Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development (MYSC), Tumiso Rakgare has today, Monday 18th revealed the government’s plan to help the elite and second-tier leagues with player’s salary subsidies respectively.

Speaking in Gaborone at Mass Media Complex on daily updates by the government’s departments on coronavirus relief mitigations, Rakgare said the 25 players of all the 16 teams in the BTC premiership will be paid P2, 500 whilst first division players get P1, 500 for the months of April to June accordingly.

“Sports was the first discipline to be affected by Covid-19 as we can remember when the Mares Under 17 were denied their travel to Morocco for a return leg of the FIFA world cup qualifier in March. So, therefore the government will be assisting the players with salaries for three months. The subsidy is only for Batswana players, technical and office staff. The teams are still be obligated to pay salaries of their players, this is just a subsidy”, noted Rakgare.

Quizzed about the procedure of the subsidy, Rakgare said the ministry will this week ask teams to submit the required documentation for verification and due processes.

“The monies will be directly deposited to player’s bank accounts to avoid situations where teams might use such funds for their daily expenses”.

Rakgare further singled out referees will be assisted through the FIFA relief fund as agreed with Botswana Football Association (BFA).
The player’s subsidy is part of the P70 million set aside by the ministry to mitigate the novel coronavirus impacts.