Many rivers to cross for Mokgwathi
Calistus Kolantsho | Thursday April 18, 2019 12:28
Professor Mokgwathi’s name has constantly been mentioned since Solly Reikeletseng’s shock resignation last February.Last week, he was named as acting BNSC chairperson, and he brings along a lot of experience, having served in the board.
He has first hand information of the going ons at the Commission, and is expected to hit the ground running.
Mokgwathi comes in at a time when the BNSC is in the middle of a critical restructuring exercise, which is certain to result in job losses. Two directors have already left, as uncertainties grow around the restructuring.
The other challenge is funding for National Sport Federations (NSFs), which has not significantly improved in a long time. Just last week, the athletics team failed to travel to the CAA Junior Championships in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Some of the sponsors, like Mascom in volleyball, have pulled out, leaving sport in dire straits.
Affiliates hope Mokgwathi has the magic wand to drive sport in a new direction. Botswana Tertiary Student Sports Association (BOTESSA) president, Keorapetse Setlhare said they are excited about Mokgwathi’s appointment. He said Mokgwathi is an all rounder who would take BNSC to greater lengths.
“In any organisation, it is important to tackle issues of transparency and accountability for our sports organisations to attract sponsorship. We need qualified leaders in all structures not only just treasurers. We need more funding for codes that are excelling such as athletics and karate,” he said.
Setlhare said Mokgwathi should look into encouraging his board to have a policy on hosting major events for its affiliates, to ensure they were not in debt post the hosting.
He said the country has hosted many events in the past five years, but the benefits were not tangible.
“BNSC must have an ethics committee to screen people who want to contest for positions. Some people have not done handover or accounted, some were treasurers but left without accounting,” Setlhare said.
“The same people can contest in other affiliates despite financial misuse. Some sport leaders are not literate, with an ethics committee in place we can avoid such issues.”
Botswana Netball Association president, Malebo Raditladi said Mokgwathi stands a good chance of doing well.
“He has been with us for sometime and understands our issues. He has seen it all under different leadership he served with. NSFs are there to assist him to steer the ship in the right direction,” she said.
Raditladi added that it was worrying to lose knowledgeable sport administrators and he should focus on that.Botswana Basketball Association president, Boineelo Hardy said Mokgwathi has been in the board for some time and a vice chairperson at some point.
She argued that it makes sense for the sake of continuity to have him bridge the Commission over to the new board chairperson appointment.
“We were informed about BNSC undergoing restructuring, perhaps that is on his desk now. For us we are hopeful that our issue of lack of playing facilities maybe addressed. We believe that with the BNSC we would find a sustainable solution,” Hardy said.
For his part, Botswana Fencing Association spokesperson, Ewetse Khama said they appreciate the appointment as a good indication of the trust, which the sport leadership has placed in Mokgwathi’s hands.
“We, of course, hope there would be more attention placed on the basics such as increasing the annual stipends afforded to sporting codes. Costs have risen but the support has not kept up,” Khama said.
He added that they are hopeful that the vision, which they expect Mokgwathi would share in due course, would be encouraging for sport in general, and for fencing in particular.