Botswana politicians travel for taste of World Cup

EPHRAIM KEORENG
Staff Writer | Friday June 11, 2010 00:00

 

Some have said they will go down south, whilst others have decided to watch it from their homes on the screens.Officially it has been announced that President Ian Khama will only attend the closing ceremony of the competition in South Africa.

Botswana National Front (BNF) vice-president, Olebile Gaborone, says that he will be watching the games from his house. He says he supports the South African team and hopes it wins the cup.

However, he says he will still celebrate if any African team clinches the cup.

'The World Cup should bring people together where colour and creed play no role in determining the winner. It is a show of a spirit of togetherness, that as the human race we can come together and have fun,' he said.

Botswana Congress Party (BCP) spokesman, Dumelang Saleshando, said he will be at the Soccer City Stadium in South Africa today to watch the opening game between South Africa and Mexico.

The youthful Gaborone Central legislator said he will also attend a few games in South Africa where he will be travelling with friends. He said it is an opportunity for him to take a respite from the grind of politics and unwind on an outing.

'The downside is that as a country we have not been able to position ourselves to benefit economically from the World Cup, so we can only benefit by going there to watch the games which would have been otherwise been expensive to watch, say...in France,' he said.

He said he puts his money on Ivory Coast, but if it is eliminated in the build0up to the coveted prize, he will stick with Argentina. He said that if a team he supports loses he would not cry 'because I don't invest emotions in a football game. For me it is just fun. I can only get emotional in politics,' he said.

For his part, interim leader of the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) Youth League, Armstrong Dikgafela, says though he loves football, he will miss this World Cup as he will spend most of his time organising BMD members to ensure that they are registered in the new party and also to build structures for the party throughout the country.

'Anything can happen here in Botswana on the political front and we cannot afford to go and have fun in South Africa lest we fail to deliver to our supporters the political promises we made to them; that we will develop their lives.

'We have a new party that we are building and therefore I don't think I would be a responsible politician if I was to go to South Africa and enjoy soccer at this moment,' he said.