In fact, sport played the role of bridesmaid to arts as the sector was only mentioned as a 'meanwhile.' Gaolathe's speech contained hardly 100 words about sport. Should the sector be worried or it was just an oversight from the minister? The way in which Gaolathe harped about how the creatives will drive the economy, in particular, employment creation, should have left sport green with envy. The two are viewed as birds of the same feather sectors as they mostly fall under the entertainment industry. Sport and arts are key to youth employment and it was expected that they occupied a considerable chunk of Gaolathe's budget.
However, it was the arts that got a whole two paragraphs, while sport was relegated to a half-hearted sentence or so. The expectation was that there would be significant mention of sport particularly in the light of the 2024 achievements and how the new government would spur the sector into further growth. It was in 2024 that Botswana won Africa's first gold medal in the 200m, through Letsile Tebogo, who then led the 4x400m relay to a silver medal in what turned out to be the country's most successful Olympic Games since 1980. But still, sport did not feature prominently in the budget.As previously stated, maybe there is no reason for the sport authorities to press the panic buttons. However, early signs, although not ominous, are worrying. The Ministry of Sport and Arts is one of several that will share P7 billion after priority ministries were mentioned in the budget. That too, should be concerning. Sport bodies are yearning for an increase in budget with athletics leading the charge in shaping new positive narratives around a sector that enjoys mass appeal. The Mares and the Zebras will participate at the Africa Cup of Nations finals, while the World Athletics Championships take place in Tokyo later this year. These are some of the prominent international sport assignments, which all require massive budgets. With the sport ministry bungled with a group of other ministries that will scramble for P7 billion, it looks like it will be business as usual. In fact, there is real danger that there could be a budget reduction given the circumstances. Of course sport should not be over reliant on government for funding but over the years, there has been little coming from other streams.
This has left the government as the chief financier of sport, which inevitably leaves all eyes on the Botswana National Sport Commission grant. It is unclear what the sport priorities are for the new government; whether its talent development, infrastructure upgrades or having targeted funding. Sport recently held a Pitso but most of the discussions centred around common issues, which are already in the public domain with no new programmes announced. For now, sport can only hope for a rare 'Kentucky meat shower' moment.
