Were red flags ignored in ‘failed’ AFCON bid?

Mmegi Editor | Monday April 24, 2023 06:00

But the hopes of hosting the tournament were crushed in cruel fashion this week, with Namibia abandoning Botswana at the 11th hour.

In all likelihood, or even by the time you read this, Botswana will too, have surrendered as it takes an astronomical budget to go it alone.

Unlike Namibia, Botswana has not made public findings of a facilities audit conducted by a South African firm, Reuben Reddy Architects in March.

The audit was conducted in both countries in February to ascertain the state of the facilities and the shortfalls.

After the release of the audit report, Namibia were quick to opt out, citing the budget was too steep.

As of yesterday, Botswana had not decided on the next step, with the bid’s technical committee chairperson, Ashford Mamelodi indicating they are waiting for direction from the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Gender and Culture. Minister, Tumiso Rakgare was not in a position to give a firm answer on the way forward yesterday, instead referring the issue back to Mamelodi.

We hate to say it and while we really looked forward to an AFCON, not only in Southern Africa, but right here in Botswana, there were too many red flags which were unfortunately ignored.

It was a classic case of putting the cart before the horse and from then on it was downhill despite some brave faces. It baffles the mind why the facilities audit was taken so late in the day when it was supposed to be the bid process’ entry point.

The audit determines whether the bid proceeds or dies and it were supposed to be a no-brainer that it is taken as the first step.

Putting together a committee that was without doubt, gobbling tax payers’ funds for a futile exercise should not be taken lightly. Someone has to account for the failed bid as funds which would have otherwise been channelled elsewhere, were committed to a still born project. From the onset, the two countries should have appointed a facilities auditor and not gone through the process of signing some agreements not worth the paper they were written on.

The key agreement was supposed to be that of appointing the auditor and everything else, including the technical bid committee would have followed. It would be interesting to know how much the government has blown in a process that was increasingly looking unlikely with each passing day. Meticulous planning was needed and authorities spectacularly fell short, ignoring the common sense of starting with a facilities audit before anything else.

Today's thought

“Plans are nothing, planning is everything.”

– Dwight D. Eisenhower