High costs force BNSC to 'dump' stadiums

Calistus Kolantsho | Wednesday November 21, 2018 15:42

 

National Sport Associations representative in the board, Gift Nkwe told delegates during BNSC Annual General Meeting yesterday that when government gave the mandate to manage stadiums, they were not made aware of the maintenance costs. The stadiums’ cost for 2017 was P7.8 million and this year it was P7.4 million, he said.

“We get a grant of P4 million for maintenance which is not enough to meet the costs. We spent a lot of money maintaining the National Stadium for the BOT50 celebrations. It is a deficit that we have not covered,” Nkwe said.

BNSC chairperson, Solly Reikeletseng said the maintenance of stadiums had depleted the Commission’s resources over the years.

“The expenditure for stadia management, on an annual basis, has gone up to about P8 million. However, we have only been granted half the amount to do the job.

“We therefore, believe that time has come to consider returning management of these facilities to government,” he said.

Botswana Tennis Association president, Dr Khaulani Fichani said there should be something that could be done rather than giving the stadiums back to the government.

“Unless the board believes that the government can do a better job,” he said.

The affected facilities are the Francistown Sports Complex, Lobatse Sports Complex, Masunga Sports Complex, Maun Sports Complex, Molepolole Sports Complex and Serowe Sports Complex.