Up until the appointment of Rakgare, the sports portfolio was dominated by experienced career politicians and in some cases technocrats. Shaw Kgathi, Gladys Kokorwe, Thapelo Olopeng, and Tshekedi Khama are some of the experienced hands to occupy the post. They all had their successes to varying degrees with the barometer used to measure progress at varying ends. Sound policies, master plans and road maps can be the definition of success in the corner of technocrats. But some would measure success through the medals that athletes win. Kgathi's tenure was recognised as one of the country's brightest sport eras. It was under his watch that Botswana won the first world title through Amantle Montsho before the Zebras also made history by making their first, and thus far, only appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations finals. During the Kgathi period, Botswana landed its first ever Olympic medal through Nijel Amos, as the country's sport finally came of age on the global platform. From them, Batswana became accustomed particularly to athletics success with Amos, Montsho, and Isaac Makwala leading a narrative-changing period in which Botswana staked its claim at the top table.
With this measure, Kgathi, who moved to the Ministry of Defence and Security would have felt his reign had brought the game-changing tactics. It was in 2012 that the athletes' incentive policy was introduced, the first significant step towards ensuring athletes were fairly rewarded for their sweat. When Rakgare took over in 2019, his predecessors, particularly during the Kgathi era, had laid a solid foundation for the ministry to spring further. Rakgare was appointed as a relative greenhorn with most of his fame found behind the radio mic as a belligerent broadcast journalist. He needed to hit the ground running in an administration that had a number of novices thrown into the deep end. Under Rakgare, there was further success on the track, with the icing on the cake coming through the emergence of a generational talent in Letsile Tebogo. Tebogo has broken every national record under his races and the international marks have not been spared either. This propelled Rakgare's profile, the same way Kgathi had benefitted from the talents of Montsho, Amos, and the Zebras.
Rakgare advocated for an improvement in the incentives policy and that resulted in a significant shift, with athletes even earning houses from the government.
However, beyond the incentive policy, it is not publicly known what Rakgare's signature project is. The incentive policy was merely incremental where he improved an existing structure. Rakgare was at the forefront of pushing for the hosting of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations finals, a bid that divided opinion.
Critics argued Botswana was not ready whilst others felt hosting would accelerate infrastructure and sports development. In the end, none happened as CAF ignored Botswana's pitch in favour of a joint East African bid, where Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda had joined hands. Botswana was due to bid with Namibia due to the prohibitive costs of going it alone.
However, Namibia dropped out at the last minute with Botswana expected to follow suit. However, Rakgare called a press conference and indicated that Botswana would go solo, a logic-defying decision given that the country had wanted partners to co-host due to the exorbitant costs of organising a tournament of this magnitude. It was a decision that spoilt Rakgare's scorecard in some sectors. But it got worse. The decision to award a South African company a tender to compile the bid book at an astronomic cost of P61 million was roundly criticised. For instance, the East African winning bid book only cost millions after the concerned countries asked technocrats to put together the document, thereby cutting costs. It remains a mystery why P61 million was dedicated to a 500-page document.
Rakgare was also caught in the Botswana Football Association wars where he was seen as fighting personal issues more than pursuing a sport agenda. Further, Rakgare was swift to address football issues at the expense of most other codes. Publicly it appeared that way. Election results by yesterday were not looking good for Rakgare meaning there could be a new figure walking through the doors of the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Gender and Culture next month.
