Namibia pulls out of 2027 AFCON bid, leaves Botswana in limbo
Mqondisi Dube | Wednesday April 19, 2023 20:08
The two countries had raised their hands to co-host the biennial tournament, but today Namibia's sports minister, Agnes Tjongarero wrote to her Botswana counterpart, Tumiso Rakgare indicating they will not continue with the bid. Namibia said the N$4.8 billion ( P 4,256,657,773.44) required to upgrade the facilities was beyond reach particularly after the country was hit by a drought. "The budget provision for the lead consultant as proposed by the company chosen is above our budgeted threshold agreed originally as submitted by the BIDCO committee and our request for additional funding was not approved," Tjongarero told Rakgare in the letter dated April, 19 2023.
"The Facilities Audit Report revealed that an amount equivalent of N$4.8billion will be required for the upgrades of sport infrastructure, regrettably, it is one of the key considerations which we are unable to fulfil in making sufficient budgetary provisions in the next three years. We are cognizant of the CAF inspection date for facilities which is in June 2023 in line with bidding timelines," the minister added. Tjongarero further said subsequent to reports of severe drought, "the Namibian government had to readjust, refocus and realign its financial priorities with the limited resources at our disposal to avoid a catastrophic economic situation."
She said Namibia will honour all outstanding payments for work done in line with the 40-60percent arrangement the two countries had agreed to. Botswana received the Facilities Audit Report last month, but its findings have not been made public.