The new Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture, Shaw Kgathi has said that the controversial constituency league is a good talent identification programme.

The minister told journalists during an introductory media conference in Gaborone yesterday that they have to work on certain modalities to make the league more useful.

He dismissed claims that since one of the requirements for playing competitive football is that one should be holding a blue book, the league will not attract talented people.

He said that holding a blue book does not make someone more talented than the one who does not have one. He added that he will encourage the Botswana Football Association (BFA) to make use of the league to identify talent. The constituency league, the brainchild of President Ian Khama, has attracted controversy with the BFA suggesting it should either be discontinued or be put under the association.

Kgathi said there is need for centres of excellence and programmes such as Re Ba Bona Ha alone cannot bring the desired success. He lamented that local athletes are picked randomly with no real programme that can be used to identify and groom talent at a very young age.

He stated that after his tour of the National Stadium and the SSKB Stadium this week, he has seen progress as far as renovations are concerned. But he regretted that the SSKB floodlights and change rooms will not be improved due to budget limitations.

Kgathi will visit the Francistown Stadium today to check progress. He said his predecessors have done a lot in policy formulation for the ministry. He said that in recent years government's commitment to sports has been visible. He disclosed that in the 1990s government budget for sports was just over P1 million but today it stands at P50 million.

He said during his tenure at the Department of Sport and Recreation, the government built facilities such as Serowe, Masunga and Maun Sports Complexes. He conceded that the Masunga facility is under utilised. "I cannot understand how a facility like Masunga Stadium cannot be maximally utilised," he said.