There have been back-and-forth negotiations between unions and the government since 2019 without a notable breakthrough. An Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion at the University of Kentucky, Tshepang Tshube, who was in the country recently, said school sport should be discussed as a technical and not a political issue. “If we discuss school sport as a political issue, we are bargaining. It is a purely technical matter that says playing sport in schools is part of a child's development, we know that it is also good for education development which rests with the roles of the teachers. We can discuss how they do it but it should be between those confines. If it is discussed as a political issue, then someone has to win.School sport is not an issue in Botswana, in other countries what they do is that a teacher who is involved in school sport, their contract does not have to be the same as other teachers. You hire a teacher who also coaches, and you distribute their efforts,” Tshube said.
He said there are many ways school sport can be addressed, but it needs to be purely a technical issue as if it is politicised, people will find a way to make money. He said the past regime failed to resolve the matter because they spent a lot of time on the negotiation table. Tshube said the Minister of Sport and Arts, Jacob Kelebeng should understand that the Sport Act is a major task, but he must rise above personalities within sport and find a long-term solution for it. “It is fine for the government to give money to non-governmental organisations, and government monitors how funds are spent. The government must merge the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) and the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC), when you merge them, it means the government will continue funding sport but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Charter will take precedence over the BNSC Act. I am aware that it would mean the government will let go of the power of appointing the board,” he said.
Tshube explained that the IOC would only have a problem if the minister appointed the board after the merger. He said if the IOC Charter is followed as required, there would not be a problem. Tshube observed that since his relocation to the United States of America, he has not noticed any change in Botswana sport. “I know that there was Sport Pitso, but we are yet to find out what were the key outcomes from it. It is important that there is a clear path as to the direction sport needs to take. We need to look at how we develop talent and how we use physical activity to curb non-communicable diseases and we need to discuss how we commercialise sport so that sport is not just for recreation but has a strong business component. Those aspects have not come out clear yet,” he said. Tshube said he has not seen much of where the new government intends to take sport, but he was aware that there are some efforts to get school sport back.
He said there are major issues in sport that need to be addressed such as Sport Act, School Sport, and Talent Development which need to move simultaneously. “Having BNSC and BNOC running parallel, undermines talent development, it bleeds government, you cannot have two organisations with duplicate roles. If we still have the BNSC Act saying elite sport and BNOC saying the same, it is a duplication of roles. People always argue that BNOC does not do development but they should do development because they send athletes to the Youth Olympic Games,” he said. Meanwhile, Tshube added, as the season starts, athletes should stay away from supplements because they put athletes at risk of using prohibited substances. He said athletes who use supplements dope knowingly or unknowingly. “Botswana right now is in the red zone, the world is watching us. We have done really well but we have cases of athletes who have tested positive twice. We have had in a short space of time, multiple athletes testing positive, which indicates that there is systematic doping, which means it is a system where the coach is involved, the manager is involved, and there is a supplier. That puts the whole country at risk. If you use prohibited substances, you are shortening your career because the testing protocols are extremely scientific and accurate,” Tshube said.
He said the system cannot be duped, adding that athletes like Lance Armstrong tried to dupe it but it was for a short amount of time.
