He also said the previous games were organised by the AU and games management was done by ANOC. “These are government-based games but recently they decided to hand over the games to ANOC because of resources from the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and the Olympic movement.
It is up to the International Sports Federations (IFS) to decide if the games would continue as non Olympic qualifiers. These are political games, so we have to deal with the sport side and the political side,” he said. Tshenyego reminded the delegates that the Africa Games are being organised by the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) not the BNOC. Meanwhile, the poor relationship between the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport, and Culture (MYSC), the BNSC and the BNOC reared its ugly head.
The Botswana Amateur Fencing Society (BAFS) secretary-general, Kelebogile Maplanka raised concern that there is tension between the three parties. She said it is high time the National Sport Associations (NSAs) are addressed by the concerned parties. Maplanka wanted to know what would now happen given that the Africa Games are not Olympic qualifiers. “Has the BNOC and BNSC discussed this issue? It means Africa Games are not beneficial to the continent. What is being done to change the status quo?” she asked.
Maplanka said issues were raised during the BNOC Ordinary General Assembly (BNOC), but the main challenge is always funding. Responding to the rift between the three parties, Tshenyego said they would engage the BNSC to consider making the discussion to be part of the agenda for the upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM) this weekend. He said the other urgent issue that should be discussed is school sport. “We should come up with solutions for school sport’ we should not just go there and ask questions. Let us prepare for the BNSC AGM with valid points.
Of course I am aware that this is an ongoing discussion at a higher level,” he said. Tshenyego said next year is all about Paris but it depends on the availability of funds. “I know there are other NSAs that are trying to qualify for the games, it is not all about funding but these are issues that can be resolved through bilateral nature,” he said. Tshenyego applauded the Botswana netball team for their performance during the just ended Africa Netball Cup despite insufficient preparations and the Mares for qualifying for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) set for Morocco next year. Morocco becomes the only country to host the tournament back-to-back.
