Assistant Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development Phillip Makgalemele says government cannot intervene in the Botswana Football Association (BFA) affairs as they would also be poking their nose into international organisations the association is affiliated with.
He revealed this in parliament recently when answering a question from Member of Parliament Kagiso Molatlhegi. Molatlhegi, who is also the deputy speaker of the national assembly, had wanted to know why the government is not allowed to interfere when there are problems at the BFA.
In his answer, Makgalemele said though the government is assisting the football association with money, the government is not allowed to interfere in the affairs of the association. Makgalemele said the government is assisting the BFA with subversions on an annual basis to help the association run the affairs of football in the country.
The Assistant Minister explained that the government does however monitor the operations and affairs of the association. Molatlhegi had expressed concern that when it comes to funding BFA, the government is expected to promptly assist but is not expected to promptly address conflicts and mismanagements at BFA.
The BFA executive committee members are often fighting amongst themselves to the extent of frustrating government officials, political leadership and other stakeholders. Haskins Nkaigwa MP for Gaborone North had asked the minister to state how much has been budgeted annually as support grant to Botswana Football Association from 2015 to date and how these funds are expended.
The government in 2015 gave BFA P6 000 000.00, in 2016 the grant stood at P5 400 000.00, in 2017 it was P5 400 000.00 and P5 200 000.00 in 2018. Makgalemele explained that the funds are expended on BFA staff salaries, operational costs of the association and National Teams’ expenses which include participation in regional and international competitions and welfare expenses.
On how the premier league are supported Makgalemele told parliament that the teams are given grants from the sponsorship funds and television rights to finance expenses related to among other things monthly operational costs. In terms of the sponsorship funds, each team gets P50 000.00 per month and with regards to Television Rights P25 000.00 per month.
On how small football leagues are supported he explained that the BFA disburses an amount of P30 000.00 to each of the 17 regions per football season under their scope. The funds are used to support the teams in their administrative costs. There are some capacity building programmes supporting those leagues in the area of coaches’ education, Administration courses and refereeing.
