09 Nov 2023

The Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) programmes such as the School of excellence, Re Ba Bona Ha, and Zebras Elite are still running despite the challenge of the absence of school sport.

In an exclusive interview with the BNSC Director for Sport Development, Peaceful Seleka, he said school sport has been a development initiative towards their elite.

Seleka said the BNSC was an arm of government, which was mandated to oversee sport development in the country, therefore they found it prudent to rely on the available programmes in the absence of school sport.

One of the development programmes they are currently driving is the Re Ba Bona Ha programme, adding that it was a grassroots development programme targeting age ranges five to 17.

He added that because they had adopted the Botswana Long-Term Athlete Development (BLTAD) template, they were now going to revise the age ranges to 13 years so that they cover the first stage of the BLTAD.

“Currently as we speak, we have 15 national sport associations that have the Re Ba Bona Ha programme in different areas of the country,” he said.

 Seleka said one of the codes, football, has centres in the different areas amongst them Gaborone and Selebi-Phikwe.

He said they recently launched the Botswana Table Tennis Association and Bowling as the new sporting codes in the programme.

“As these programmes are launched, national sports associations are also targeting areas where they are resourced enough to have the programme, which is sustainable.

We are looking at human resource, like coaches who are trained and passionate to run the programmes and facilities,” he said.

Furthermore, Seleka said after ticking all the boxes, that is when the programme can be rolled out and the BNSC monitor it on a regular basis.

He said they also receive reports that they share with Debswana as their main sponsor for the programme.  Seleka said he was happy that the programme was active and running well despite the absence of school sport as the centres were operating.  ENDS