FROM ME TO YOU
Dear Sports Minister
I hear that your Namibian counterpart eventually called you last week to tell you that bone tota they were just joking when they said they would join you in bidding to host the 2027 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations. I always expressed doubt about the honesty of those chaps after the fracas of that shooting incident that killed their citizens, and many took my words for a sick joke. In fact the first person to alert me to the withdrawal by Namibia is one of the people who always told me gore ke bua matlakala whenever I wrote that I was skeptical about the Namibians and their true intensions.
He simply sent me a text message that read: 'Prophet Of Doom.' It was when I sought to know why he labeled me such that he broke the news to me. I would be lying to say I was surprised. Yes my reference to the shooting incident had just been a shaded exaggeration but deep down I had not believed that Namibia had the means to host an event of the magnitude of AFCON. I have been to that country kana and lived there long enough to know they were no different to Botswana in terms of their capacity to host AFCON – even if resources from the two countries could be combined as you so planned. You see, I admire your courage, your tenacity and daring demeanor that made you feel that we can host AFCON. However, I have always been skeptical given the little time we would have between today and 2027. I just felt we were being dangerously ambitious.
I still feel we are too ambitious now that I hear you still want to go on with the bid by even going solo. Kana Morena we just have 4 years. Yet we are talking about a country that for now, like Namibia, has no FIFA/CAF accredited football stadium. I know the BNSC was running helter-skelter recently to ensure the stadium in Francistown met the standards after it was downgraded along with all other facilities in the country. But now that would mean having to upgrade the facilities and even build a new one or two. I am aware one of those facilities to be used may have been planned for Ramotswa somewhere in the vicinity of the Boatle Interchange and that councilors in the then South East District Council – now Ramotswa District Council - had already discussed and approved it. I hear it was to be a 40-seater stadium, which means it would be bigger than the two major facilities in Gaborone and Francistown. Yet it is a facility I was also skeptical about, especially given the location chosen by the district council – it is just a barren patch in the middle of nowhere; where there is no economic activity and none to be achieved even beyond AFCON 2027. Unless the location was maybe meant to please the Tlokweng side of the Council and that with Tlokweng now on their own, the stadium may be brought back into the village where it can be easily used even outside sporting events.
Perhaps the said stadium is just a district council’s project that you were going to ride on, but it would still come at an expense and a likelihood that it would not be complete by 2027. Imagine it took us 10 full years to upgrade the National Stadium as a training venue for the 2010 World Cup, and was only completed after the 2014 World Cup! Let’s face it Chillizer, Botswana cannot do this alone. Even with Namibia still in the picture I still had my doubts. I wish I could tell you to just move on from the frustration caused by Namibia and talk to Angola who are more than capable to replace them in an instant without having to worry much about costs. Talking to Zambia and Zimbabwe will be as much a waste of time as it was with Namibia. Count South Africa out, they will laugh at any suggestion of Botswana wanting to co-host with them.
O a ba itse akere? Gape le Kgosikgolo o ka raya Ramaphosa a re a gane. Akere ene his job nowadays is to make sure Botswana doesn’t achieve anything meaningful even if the citizens have to suffer. Unless you ask him to ask South Africa on your behalf as he would want to prove a point that he can deliver better than Mosau's team. Otherwise, just forget about South Africa. Angola would offer a more realistic chance. In case you feel they are not our neighbours, let me remind you that a co-hosting by two countries that do not share a border has already happened in 2000 with Ghana and Nigeria. So Angola is your realistic bet if you want to continue with this bid. They successfully hosted the 2010 edition and will not have to build new stadia. In fact they have one of the best stadia in Africa – I sat next to former Zebras coach Stanley Tshosane at their world class facility in Luanda as we watched Egypt beat Ghana in the final. He can attest to the beauty of that multi-sport venue strangely named 11 November Stadium. They already have other AFCON-ready stadiums in the cities of Benguela, Lubango and Cabinda.
