Stadia crisis as only one venue passes test
Mqondisi Dube | Saturday February 12, 2022 06:00
The National Stadium and the Lobatse Sports Complex failed the CAF test in 2019 and the situation has not been remedied.
Jwaneng Galaxy will particularly feel the full pinch of the development as they will have to play their CAF Champions League group matches in Francistown. Botswana Football Association (BFA) spokesperson, Tumo Mpatane said the development affects local teams that participate in international tournaments.
“Everywhere we (Zebras) play, it is a home game. However, our teams that play international games will lose home ground advantage. We know the BNSC is working around the clock to address the situation,” Mpatane said.
Galaxy’s budget for the CAF Champions League group stage matches could cost the club an additional P600,000 due to the unavailability of either the National Stadium or Lobatse Sports Complex.
The Zebras last played at the National Stadium on November 18, 2019, against Algeria, and the visitors complained bitterly about the state of the pitch.
The Lobatse Sports Complex has not hosted an international match in years.
However, the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) chief executive officer Tuelo Serufho said repair works have begun at both facilities.
“The two mentioned (National Stadium and Lobatse Sports Complex) are the only ones that had failed the test. In the last two-three months, the Commission has been attending to the identified issues and as at this point, we are confident that Lobatse is ready to pass the test,” Serufho told Mmegi Sport yesterday.
He said there has been headway in getting the National Stadium back to the required standards.
“Meanwhile, we have attended to a lot of the issues at the National Stadium and are now left with only the turf and some missing bucket seats; both of which we are attending to, with the intention to have the facility ready for inspection within the next few weeks,” Serufho added.
He said the slow pace to address the concerns was due to a lack of funding. Serufho said the facilities are not generating sufficient funds to be self-maintaining.
“There was a maintenance lag over several years owing to inadequate funding. The idea when the stadia were handed over to the Commission was that they would generate enough funds to take care of their own maintenance but that was not the reality in the last few years as they generated far less than what was required,” he said.
“While government has stepped in with some funding in some years, such was not enough, hence the maintenance lag,” he added.
To address the problem in the short and long-term, Serufho said they are coming up with income-generating ideas in a bid to raise sufficient money from the facilities for maintenance. This includes naming rights for both facilities.
“Going forward, we are currently toying around with some ideas of extracting value from these assets; including but not limited to selling naming rights to some of them; subject to obtaining relevant approvals, renting out conferencing and retail spaces etc,” he said.
“This will be in addition to ensuring strict supervision of maintenance companies, taking action against vandalism (e.g we have installed a CCTV network at the National Stadium to be able to monitor what happens there), and managing the use of facilities so that it’s within the suggested thresholds.”
The National Stadium has been particularly affected by vandalism with bucket seats uprooted at the eastern stand known as Panda.
Botswana is weighing its option in putting in a bid for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.