New umbrella sport body on the cards
The Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development (MYSC) is in the process of introducing an all-encompassing sports body, meant to improve efficiencies and avoid duplication of roles.
Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) invited National Sport Associations (NSA) for a meeting yesterday where the new model was introduced.
BNSC chief executive officer (CEO), Tuelo Serufho said discussions have been ongoing between MYSC, BNSC and Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) boards to agree on a national structure that would give rise to better efficiencies and effectiveness in the sport delivery for Botswana.
“We are happy to announce that quite some headway has been made with respect thereto,” he said.
According to a document that was compiled by the director of sport, Moreetsi Bogosi the proposed structure would have both BNSC and BNOC in existence, albeit with significantly revised roles, with BNSC being the Apex Sport body for Botswana.
“BNSC is to focus on providing strategic direction and regulation of sport as opposed to implementation. The current BNOC will transform to Botswana National Olympic and Paralympic Committee (BNOPC) and all NSAs will affiliate to it,” Bogosi said in the document.
He said the BNSC would be responsible for National Sport and Recreation Policy implementation, implementation of National Sport and Recreation Strategy, registration of NSAs, regulation of sport and recreation, facility development and management amongst others.
He said BNOPC would be responsible for
affiliating and keeping a register of all affiliated bodies, coordinating sport and recreation programmes, affiliating to international multi-sport bodies and facilitate Botswana’s competition at events under their auspices.
“The BNSC Act will have to be reviewed to become the Botswana Sport Act and not only for the revision of the current BNSC mandate but to clearly outline the roles, responsibilities and powers of all the structures. The BNOC Constitution will have to be amended to accommodate additional roles and responsibilities. The two bodies would have to undergo drastic structural and operational changes, with the bigger chunk of the operations going to the BNOC,” the document reads.
There is also a proposed organogram for the structure. Under the new structure, the wage bill may not necessarily be reduced significantly. Currently, Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) has a staff complement of 84. The wage bill per month is P1,538,568. The Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) has 15 employees and the monthly wage bill stands at P350,000.
Bogosi said the government retains the power to appoint the leadership of the apex structure and therefore retain influence on matters of sport at the national level. He said incidences of ‘fight for turf’ would also be obviated, as the two bodies would be operating under an unambiguous set-up.
“The disadvantages are that not many consider except the transformational changes that are envisaged. The very minor and insignificant celebrations by either of the current parties over some imagined ‘victory’ or ‘sulking’ by either of the current parties over and imagined loss of power,” he said.
The new structure would see BNOPC reporting directly to the commission at a national level and directly to the international bodies to which they would affiliate.
Bogosi said the review of the BNSC Act should also explore the possibility of giving the BNSC powers to register NSAs without them having to register with the Registrar of Societies. He said in the document that the changes may require the NSAs and clubs to cease operating as societies and amend their constitutions accordingly. The new structure is expected to be implemented by the end of 2022.