SONA ignores key sport issues

Mqondisi Dube | Saturday November 11, 2023 06:00

The President acknowledged star athlete, Letsile ‘School Boy’ Tebogo, who was given a standing ovation by the National Assembly. Besides further recognising the efforts of Amantle Montsho, Isaac Makwala, Nijel Amos, Ross Branch, and Tumisang Orebonye, there was not much on sport. It has been an eventful year in sport with Botswana being one of the only two African countries certified to host the World Athletics Golden Grand Prix. The event was considered a resounding success as a record athletics crowd turned up to watch international stars at the National Stadium on April 30.

However, there was no mention of the event in the SONA. Of concern, has been the growing challenge of doping with more local sportspersons falling foul of the rules. Amos, who was mentioned during the SONA, is one of the local athletes serving a suspension for taking a banned substance. Another pressing issue local sport has been facing is the failure to resume sport activities at schools. There has been a deadlock with teachers demanding remuneration for their involvement in school sport. Despite calls for the immediate return of school sports, negotiations have moved at a snail's pace. President Masisi did not mention the issue in his address on Monday.

Last year, Botswana decided to bid for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations finals in what could have been the biggest sporting event the country has hosted since 1966. More than P70 million was utilised to prepare the failed bid. However, the project collapsed in September when the football governing body, CAF, instead chose the East African joint bid of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda to organise the 2027 tournament. The bid, which dominated much of sport headlines this year, did not make it to the President's SONA speech. Sport commentator, Comfort ‘Big Fish’ Ramatebele believes the SONA could have been more comprehensive on sport issues. He blames those tasked with appraising the President on sport matters. “I feel as a country, we lack a sports culture and we deny the President the capacity and verbosity to speak intently and confidently about same,” Ramatebele said.

“I come from a good space when I say he did not really address the matter of school sports with the requisite urgency because those mandated are seriously failing him and ask them to align themselves with the Reset Agenda and Mindset Change and use sports as a means for economic diversification,” he added. Ramatebele said a lot could be done to develop sport, including exporting talent. “I have said and still say, we are underutilising the embassies here to work on exchange programmes where we get kids going for Form One to an academy of football in Chelsea through the British Embassy or even lower tier, the likes of Middlesbrough and others. Those who show talent in say cricket, we consider India and South Africa, and those associated with sprints to the USA,” he argued. Further, Ramatebele said the government should not necessarily fund school sport, but create an enabling environment, which will attract support from the private sector. “The President can only do this much, the generals are not up to speed with the Commander-in-Chief; they have to up their game. It would border on profound violation of children's rights not to have school sport by January 2024 and the academic results say a lot about the adverse impact of the absence of school sports,” he said.