Tshenyego is keeping his cards close to his chest when asked about his intentions. He did not confirm if he would step down or seek re-election. He said he would not engage regarding elections until the opening of the nomination period. “You already know this and it has been the tradition of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) that we do not open election season so early before elections. Otherwise, you are only serving three-quarters of the term and investing in politics, which is what I am avoiding. As a volunteer, you are already time-poor,” he said.
Tshenyego said the announcement of the election date would be made next month as part of the calendar or in May during the Annual General Meeting (AGM). “But serving my second term I am proud to have served my country in this position and be part of the evolution of sport. Yes, every time and space has its unique challenges and I can say as the NOC under my stewardship we have plenty to celebrate and we could do better,” he said. Tshenyego added the number of programmes the NOC is running is much more than in previous quadrennials and that puts a lot of pressure on the small secretariat and consequently, the board. “Our second Olympic medal during the COVID-19 pandemic and qualifying our biggest number of athletes for Tokyo 2020 was a major feat. In the same period, we were the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa's (ANOCA) top beneficiary of the Olympic Solidarity programme and that meant generating compelling proposals and implementation, very stringent International Olympic Committee (IOC) reporting requirements,” he said.
