The BNSC introduced a new funding model in the last financial year and the rollout was during the current financial year. Under the current model, the NSAs that contribute the most to the BNSC Vision 2028 are better rewarded.
The NSAs that have received more funding are football, athletics, cricket and volleyball, which are placed in tier one. Football has the highest score of 74% followed by athletics with 68%.
Boxing and netball were demoted from tier one to tier two. Other NSAs in tier two are Botswana Tertiary Student Sports Association (BOTESSA), rugby, table tennis, tennis, golf, swimming, bowling, Paralympics Association of Botswana (PASSOBO), and karate.
The Botswana Integrated Sports Association (BISA) and the Botswana Primary Schools Sport Association (BOPSA) have been excluded from funding because they are in the process of being dissolved. Athletics president, Moses Bantsi said the P1.5 million allocation is not enough because this is their busiest season. Volleyball vice president-administration, Ndibo Lebala told Mmegi Sport that the allocation was disappointing.
“Sport in this country is more like a holiday. If the business community cannot assist sport, there should be a deliberate effort by government to fund sports to be active throughout this period. If there are no corporate sponsors, we should forget about sport. Neighbouring countries such as Zambia are funded by their government and results are showing,” Lebala said. Lebala said the South African government funds sports activities, with volleyball receiving R3 million annually for three years.
Lebala said when they request funding for national team activities, they are told to spend from the grant. He said before the COVID-19 pandemic, P500,000 was spent on two teams for regional championships. He said when the teams qualify for Africa Championships, P500,000 is enough for one team and not two teams. He said on average, volleyball should have at least P1.5 million. “We are then given P750,000 which is not enough. Last year we suffered a lot, we did not do anything.
Executive committee members were not getting allowances, making it difficult to carry out activities. This is the second year (that we are) going through tough times,” Lebala said. Chess president, Mooketsi Segaise said during this era, it is tough to run a sporting code. Chess is in tier two after scoring 51 points. Boxing president, Gilbert Khunwane said they are struggling to understand the new funding model. Boxing has received P290,000 dropping from P700,000 from the last financial year. Netball has also received P290,000 for the current financial year. Wrestling Federation president, Moagi Sharp said they have received only P35,000.
Wrestling is placed in tier four together with hockey, taekwondo, fencing, weightlifting, dance sport, horse society, darts, squash, handball, cheerleading, parachute, bridge and traditional sport which also received the same amount. “This is a joke. The problem with the BNSC is that when you do not agree with them on certain things, they punish you. But the show has to go on,” Sharp said.
Fencing secretary-general, Mmaneke Maplanka referred this publication to the BNSC saying they are in a good position to explain how they came up with the allocation. “I trust that you could get that information from the BNSC secretariat or even board members you know could tell you how they agreed on the allocation,” she said.
Cycling, basketball, Special Olympics, motorsport, judo, badminton and professional boxing are in tier three. BNSC chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho said in fact, some codes in tier one and two had their budgets increased, while those in the lower rung suffered cuts.
"We decreased some but increased others. We are protective of the overall amount in the vote, notwithstanding the reduction to our budget. Tier 1 and Tier 2 either stayed the same or got increases. Tier 4 generally got decreases. The reason is simple, we want to put money into those NSAs that help us drove our strategic objectives," Serufho said.
