MYSC battle FROM THE MOUTHS OF MPS
The 12th Parliament is slowly coming to life as Members of Parliament fire hard-hitting questions at Ministers.
Last week, Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture, Tumiso ‘Chillyboy’ Rakgare found himself in the firing line, facing a barrage of questions, including from his predecessor, Tshekedi Khama.
The debate was initiated by a query from the MP for Mahalapye West, David Tshere who asked Rakgare to state: (i) when he is planning to build a sports complex with facilities for all sporting codes in the Mahalapye Sub-District and (ii) what his plan is regarding the youth of Mahalapye Sub-District on issues of sports.
RAKGARE: Mr Speaker, I wish to point out that there are no plans by government to construct a sport complex any time soon in Mahalapye Sub-District, especially one for all sports codes as there are many of them.
Financial constraints remain a major factor that prevents resuscitation of construction of sport complexes. So, development of a sport complex for Mahalapye Sub-District will be considered alongside other districts, when the government financial situation improves.
Mr Speaker, my Ministry has an office in Mahalapye that caters for Mahalapye Sub-District and there are programme officers who facilitate youth in the sub district in terms of sport and other programming areas.
Currently, the sport programmes that cater for youth in sport are the constituency sport tournament and athletics competitions that consist of the following sport codes: football, netball, volleyball and athletics. In addition, there are institutional facilities that youth can utilize in the sub-district.
There are also local teams that youth are encouraged to join to stay active in sport, even to compete at the elite level. Thank you very much.
DR GOBOTSWANG (MP for Sefhare/Ramokgonami): Ke a leboga Mr Speaker, ke a leboga Motlotlegi Tona.
Ke botse gore sentlentle fa le aba ditlhabololo tse di tshwanang le tsone tse jaaka re bua gompieno ka stadium, le dirisa eng fela? What objective criteria are you using?
Ke lebeletse gore kgaolo e re buang ka yone kana e na le four constituencies; dipapola tsa constituencies tse di nang le clubs le metshameko e e farologaneng, tse di alositseng batsamaisi ba metshameko ba o ka ba akanyang jaaka ke ne ke bua maloba, codes tsa lefatshe le national team players. Sentlentle lo…
MR SPEAKER: Can we get to the question, we are running out of time.
DR GOBOTSWANG: Sentlentle le dirisa eng motlotlegi?
RAKGARE: Motlotlegi Mopalamente wa Sefhare–Ramokgonami, kana tota jaaka ke setse ke tlhalositse kgantele, kgwetlho e tona ya Puso ke madi.
Fa madi a ne a le teng, tota re ka bo re aga facilities mo constituency, district le sub-district nngwe le nngwe ka gore mabala a botlhokwa thata gore banana ba kgone go itshidila.
Letlhoko la madi ke lone le le re itsang gore re bo re ka phatlalatsa ditlhabololo tsa metshameko lefatshe lotlhe.
Sengwe gape se re tshwanetseng go se itse ke gore mo gongwe e nna kgang ya gore motse kana sub–district e go buiwang ka yone jaaka re bua gompieno, proximity gongwe le mafelo a a mabapi go ntse jang. Ke raya gore fa o lebelela go na le mafelo gongwe a a bapileng, a a setseng a na le facilities tsa mofuta one oo. Ke a leboga.
KHAMA (MP for Serowe West) I would like to ask the Minister to advise on the following: learning now from Mahalapye, there are three stadia which I believe are in a state of disrepair, which I am sure he is aware of.
In view of the fact that there are no plans by government to develop anything in Mahalapye, could the Minister tell us about these three stadia which are in a state of disrepair, what are they going to do and when because the youth do not have access to them as well?
The second aspect is that Government is short of money and the budget for sport was reduced.
Would they not consider a tier system to enable the sporting codes that do develop to progress further, to be a more professional type or discipline?
Thirdly, the other thing that I would like to know is, the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) has requested the ministry to hand back stadia because they could not maintain them.
So, when we are talking about developing sporting facilities for the youth, irrespective of whether it is Mahalapye, I am referring to the whole country, what is the Ministry doing?
What position had they taken regarding taking back those stadia, or making funds available to have those stadia operate in the way they should? Thank you.
RAKGARE: I am actually quite surprised that Honourable Tshekedi Khama, whom I inherited this ministry from, is asking these kind of questions. I expect him…
KHAMA: Point of order. Mr Speaker, if the Minister does not know the answer, he must just say, ga a itse, a ye go botsa ba ba itseng, a bo a tla go araba gone fa.
He must not go into history. He is a Minister now, he must take responsibility. Thank you.
MR SPEAKER: I am sure the Minister is aware of that.
RAKGARE: I wish you could allow me to answer him because he has asked a question. Now, let me respond to your question Khama.
You are saying the government has no plans to build; I think santlha fela ke kgang ya go reetsa.
I never said there are no plans, I spoke about financial constraints. When the government says ga re ise re nne le madi, we are not saying ga re ka ke ra aga.
Plans are there to build facilities across the country, jaanong se se leng teng ke gore gompieno ga re ise re nne le madi. Tier systems, I think that is your suggestion Honourable Member, we will consider it.
BNSC, kgang ya maintenance, I answered it very well maabane. Unfortunately, you miss Parliament, fa o ne o le teng maabane, o ka bo o ne o utlwile. I thank you.
