The Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) Chairperson, Dorcus Makgato Malesu is stepping down. Speaking at an ordinary general meeting of the BNSC on Thursday, Malesu said work pressure at her new job at BEDIA is the main reason.
“I can confirm to you that I have joined BEDIA as Chief Executive Officer. My new challenge unfortunately requires the same levels of energy and commitment as that of Chairperson of the BNSC. This, therefore, means that while my heart and compassion is with sport, I will not be available for a re-appointment if that was going to be considered,” she said.
Malesu’s term ends in July next year.
She has been the Chairperson for more than five years. She also quashed rumours that she was leaving her lucrative job at Barloworld because her job was at risk because the company was outsourcing its operations. She said she wanted to grow and hence new challenges. “The rumours that are flying around saying my job was at risk are just crap. I left because I wanted to grow and experience new challenges,” she said.
Malesu has however assured BNSC that she would not be lost to sports because it is her passion. She said she will continue to diligently contribute to sports through business partnerships and advise to the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture. In regard to the first ever National Games that will be taking place in Gaborone from 10th to 15th of December, she said the preparations are at an advanced stage with all the districts having confirmed their participation.
“Although we are still struggling with two of the districts, we are confident that in the end a solution will be found to make it possible for them to participate at the games. We thank all those who have been very helpful in facilitating the preparations against the background of serious time and financial constraints. Even the local authorities and government officials played a huge role in preparations, especially in respect of the districts,” she said.
Malesu also touched on the issue of the construction of the Francistown stadium. She said the development process is still at a tendering stage. She added that negotiations for restoring the original are also underway. Malesu decried the grant allocation from the government, saying for the past four years government has allocated P25 million yearly, but the BNSC has continued to spend above the grant by more than 20 percent using the funds generated through other means. “As our activities increased across the board throughout the years, these extra funds could not be sustained. We have had to rationalise our activities and negotiate overdraft facilities to militate against our ever increasing activities as we thrive to maintain and even improve our performances. We mention this to caution that in future our respective allocations are going to be negatively affected by this state of affairs. We will continue to demonstrate through whatever means available to us that we have outgrown our budget. The current size of funding to sport has to improve if we are to move on to higher levels desired by government and the nation at large,” she said.
