The Botswana Football Association (BFA) president Phillip Makgalemele set the ball rolling when he revealed how the feud between the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) and the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) had affected national team preparations for the Olympic qualifiers. Though BNSC officials have continuously denied the existence of a power struggle, the BFA boss said the two bodies are at loggerheads and need to sort out their problems. "I am not referring to allegations in the media. I am talking from experience," he said at the Annual General Meeting of the BNSC on Saturday. He revealed that the feuding between the Botswana National Sports Council and the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) has affected the BFA adversely. He said the BFA is affiliated to both organisations and sometimes, it finds itself in a quandary because of the feuding.
Speaking to Monitor Sport after the meeting, Makgalemele said that at one time, BNOC declined to finance the national football team for the Olympic qualifiers because BNSC is refusing to release funds. BNOC is funded through BNSC. However, Makgalemele said it was not clear how BNOC and BNSC should relate to each other. He said that there is a power struggle between the two bodies. He asserted that the Seepapitso Commission recommended that BNOC should be funded directly but this has never been implemented.
When responding to Makgalemele, the chairperson of BNSC Dorcas Makgato-Malesu denied that there are any differences between her organisation and BNOC though she revealed that there are attitude problems. "We only have challenges not differences," she said. Makgato-Malesu explained that some of the issues that the BNOC raise are valid but the problem is their approach. She said the BNSC wants to sit down and talk but is disappointed at BNOC's approach to issues. She slammed sports people who wash their dirty linen in public. She said some people are in the habit of running to the media whenever they have differences with BNSC. She said in Setswana culture, when people have differences, they sit down and talk. "Sometimes it is just an issue of individual egos and attitudes. If we can put those attitudes aside, you will find that there are no differences between BNSC and BNOC," she said.
