Good year for Boteti regional chairperson
Koketso Kgoboge | Friday December 20, 2019 11:14
Notably, Bunu pulled off a three-seasons sponsorship for the women football league in the region worth P735,000. The main sponsors Orapa, Letlhakane and Damtshaa Mines forked out P600,000 and co-sponsor Kanu Equipment complemented with P135,000. Five women teams compete in the Boteti league.
The regional administrator set the bar too high for his 16 other regional compatriots with another historic P500,000 Division One sponsorship from Lucara Botswana. The achievements came as a result of persistence from the longest-serving chairperson who held his position for a decade.
Bunu hails from Nkange in the northeast district but grew up in Letlhakane as an avid football lover. His diminutive physic robbed him of a chance to kick the pigskin. He was relegated to watching his agemates rumble in the school fields and streets of Letlhakane.
Bunu strayed from his dreams of becoming a footballer and tried volleyball and drama. Although he proved capable in the two other fields at secondary school, football remained his heartbeat.
While studying at Maun Technical College, he developed a penchant for writing football articles that he posted on notice boards.
He became a sports scribe for Orapa Weekly News after his studies. Bunu also published football articles in various local newspapers.
His keenness in the sport seen through his articles attracted attention at the Botswana Football Association (BFA) headquarters and little did he know, his future lay in Football Administration.
In 2009, Bunu was co-opted into the regional structures as a secretary by then chairperson, Michael Motsamai. The following year Motsamai advised him to contest the chairmanship that he was vacating, and he won remarkably.
He made an immediate impact by securing a five-year sponsorship for a tournament dubbed Mother of All Tournament. It was the first-ever spectacle in the region with accolades and kits. Debswana Mine sponsored the tournament, and Dewet Drilling were co-sponsors.
For the past years he won the biennial elections without a tussle. In 2015, Bunu led his administration team to secure a P300,000 sponsorship for football skills development.
The sponsorship was focused on training coaches not only in Boteti but nationally. Some of the beneficiaries of the gesture included the likes of former national team players Ndiapo Letsholathebe, Jomo Bolofete, Shepherd Moshekgwa and Sam Nxube to mention a few.
Amongst the legacy that he would leave for Boteti when he decides to call his day off, he has secured a 3.7-hectare plot for the regional association. It is a piece of land he envisions the development of a mini stadium and association offices.
He additionally served in the BFA National executive committee in 2016 after he was elected a Northern Bloc chairperson. For all the achievements, the man who prides himself as the Father of the BFA regional associations recognised his family for the sacrifices on him and his not paying job. “It takes a lot of sacrifices, patience and family time. And I must thank my family, colleagues at the region, at the mother-body (BFA), and the sponsors for all the milestones we have reached this year and in the past years in our course to developing football,” he said in appreciation.