if he asks me to. But it is really his prerogative...
Mmegi Sport: If he doesn’t appoint you, do you feel there is unfinished business?
Reikeletseng: I have done my job. I leave with no regrets. There is no unfinished business for me. What I failed to do, I failed to do. If I do a project, I don’t want to move forward and correct my wrongs. I am extremely happy with the achievements as sports people in the country.