BNSC denies owing players stipends
Volleyball national team players have recently come out to accuse the Botswana National Sports Commission ( BNSC) of owing them some back pays after their stipends were abruptly stopped back in 2019 before they got their due payments.
BNSC has since moved to rubbish the claims of any allowances being owed to players as back pays. “When we stopped the stipend there were no arrears that I am aware of. Remember that we could not pay a team which did not exist. Our Botswana system mostly does not allow having standing national teams. Teams are assembled as and when they are needed and have an international engagement,” said BNSC Director of Sports Development, Bobby Gaseitsiwe. According to the players who spoke on condition of anonymity, there were no payments for the months of August to December in the year 2017 and for the whole of 2018, making the claim to 15 months owed and a rough calculation of P22000 per individual. “We have never received the P1500 every month but we were used to getting paid the money in bulk every December. But when we were expecting payments, there came information that the allowance has been cancelled and thought, at least they could have paid us the arrears. We were however told there was no written agreement between us players and BNSC, therefore we can’t argue the issue in a court of law,” said one player. Another player said they were not informed when the stipend was cut but heard it from the media outlets. “We were never informed formally about the stoppage of the allowance, if they could pay us the arrears it would be better. As much as there is an argument that we didn’t have any written agreement with BNSC, a verbal agreement is still a contract. So it will be unfair if we forfeit our allowances just like that,” he said.
For his part Botswana Volleyball Federation ( BVF) vice president- Administration, Ndibo Lebala confirms the matter. “We are aware of the issue, unfortunately when the program was stopped we did not receive the communication and consultation. Following reports from the media, we then inquired about it with BNSC. Proof of previous applications which were not paid for were presented. Further follow- ups were made even to the level of meeting the minister and promises were made but not honored up to now,” he said.