Let's show botho in victory, loss
| Friday June 13, 2008 00:00
The purpose of my writing today is to congratulate the Zebras on their victory against Mozambique, they did us proud and showed the skeptical ones that dismissed Bra Stan and Ken, and to respond to anonymous letter that appeared in Monitor.
Our victory against Mozambique should have given a lot of Batswana a direction of what collective effort can do, we NEED to believe in ourselves in such a way that even insurmountable challenges we face with hope because we know we have support. Bra Stan [Zebras' coach, Stanley Tshosane] and Ken [his assistant, Kenneth Mogae] didn't bring a sangoma to Lekidi, they talked to those guys and told them that they believed in them and what did we get, a spirited performance and 3 vital points. So Batswana betsho let's try to believe in our own for a while. An anonymous letter writer talks about how Bra Stan failed BDF X1 and now he is going to fail the nation without even giving him a chance yet he wanted Rowe to be given a chance to lead us into dire situations. Bra Stan has given us hope, what has Rowe given us? Bra Stan and Ken are taking us to Angola, where was Rowe taking us? The conditions and environment that they are operating under right know are very different from the ones they were previously operating and anonymous purports that they have failed, I beg to differ. Bra Stan has built this team and that's when Jelusic Veselin came to lead the team assisted by Bra Stan, so the success of Veselin and Bra Stan are intertwined. Sometimes I wonder whether Batswana are going to believe we can. I mean to dismiss Major David Bright after he did a sterling performance with Santos is quite amazing, he came close to winning the biggest league in Africa and you still dismiss him?
Kenneth Mogae has coached Boteti Young Fighters and as we speak its last standing was 11, teams went to Orapa and came back without points. When we celebrated the victory and the success of the under 23 in RSA and China, we were celebrating the brilliance of Kenneth Mogae, now to the anonymous writer I say dismiss him at your own peril .We are standing at the top of our log and I am saying to Batswana let's go and rally behind the Zebras on Saturday at the national stadium as we measure our strength against the mighty Elephants, who knows we might snatch 3 points. This gives me hope that we are heading to Angola 2010. We need to believe in the team so that they can believe in themselves, have confidence to match Drogba and the Toure brothers. I want to applaud BFA for deciding to be consistent with ticket prizes, that is very thoughtful. I agree with you the anonymous writer that BFA must pull its socks and do much better for our football. They made a blunder by hiring the inexperienced Briton who relished on a draw like a victory but they did well by appointing Bra Stan and Ken. To show confidence on these men gives me great pleasure and I believe the players were also happy about these developments. My bone of contention though is how much are they paying Bra Stan, pittance compared to Rowe's salary just simply because he is a Motswana. This is what kills a lot of local initiatives, lehuha, ke mang ene aka amogelang 40 000 while nna I earn 20, 000 but they gave 62, 000 to Rowe with a hell lot of allowances for embarrassing us.
I would like to urge my beautiful fellow countrymen to go to the stadium with one hope, that of winning. But if our hope doesn't materialise we need to respect the game, go home and analyse the game, do not throw tins and bottles into the pitch. If we get our 3 points, let's celebrate responsibly, not endanger our lives and others, not to destroy anybody's property, just be merry and sing. Let's show Africa BOTHO, we are still weeping for Liberians' soccer victims and victims of xenophobia.
Thusie wa Rakesiilwe
SOWATOWN.