National teams' monthly allowances cut off
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday January 18, 2019 11:35
A policy specialist at the Department of Sport and Recreation, Moreetsi Bogosi told Mmegi Sport that a decision had been taken to discontinue the stipend, but the Ministry will clear all outstanding allowances. The affected codes are volleyball and football.
Volleyball players are owed allowances since November 2017, and Bogosi said if there were arrears, these would be settled. “If there are any outstanding arrears for volleyball, Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) should process them,” he said.
However, BNSC acting chief executive officer, Bobby Gaseitsiwe said outstanding allowances would not be paid.
“When a financial year has passed, you cannot go back and open those books again. That means players who are owed would not get paid. The challenge we have with sporting codes is that they do not submit requests on time. They should have submitted them on time so that they could have been paid,” he said.
Botswana Volleyball Federation (BVF) president, Daniel Molaodi said they received a savingram this week from BNSC informing them of the cancellation of allowances.
He said they have not had the opportunity to discuss the changes. Molaodi said he was not aware if the decision only affected volleyball.
“It is not clear as to why the decision was taken and we are still to engage BNSC on the matter.
The allowances were paid directly by the government. When the system was introduced, a lot of questions were asked, but at the end of it we were asked to comply,” Molaodi said.
He said the decision to pay allowances had put them on the firing line as administrators, as there were delays when it came to payments. He said that led to players putting the blame on the administrators.
For his part, Botswana Football Association (BFA) spokesperson, Tumo Mpatane welcomed the move. He said they are now waiting to see what new arrangement would be put in place. He said the cancellation means the government has decided to refine the system which was in place.