The proposed budget allocations come at a time when sport is bracing for a packed calendar with the African Games, World Relays, Olympics qualifiers, and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on the horizon.
The proposed funding for the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport, Culture (MYSC) under the 2024-2025 budget includes athletes’ appearance fees, incentives, and camping allowances.
During last year's Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) Annual General Meeting (AGM), it was announced that the government had set aside P6 million for the preparation of the two major events, the Olympics and the African Games. In December, MYSC minister, Tumiso Rakgare informed National Sport Associations (NSA) during a consultative meeting that he was pushing for the budget to be increased.
The BNSC CEO, Tuelo Serufho told MmegiSport this week that the budget is a proposal for now and yet to be approved by Parliament.
He said they are hopeful that the BNSC allocation for the upcoming financial year will increase. “Once approved, we would get to know what our ceiling is and on the basis of which we would be able to allocate money. What we can, however, state is that we will push a fair share of the allocation to development, focusing on nurturing export quality athletes,” he said.
Serufho said they would also spend a sizeable portion of funds on the development of a sustainable sport industry. He noted that he would unpack the contents of the budget in a few days. He said they were grateful to Rakgare and his team for succeeding in convincing Cabinet to perceive sport as an industry through which they can reap economic dividends, create employment and profile the country, amongst other things.
The increase is expected to go a long way in assisting NSAs, which have been awarded rights to host international competitions such as the Botswana Bowling Bowls, which are hosting the African States Tournament that attracts players from Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The Botswana Table Tennis Association (BTTA) is planning to host the Africa Youth Championships in July.
During the same month, the BTTA is hosting a Commonwealth member states tournament.
