Some of the key focus areas that need the minister’s immediate attention include school sport and the pending Sport Act. Senior manager at the Association for International Sport for All (TAFISA), Game Mothibi, believes it is easy to turn the situation around if there are the right personnel in positions. “I am not worried about the minister but people under him and at the BNSC and the BNOC. I am also worried about how sport in my country is using outdated ideologies and do not align to the global sport movement and yet we have people travelling every time for conferences, networking, and courses,” the Germany-based Mothibi said. Some of the responsibilities of the newly created ministry include policy development, implementation and monitoring.
The ministry is also responsible for development programmes, governance, coordination, sport and recreation. The ministry supervises the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) and the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) amongst others. The Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) president, Oaitse Thipe, said it is a brilliant move by the government to create a new ministry. “The government sees that sport and arts have the potential to generate income for the country, create employment opportunities and help diversify the economy. That is why it was important to unbundle sports and arts from the Ministry of Youth and Gender,” Thipe said.
