The Botswana Primary Schools Sports Association (BOPSSA) spokesperson, Edward Moreti, has said its now six months with nothing going on at BOPSSA.
He said that the situation has come as a result of a stalemate in overtime negotiations between BTU and has been worsened by the ongoing strike.
Moreti said with effect from the 1st January 2011 it was tools down in sports activities due to overtime negotiations that had been ongoing since last year. He said they reached this motion with the hope that government would put something in place for the teachers’ overtime allowances but now the situation has been worsened by the strike.
“We thought by now something would have materialized following the negotiations that were ongoing between BTU and Government,” he said. Moreti added that the strike has exacerbated everything and things are out of control at BOPSSA.
Moreti said currently BOPSSA is faced with a lot of challenges.
“We have failed to introduce anything new this year since there has not been anything going on at BOPSSA; we intended to introduce Karate, Chess, Hockey but all this has not been possible.”
Moreti added that Botswana was supposed to host this year’s international sports games and, because of this situation at BOPSSA, Botswana is no longer hosting the games.
He said even if things are to get better it will take time for Botswana to measure up at an international level.
“We have already lost a lot of time,” he said, adding that if the prevailing situation continues, the future of BOPSSA is doomed.
“Even if the strike is to end, there is no sports database available for use for Botswana Integrated Sports Association since Standard seven students did not participate in any sporting activities this year,” he said.
Moreti called on government and public service unions to end their impasse for the benefit of sporting activities in the country. BOPSSA took over the running of primary school sports from the Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) and there had been a lot of improvement in the way sports was being run at primary level.
Moreti said schools’ sports development is very crucial because its products feed national teams and should be taken seriously. He added that the hiccups that the students have experienced has affected those who have been very enthusiastic about the sporting activities.
