These are the most recent public spates within sports bodies, which should leave the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) as the guardian of sport, worried. There are several others fighting behind the scenes as most escape public scrutiny. It is worrying times for sport and the BNSC should dig deep to fight the root of the problem. Not that the BNSC can, to overnight stop the fights, but it could be pointing to a bigger problem in the manner in which it could also bring into question the calibre of people pursing public office.
Most go into office promising changes and within months, affiliates are disgruntled. It leads to coups as the continuous removal of leaders is becoming the bane eating into local sport. Writing on his Facebook page recently, former sports minister, Thapelo Olopeng said football wars are nothing surprising as they also persisted during his time. It is now a bad culture developing across codes and being taken to be normal. Maladministration is probably the most cited excuse for the coup de tats that are scattered all over sports. When the football fights broke out, the Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, Tumiso Rakgare, was quick to issue a statement condemning the situation. If all animals in the BNSC stable were equal, then the minister was expected to make a swift intervention with other codes as well. But football is the more appealing and has more gravitas compared to the rest. Therefore most will prefer to be seen to be doing something at a code that has mass appeal, leaving the so-called minority disciplines to pummel each other undetected in the background.
