The Pros and Cons of Botswana’s AFCON bid (PART 2)

This week, we will continue our discussion of Botswana’s bid to host AFCON 2027. In particular, we will look at other reasons that have been given by government to host the tournament. Firstly, local businesses will benefit, including SMMEs and street vendors. However, the tournament only lasts a few weeks and some of the stadiums may only host a handful of games during that time. So, the time for street vendors to make a killing will be extremely limited. And once the final whistle has blown, life will return to normal as it was before.

Also, it will promote investment in infrastructure. But it will not result in the upgrading of our national roads, such as the A3 and others. And it will also create the much needed jobs and give a boost to the construction sector of the economy. Although thousands of jobs will be created in building the stadiums, once they have been completed the jobs will disappear – most of the jobs will not be permanent. We are also told that the tournament will be a catalyst for creating jobs in the tourism and hospitality sectors. Whilst it may be true that lodges, hotels and guesthouses may do a roaring trade during AFCON 2027, once the games are over things will likely return to normal.

And most of our African visitors will not likely return due to lack of finance! As regards tourism, the tournament will not likely attract big spending tourists from developed countries who, otherwise, would spend big bucks. It is also expected that Botswana will earn some P500 million from match ticket sales. But that’s assuming that attendance at the matches will be 90 percent.

However, as mentioned earlier, our stadiums may attract far fewer fans. The theme for the tournament is “Achieving Prosperity One Goal at a Time.” But the P10 billion required might very well lead to the cancellation or, at best, postponement of other much needed development projects that can enhance the prosperity of the nation. We live today in difficult times and, due largely to the COVID pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war, money is tight. For this reason, government needs to prioritise its spending by focusing on health, education and infrastructure. In so doing, government will improve the lives of Batswana. Although it may be nice to see new stadiums across the nation, spending money on sports should be seen as a low priority since it will have little impact on our everyday lives.

After all, we can live without sports! The P10 billion could, perhaps, be better spent on the upgrading of our national roads some of which are in a bad state of repair and too often claim lives as we have recently seen on the A3 road. Saving lives on our roads is infinitely more important than building stadiums! Since our public health system is in a poor state, the money could also be spent in renovating existing facilities and building new clinics and hospitals. And more schools could be built. After all, these are all basic needs, in contrast to the new stadiums which are wants.

So, there is a need to distinguish between needs and wants – needs are those things that are essential to a good standard of living, whilst wants are things that might be nice to have but are not essential! Botswana is not the only contestant that is bidding to hold AFCON 2027. Algeria is by far and away the best candidate in terms of existing sports facilities. Many large well-equipped stadiums already exist in many Algerian cities: Algiers, Constantine, Annaba, Oran... This means that the country may not have to spend much cash to hold the tournament.

Plus the country has experience in holding the tournament; it has already held it before in 1990. And that’s not all. Algeria, being a major oil producer, should have sufficient cash to host the finals. Finally, with a population of some 45 million, the stadiums used for AFCON 2027 may be well utilised afterwards. Botswana will also have to compete against a joint bid from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. They stand a good chance of being chosen since no East African nation has hosted the tournament before. And their combined population of 162 million means that the stadiums will continue to be well utilised long after the victory ceremony.

Most African nations that have hosted AFCON before have sizeable populations: Ethiopia 116 million; South Africa 60 million, Egypt 110 million, Nigeria 221 million, Ghana 34 million, Morocco 38 million... But it’s a different story for Botswana. In contrast to the other contestants, we have to start from scratch. And as we have seen this will cost the government an arm and a leg. Plus the unavoidable fact that we only have four years to build, equip and refurbish the stadiums. Much to their credit, Ashford Mamelodi and his technical bid Committee have submitted a very impressive bid complete with eye-catching diagrams of the new stadiums that will be built. But we now have to walk the talk! And government is not well known for implementing mega-sized projects on time or on budget! Countries that are chosen to hold the World Cup finals are given more than four years to prepare.

And two of the stadiums at Kasane and Maun are planned to have a seating capacity of 40 000; that’s much larger than our present largest stadium, Obed Chilume stadium, which handles just 27 000 spectators. Also, our population is only 2 million and so the stadiums may not be well utilised after the tournament. Major projects take much time to get off the ground. Besides the designing of the stadiums, engineers have to decide on the exact location of each one. Tendering then follows before the actual work can commence.

I remember that the Obed Chilume stadium took several years to complete. And that stadium does not have at present all the extras that are required by AFCON. And much attention has to be paid to the pitch itself – the grass must be of the right type and must also be durable and able to withstand heavy use during the tournament. The soil must also be considered. If the pitch is laid on heavy clay soils, the pitch may easily become waterlogged, especially if matches are played during the rainy season. The opposite may be true in Maun where soils are very sandy.

These two articles have highlighted some of the challenges that we will face if we are to host AFRICON 2027. Should our bid be successful, much will need to be done to ensure that the tournament runs smoothly and that ordinary Batswana benefit. And Batswana will have to rally behind the project since, at present, many are sceptical about how prepared we will be to host the tournament and the cost involved. But if we can overcome the many challenges, the tournament could be a resounding success. We would not want the new stadiums to become white elephants!

Grahame McLeod