Those stadia have already done the AFCON job and we would be half way, with work only left to be done in Botswana. Hell you may even upgrade a single facility for the finals and not have to build a new one. Angola could take care of the opening ceremony and use their facilities to host 70 percent of the matches. As I said, it is just what I wish I could tell you as hosting alone will surely not work with the estimated amount of over P5billion that would have to be used to upgrade and build new stadia. Don’t forget an upgrade to the road infrastructure and related others such as medical facilities. It is going to be a huge ask. Bona gore Namibia immediately called it quits at the mention of a mere 4billion Nambian Dollars that would be needed to co-host with Botswana. Jaanong rona re tlaa bo re le ba ga mang trying to go solo? Nnyaa Tona, nna kare re lese fela once! Just forget about this hosting thing and use the opportunity to prepare ourselves for a future and more realistic bid when we could be ready. Joining Namibia in withdrawing will give us a chance to improve our facilities at a moderate and affordable pace.
We could also channel the funds you earmarked for the showpiece for proper sport development such that when the time comes for us to host, we would be a competitive sporting nation. Ke raa gore imagine the state of our sport at the moment – I don’t even want to talk about the shamble that is our football. People don’t even attend football matches and we can’t even fill up small venues of 12 000 capacity. I can imagine the white elephants that would remain after the AFCON should we win the bid. Gape nna fela given the other countries that are bidding, I foresee people not trusting Botswana and going with the likes of Morocco and Burkina Faso who have hosted before. So the bid may just be a waste of more funds that we could use to run sport development programmes in the country. You know le gone wena Chillizer gore when you took over as Sport Minister, I begged that you give each of the mass participation sports – netball, volleyball, softball, basketball, athletics – an amount of just P1million each to run a National League. Or even Two Million Pula! It’s been four years now and you have not given my suggestion a thought.
I remember telling you then that a mere one million bucks per code could help our sport leadership to run year-long national leagues that would ensure all sporting bodies are active throughout the year. That way, I said, the clubs involved would develop more talent and good players would be created for our national teams. I told you Chilliboy gore doing that would eventually see clubs and sporting codes attract sponsors to a point where dependence on government funds would eventually reduce. The amount you would give to these sporting codes would not even exceed P20 million Mister Minister, and that is if you added half a million to bo Tennis, Badminton, Table Tennis and others. You still wouldn’t exceed P20million. Yet here we are, ready to splash billions towards an AFCON event that would be meaningless without active sportsmen and women. I am sure that even where we bid and lose to Morocco for instance, we would still have spent way more than the P20 million during the bidding process. So nna tota I say dump the bid Chillizer, and channel the funds towards sport development so that we are ready to host meaningfully in 2037.
I hear that your Namibian counterpart eventually called you last week to tell you that bone tota they were just joking when they said they would join you in bidding to host the 2027 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations. I always expressed doubt about the honesty of those chaps after the fracas of that shooting incident that killed their citizens, and many took my words for a sick joke. In fact the first person to alert me to the withdrawal by Namibia is one of the people who always told me gore ke bua matlakala whenever I wrote that I was skeptical about the Namibians and their true intensions.
He simply sent me a text message that read: 'Prophet Of Doom.' It was when I sought to know why he labeled me such that he broke the news to me. I would be lying to say I was surprised. Yes my reference to the shooting incident had just been a shaded exaggeration but deep down I had not believed that Namibia had the means to host an event of the magnitude of AFCON. I have been to that country kana and lived there long enough to know they were no different to Botswana in terms of their capacity to host AFCON – even if resources from the two countries could be combined as you so planned. You see, I admire your courage, your tenacity and daring demeanor that made you feel that we can host AFCON. However, I have always been skeptical given the little time we would have between today and 2027. I just felt we were being dangerously ambitious.
I still feel we are too ambitious now that I hear you still want to go on with the bid by even going solo. Kana Morena we just have 4 years. Yet we are talking about a country that for now, like Namibia, has no FIFA/CAF accredited football stadium. I know the BNSC was running helter-skelter recently to ensure the stadium in Francistown met the standards after it was downgraded along with all other facilities in the country. But now that would mean having to upgrade the facilities and even build a new one or two. I am aware one of those facilities to be used may have been planned for Ramotswa somewhere in the vicinity of the Boatle Interchange and that councilors in the then South East District Council – now Ramotswa District Council - had already discussed and approved it. I hear it was to be a 40-seater stadium, which means it would be bigger than the two major facilities in Gaborone and Francistown. Yet it is a facility I was also skeptical about, especially given the location chosen by the district council – it is just a barren patch in the middle of nowhere; where there is no economic activity and none to be achieved even beyond AFCON 2027. Unless the location was maybe meant to please the Tlokweng side of the Council and that with Tlokweng now on their own, the stadium may be brought back into the village where it can be easily used even outside sporting events.
