02 Jun 2022

Botswana Cycling Association (BCA) has  ushered in Kagiso ‘Gii’ Potongwane as the new president.

Gii was named the BCA president at a recent virtual annual general meeting.

Emmanuel Mmusetsi and Game Mompe were named vice president and secretary general respectively, with two additional members Daniel Mophuting and Kelly Ramputswa-Tlale.

A Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Level 1 coach and a sports administration certificate holder, Potongwane has a vast experience in cycling sport, having previously served in the BCA as secretary general and spokesperson.

He has also been actively involved at club level (Cycle4Life) in several roles.

He was also part of a team that organised the country’s flagship cycling events such as BCA National Championships, Kalahari Challenge Mountain Bike (MTB) Challenge, and Dimension Data Route73 MTB Challenge among others.

He served as a cycling commissaire during the 2nd All Africa Youth Games in Gaborone in 2014.

The 45 year old takes over the reins from long-time cycling leader Mmetla Masire.

Poptopngwane’s focus during his one-year tenure will be to improve governance, responsibility and accountability in the association.

“Together with executive team we have 12 months to deliver on this, but we are up for the challenge,” stated Potongwane.

Due to his involvement in BCA over the years, both as an athlete and an administrator, he pledged to continue implementation of the current strategic plan and initiatives, improve communication as well as improve visibility for Botswana cycling.

“Cycling like other sporting codes in the country is not in a good state, part of which is attributed to COVID-19 which affected sports and athletes performance,” he stated.

He said cycling sport relied heavily on sponsorship by the private sector, which has equally suffered from COVID-19 effects.

“I face a mammoth task of reviving cycling in Botswana under the circumstances, and I am hopeful that with the involvement and cooperation of BCA affiliates and other stakeholders, we will achieve the goals that we will set for ourselves,” he noted.

He added that cycling had a huge opportunity to contribute to the economy, create business partnerships and opportunities, and create employment.

He therefore appealed to potential sponsors to exploit such opportunity to market and brand their businesses and products through the growing sport of cycling. For his part, Masire said his committee had experienced many challenges, but were able to sail through with support from affiliates.

“I am happy that I leave a healthy and functioning association that can clearly show progress over the last decade,” he said. ENDS