Letsholo calls for return of sport
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday March 26, 2021 11:44
Sport activities were suspended last year March and most codes have remained on the sidelines. New movement restrictions, announced by President Mokgweetsi Masisi on Tuesday, meant sport and recreational activities remain suspended. Only the national teams activities may be held but without spectators. Letsholo said he hopes appropriate action would be implemented as a matter of urgency to enable the sport to resume safely.
“What has delayed the implementation of the necessary and relevant COVID-19 protocols for sport in Botswana? Other countries have leagues going on while our athletes are idle at home. Is it a matter of costs for the affiliates? If so, what is the ministry doing about it? I urge the ministry to make provision for this so that our athletes could get back to earning a living and making our nation proud,” he said.
Letsholo said while the review of the Botswana National Sport Commission Act was necessary, the more urgent matter is that of what needs to be done to promote sport into a revenue making venture with the participation of private entities. “Some change in delivery is required to maintain levels of interest in the sport amongst the new generation. Youth of today are not engaged in sport to be village heroes, they need and want to earn a living out of it.
The budget philosophy needs to reflect this reality,” Letsholo said. Letsholo was responding to a question on the issue of targeted funding after he raised the matter in Parliament this week.
After the Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Tumiso Rakgare’s address to the Parliamentary Committee of supply, Letsholo said Botswana needs to identify what sport it is good at and focus on that as a matter of urgency.
He, however, said other codes will not be ignored.
Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) president, Botsang Tshenyego said all sport codes deserve to be given equal opportunities.
He said there should be criteria for consideration into the next tier attached to further investment. Tshenyego said some of the sporting codes already have the support of Olympic Solidarity and international federations.
“At the moment, the biggest risk to sustaining our current performance is the school sport crisis. We depend on the school system for talent. We have invested in the school system.
There are no youth sport structures in communities,” he said.
Tshenyego said Olympic Games or World Championships are right at the end of the value chain. He said funding is required to drive the vision and strategy.
“Sport needs both investment and reforms. We need to invest in establishing academies and centres of excellence for sporting codes that have potential.
Only then could we expect demand for sport products by the private sector,” he said.