NSC discuss cooperation with Botswana
The Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) executive management and a Namibian delegation led by deputy minister of sport Dino Ballotti, the Namibian deputy high commissioner and the Namibia Sport Commission’s chief administrator, Simataa Mwiya, met at the BNSC Offices in Gaborone last weekend.
Progress was evaluated on the memorandum of understanding that NSC and Botswana signed in 2021.
A sport eco-system presentation was given on how the operations of Botswana Sport Commission operate.
Among the matters discussed were the grassroots development programs the Botswana NSC has, as well as its centres of Excellence Elite scholarships program.
The issue of school sport also featured strongly. It was highlighted that Botswana currently has almost no organised school sports and that they intend to benchmark from Namibia which has a well-functioning school sport structure.
Infrastructure was another issue of interest. The BNSC manages seven stadiums of which three are Stage 3 stadiums, namely the Gaborone National Stadium, Francistown and Lobatse stadiums, besides other smaller sport stadiums across the country which are under the caretaking of the BNSC.
According to Mwiya, valuable lessons were learned in how the BNSC operates with the country’s Olympic Movement towards the common good of sport. Their operations of amateur and professional boxing were also discussed in depth.
It was brought to the attention of the delegation that Botswana has bid to host The Association International Sports For All organisation (TAFISA) world congress in 2027. Namibia has pledge to support Botswana on hosting the TAFISA World Congress 2027 through the MOU initiatives by ensuring participation of Namibian social clubs, public gyms and community fitness runners groups as part of the sport for all initiatives.
“Namibia is a paid-up member of TAFISA and annually organises the TAFISA sport for all programmes such as the TAFISA Walk for Life and the TAFISA Women Leadership Programmes (WLP) and participated in the WLP Mobility Exchange Programme and the TAFISA Certified Leadership Course,” Mwiya said.
The Deputy Minister also highlighted how Namibia is engaged on developing infrastructure especially the Independence Stadium in Windhoek to bring it to CAF certification as well as to a World Athletics Track Certification.
Namibia’s delegation highlighted its plans for basic sport facilities and how sport had been prioritised in the national budget as a key area.
Ballotti extended his invitation to BNSC to visit Namibia in September in order to further strengthen the relationship and learn from closer collaborations.
The deputy minister highlighted four focus areas which he would like to see happening:
1. For Namibia’s independence celebration on 21 March 2027 the intention is to invite Botswana, South Africa and Angola in various sporting activities.
2. The Re Ba Bona Ha Grassroots Sport Development as an area of great interest for Namibia and Ballotti indicated that Namibia should benchmark and copy this program.
3. An invitation to Botswana on a benchmarking mission by Namibia.
4. The deputy minister showed great interest in the collaboration of the two countries and to further expedite the MOU which was initiated by the BNSC and NSC and operationalise it as a working document.
