Cllrs decry no show for 2013 Botswana Games

ONALENNA KELE
BEILEStaff Writer | Wednesday May 29, 2013 00:00

 

 Basupang was responding to councillors' requests for the BNSC to consider Francistown as the host city for this year's Botswana Games.He explained that the decision has already been made considering that the scale of the African Youth Games is the same as that of Botswana Games, hence running the two events concurrently would be difficult. 'All the budget and resources have been channelled to the African Youth Games because it is a higher calling than Botswana Games,' he added.

Basupang also explained that the sequence of the Botswana Games, that are held every two years, is an issue that his office will look into.Basupang, who was addressing Selebi-Phikwe Town Council's full council meeting recently, said Botswana Games are held for Under-19 youth, both school-going and out-of-school for talent identification purposes and nurturing of such talent. He said the games also afford athletes and coaches alike a chance to be adopted by local teams and prepare athletes for international competitions.

The games involve all sports disciplines. He told the house that Selebi-Phikwe participated in 10 sport codes in 2011 and attained position four. Basupang further appealed to stakeholders to assist BNSC with funding to finance the games. He added that BNSC is considering Francistown City to host the next Botswana Game.He explained they scanned all the towns and discovered that only Francistown had facilities similar to those found in Gaborone. 'It is not a conclusion, but we are still engaging the Francistown authorities. We have carried out a feasibility study there and requested the authorities to fast-track renovations of sporting facilities,' he said.He noted that hosting the games in Francistown would minimise downgrading of the number of participants.He further said there are already indications of the council succeeding in making athletes self- sustaining and added that so far there are many athletes making a living out of sports.

'Football is making a lot of efforts to commercialize and other codes are following. We hope to have a substantial number of athletes in the professional lines,' he noted.Councillor Godfrey Mbaiwa requested the BNSC to consider maintaining the Botswana Games schedule fearing that by the time the games are held the youth who would qualify would have outgrown the required age during the next games. He was concerned that failure to hold the games this year would disturb the unearthing of youth talent.

Councillor Koos Mashaba argued that sports must turn into a source of income for participants and that talent must be rewarded accordingly.  'Pay athletes rather than forget them only to remember them again when their services are needed. Revise policies to make sports an industry because currently there is nothing that youth benefit at the end of the day,' he said.Councillors also felt that towns must be allowed to bid to host national games like Botswana Games.They stated that bidding would afford an opportunity for towns to advertise themselves and erect the necessary infrastructure.