For a while now, Botswana has not had an all-inclusive legal framework to regulate all sports in the country. In the absence of such, the Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC) Act was used to plug the gap.
Though the BNSC Act did work to a certain extent, it still had many loopholes. Now, that is all about to change. The Botswana Government, through the Ministry of Sports and Arts (MOSA), is planning to enact a comprehensive sport Act to regulate sport in the country.
Deputy Permanent Secretary for Sport in MOSA Boineelo Hardy says work towards enacting the Sport Act is already underway. She says the ministry is currently working ‘on enacting an overarching national sports Act ‘aimed at improving the environment for our national teams, for our elite athletes, our officials, sponsors and all our other dedicated stakeholders in our sporting fraternity.’
“We have already initiated a consultation process for the establishment of the Botswana Sports Act, which is going to be, hopefully with consultation approving, be the country’s sport Act,” Hardy says.
The establishment of this act is borne out of the realisation that the BNSC Act, which is currently used as the substantive sport Act, is not adequate enough to regulate sports. At its core, the BNSC Act, according to Hardy, ‘is mainly concerned with the operations of the commission.’ “Honestly, this is about having a defined and holistic law for all sports in Botswana, not the BNSC.”
As it is, the current act leaves the BNSC unable to deal with certain issues which currently afflict the sport. It also fails to recognize the various stakeholders in sport such as the Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) or even directly regulate National Sports Association (NSAs). At its worst, it also leaves the BNSC not capable of dealing with conflicts within NSAs.
“Our consultations will include all stakeholders that we deem important to sport, so that they are all recognized under the act we are enacting. Just as an example, you know that the government is currently funding the BNOC, but it appears nowhere in terms of the act, where it sits, how it should be dealt with and so on. So, the intention of overhauling the act is to ensure that it is updated and it is provisional to all stakeholders within the fraternity of sports.”
Another key area which the act will seek to address is the disability sports. Currently, disability sports are under the Paralympic Association of Botswana (PASSOBO) and the Special Olympics Botswana. However, their roles are not clearly defined or stated in the current act.
“Generally speaking, the BNSC Act has a lot of shortcomings. For example, the issue of disputes or appeals. The BNSC act currently covers only the disputes between the BNSC and the NSAs. It cannot help in cases where there are disputes within the NSAs. When there are internal disputes, NSAs have nowhere to take their cases, and this should never be the case in sports.”
“Currently we see quiet a few NSAs who are frustrated and have internal disputes ending up coming to the Minister for intervention. But according to international governance of sport, politics or government should be minimally or never be involved in sports or the internal operations and running of NSAs. So, we need to have a clearly laid down law which supports the environment for NSAs or federations to function well, unlike what it is currently,” Hardy explains.
Also of note, the act will seek to define the roles of both the BNSC and the BNOC as well as PASSOBO and Special Olympics Botswana to curtail the duplication of roles between the two. “There should be an article or part where you can refer to the BNSC, BNOC, PASSOBO or Special Olympics and see how their functions are defined in terms of Government and the law. This is an all-encompassing law that includes all stakeholders and recognizes them, including school sports and the mandate of the Ministry when it comes to school sports.”
Unlike how it was before, this time, NSAs will be involved in the crafting of the Sports Act. “NSAs or federations are the core of sport. We cannot talk sport without them. They are a key stakeholder and it will even come out clearly in the act. They are the main stakeholder that we are consulting to shape a law that will be conducive and will help them work better.”
Hardy says the intention is to have the bill presented to parliament as soon as possible as the Sport Act has been muted for many years but with little progress. “We have drafted a schedule, hoping that every month we will move to a different schedule of consultation. I am hoping we can bring this to a close and then get the minister to present the bill before parliament soon. But we are going to ensure that full consultation is done before we give the Minister anything,” she says.
