The supporters travel to Maseru tomorrow evening. Zebra’s supporters club chairperson Maokaneng Bontshetse, yesterday confirmed to Mmegi Sport that Moatlhodi will indeed address the supporters, “we’ve invited the MP to say a word to the supporters before they depart. We were also hoping that the Vice President would be able to attend but due to his commitments he won’t be available but has promised to send a message through the MP,” he said.
Maotlhodi is expected to address the supporters on how to conduct themselves during their visit to Maseru. This comes after there were some negative reports last year when the Zebras supporters returned from Maseru after the 2006 World Cup-African Nations Cup qualifier in which the Zebras played to a goal-less draw with Likoena. On the day the supporters returned, they gave South African border officials a tough time by refusing to queue up, which forced the officials to temporarily close operations. South African Defence Force (SADF) officers had to be called in to put things under control. The senior official who was in charge at the gate said he was disappointed with the behaviour of Batswana who always preach peace wherever they go.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Moatlhodi confirmed that he has been invited to address the supporters this evening.
“They know that I love sport and I am a true national leader hence I’m willing to give them a motivational speech. I’m going to caution them about the consequences of indiscipline,” he said. The MP further pointed out that if the supporters misbehave on foreign soil, it gives a wrong impression to people that Batswana are not good people. Moatlhodi said following Botswana teams’ recent results in the international arena, he is very impressed and said his wish is to see more people investing in the game. “We need more companies to get involved in the game financially so that the game can be more professional,” said the MP.
According to the Private Secretary to the Vice President Isaac Kgosi, the VP won’t be able to address the supporters today because he will be engaged in a number of meetings. Kgosi said his office would see if they could prepare a message, which will be read to the supporters.
Botswana Football Association CEO Falcon Sedimo said the meeting has been organised in order to plead with them to behave. Botswana was in the past year slammed with heavy fines after some supporters misbehaved when the team did not perform well.
Meanwhile, the manager of AT&T Monnaakgotla Transport, Talita Monnaakgotla, said preparations for the trip are at an advanced stage and will only give other supporters who are willing to travel to Maseru up to lunchtime tomorrow to register for the trip. Already four buses are said to be full but there are two more buses, which need to be filled up. The buses will leave the Gaborone Secondary School grounds tomorrow at 6pm and will return home immediately after the game.
