25 Mar 2025

The first National Arts Council of Botswana board was appointed by the previous Minister of Youth, Sports and Gender in August 2021, and the subsequent board was appointed in August 2024. 

Answering a question in Parliament on Monday, the Minister of Sport and Arts, Mr Jacob Kelebeng said the new government would however like to review most processes that took place under the previous government, which might include the appointment of the board. 

He further said the dismissal of the former National Arts Council CEO was done procedurally but the ministry had been trying to find an amicable solution. This process, he said, had been delayed since the former CEO had taken the matter to the Labour office and served the board with a statutory notice. 

However, Mr Kelebeng said they had not given up their quest on finding an amicable solution. 

Mr Kelebeng also said The Botswana National Sports Commission(BNSC) had accounts at ABSA, Botswana Savings Bank and Stanbic Bank. He said the current account at ABSA had a balance of P10 000 as at March 11, 2025 while the Call Account had a balance of P5 329 797.57. 

The minister said the funds in this account were used for various activities such as maintenance of Masunga and Molepolole stadiums and further include income from the gym, rental of facilities and sponsorships from Debswana for Re Ba Bona Ha. At the Botswana Savings Bank, he said the balance was P50 872 602.74 to be used for AUSC Region 5 games, BNSC urgent commitments and for BNSC operations, which include Matlhagolatsela Programme. 

Mr Kelebeng said at Stanbic Bank, BNSC had a balance of P2 million in its current account, the call account balance was P3 million and the balance on the current account was P10 000. He said the former minister was never a signatory to any of the BNSC accounts. The minister said P1.2 million was used in the Legends football game held on Independence Day and further explained that each team was allocated P570 000 from which each player of the Zebras Legends team was paid P11 250. 

He said the South African team paid each player R15 000. Molepolole North MP, Mr Arafat Khan had asked the minister to explain how the National Arts Council of Botswana board was elected and if the Act was followed. He further asked the minister to state how the former CEO was fired from her job and if proper procedures were followed. 

MP Khan also asked the minister to state the number of banking accounts held by BNSC, the balanced in each account and how the funds were used. He further asked if the former minister had access to any BNSC bank account. ENDS