Affiliates� activities influence BNSC budget
Calistus Kolantsho | Wednesday March 9, 2016 17:22
There are questions over relatively idle affiliates receiving yearly grants despite little or no progress on the ground.
Ramokate told Mmegi Sport yesterday that his ministry allocates the funds to BNSC and it is up to the commission to decide on how they are distributed. Ramokate said funding depends on the activities of the sporting code.
Meanwhile, BNSC chief executive officer, Falcon Sedimo said national sport associations are funded, among other things, looking at the national coverage of the sport. He said they consider how the sport is spread throughout the country.
“Grassroots development is a necessary component that is considered and international performance. We also consider the performance of the code and national appeal, taking into account the popularity of the code,” explained Sedimo.
He said BNSC has structures in place that interrogate the affiliates’ budgets before they are approved.
Sedimo said they monitor activities of the affiliates and associations are requested to submit quarterly reports. He said sport development officers based at sport codes submit monthly reports as part of monitoring.
Sedimo also said he was not able to provide information as to how much BNSC would be allocated. He said the MYSC is yet to make a presentation to the national assembly committee of supply and that is when they would be informed of how much BNSC would get.
Regarding targeted funding, Sedimo said BNSC has considered targeted funding. He said budgetary constraints make it difficult to fund as per requests from national sport associations.
The Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) president, David Mathe said the funds they get from BNSC are not enough, but they do not have a choice. He said they submit budget estimates each year and they do not get the amount they asked for. He said they are expected to prioritise their activities.
“Despite that, BNSC gives us additional funds if we have a pressing activity and they do not have funds. Last year we had requested for P2.5 million because we were preparing for All Africa games, but we received P1.2 million,” he said.
Mathe said their wish is to get P1.8 million this financial year. He said they want to focus on improving the state of the BOKA hall.
The Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) president, Moses Bantsi said the grant they get from BNSC is never enough.
He said BAA received P1.3 million in the last financial year and wants an increase. Bantsi said the BAA has many local and international activities.
“We have a team that should travel to the Africa cross country championships in Cameroon this weekend. We should send teams to Africa championships and World Junior championships. All these trips are funded by BAA,” said Bantsi.