Constituency tournament snowed under in Thamaga

Thamaga-Kumakwane Constituency Tournaments are faced with challenges of lack of sporting facilities. Tournaments’ Committee Chairman Lele Pheto says they don’t have playing grounds in Thamaga although the number of their participating teams has increased. He says the most affected code is football.

“Most of the playing grounds belong to the ministry of local government and rural development. So they hardly lend us their football pitches, which often compels us to postpone our games. We once had an agreement with some of the teams under the  Botswana Football Association (BFA) to use their grounds but this couldn’t bear fruit as well,” he said.

Pheto, who was speaking during a meeting between Member of Parliament for Thamaga-Kumakwane Tshenolo Mabeo and Thamaga youth, says the initial agreement was that the committee would assist the BFA member teams grade their football pitches. They then reached an agreement with the department of roads for assistance but when the time came, the department declined to assist.

“In an as much as we try to improve this tournament, this is one of the setbacks that we find ourselves encountering. At one point teams were forced to discontinue some games as owners of the football pitch ordered us to vacate it since they wanted to use it.”

Another challenge is payment for teams that have won during the competitions. Pheto says the arrangement with Botswana Post has been suspended and now payments are being delayed. “We are struggling ever since the arrangement with Botswana Post was suspended. When we start a new cycle of competition we find that teams have not been paid for the previous cycle.

This has demotivated the youth in our area. We have not achieved much in our constituency because our youth are now not active as before. This is now rendering our efforts to help our youth futile.”

Youth Sub-District Officer in Thamaga-Mogoditshane District under the Ministry of Youth Sport and Culture, Kefentse Phoi admitted to being aware of the payment problem. He says their district office has problems with resources especially shortage of staff.

Phoi promised to follow up on the issue of payment. He applauded the Thamaga-Kumakwane Constituency Tournament Committee for always working hard to ensure that the tournaments succeed regardless of limited resources.