Perhaps the said stadium is just a district council’s project that you were going to ride on, but it would still come at an expense and a likelihood that it would not be complete by 2027. Imagine it took us 10 full years to upgrade the National Stadium as a training venue for the 2010 World Cup, and was only completed after the 2014 World Cup! Let’s face it Chillizer, Botswana cannot do this alone. Even with Namibia still in the picture I still had my doubts. I wish I could tell you to just move on from the frustration caused by Namibia and talk to Angola who are more than capable to replace them in an instant without having to worry much about costs. Talking to Zambia and Zimbabwe will be as much a waste of time as it was with Namibia. Count South Africa out, they will laugh at any suggestion of Botswana wanting to co-host with them.
O a ba itse akere? Gape le Kgosikgolo o ka raya Ramaphosa a re a gane. Akere ene his job nowadays is to make sure Botswana doesn’t achieve anything meaningful even if the citizens have to suffer. Unless you ask him to ask South Africa on your behalf as he would want to prove a point that he can deliver better than Mosau's team. Otherwise, just forget about South Africa. Angola would offer a more realistic chance. In case you feel they are not our neighbours, let me remind you that a co-hosting by two countries that do not share a border has already happened in 2000 with Ghana and Nigeria. So Angola is your realistic bet if you want to continue with this bid. They successfully hosted the 2010 edition and will not have to build new stadia. In fact they have one of the best stadia in Africa – I sat next to former Zebras coach Stanley Tshosane at their world class facility in Luanda as we watched Egypt beat Ghana in the final. He can attest to the beauty of that multi-sport venue strangely named 11 November Stadium. They already have other AFCON-ready stadiums in the cities of Benguela, Lubango and Cabinda.
Those stadia have already done the AFCON job and we would be half way, with work only left to be done in Botswana. Hell you may even upgrade a single facility for the finals and not have to build a new one. Angola could take care of the opening ceremony and use their facilities to host 70 percent of the matches. As I said, it is just what I wish I could tell you as hosting alone will surely not work with the estimated amount of over P5billion that would have to be used to upgrade and build new stadia. Don’t forget an upgrade to the road infrastructure and related others such as medical facilities. It is going to be a huge ask. Bona gore Namibia immediately called it quits at the mention of a mere 4billion Nambian Dollars that would be needed to co-host with Botswana. Jaanong rona re tlaa bo re le ba ga mang trying to go solo? Nnyaa Tona, nna kare re lese fela once! Just forget about this hosting thing and use the opportunity to prepare ourselves for a future and more realistic bid when we could be ready. Joining Namibia in withdrawing will give us a chance to improve our facilities at a moderate and affordable pace.
We could also channel the funds you earmarked for the showpiece for proper sport development such that when the time comes for us to host, we would be a competitive sporting nation. Ke raa gore imagine the state of our sport at the moment – I don’t even want to talk about the shamble that is our football. People don’t even attend football matches and we can’t even fill up small venues of 12 000 capacity. I can imagine the white elephants that would remain after the AFCON should we win the bid. Gape nna fela given the other countries that are bidding, I foresee people not trusting Botswana and going with the likes of Morocco and Burkina Faso who have hosted before. So the bid may just be a waste of more funds that we could use to run sport development programmes in the country. You know le gone wena Chillizer gore when you took over as Sport Minister, I begged that you give each of the mass participation sports – netball, volleyball, softball, basketball, athletics – an amount of just P1million each to run a National League. Or even Two Million Pula! It’s been four years now and you have not given my suggestion a thought.
I remember telling you then that a mere one million bucks per code could help our sport leadership to run year-long national leagues that would ensure all sporting bodies are active throughout the year. That way, I said, the clubs involved would develop more talent and good players would be created for our national teams. I told you Chilliboy gore doing that would eventually see clubs and sporting codes attract sponsors to a point where dependence on government funds would eventually reduce. The amount you would give to these sporting codes would not even exceed P20 million Mister Minister, and that is if you added half a million to bo Tennis, Badminton, Table Tennis and others. You still wouldn’t exceed P20million. Yet here we are, ready to splash billions towards an AFCON event that would be meaningless without active sportsmen and women. I am sure that even where we bid and lose to Morocco for instance, we would still have spent way more than the P20 million during the bidding process. So nna tota I say dump the bid Chillizer, and channel the funds towards sport development so that we are ready to host meaningfully in 2037.
