Bid reaches final bend
Mqondisi Dube | Saturday September 23, 2023 06:00
The Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture will lead the team that has the assignment to convince the CAF executive committee that Botswana has what it takes to host the continent’s flagship football competition.
Accompanying the minister is the chairperson of the Bid Committee (Bidco), Ashford Mamelodi, Botswana National Sport Commission chairperson, Marumo Morule, Botswana Football Association (BFA) chief executive officer, Mfolo Mfolo, Masego Nchingane and Moakaneng Bontshetse, BFA first and second vice president respectively.
BFA president, Maclean Letshwiti is part of the CAF executive committee and will therefore not be in the Botswana delegation. On Wednesday, the CAF executive committee will reach a verdict on the hosts for the 2025 and 2027 tournaments. The competition for the 2025 edition features Algeria, Morocco, Zambia, and a joint bid from Benin and Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the 2027 AFCON hosting rights are contested by Algeria, Botswana, Senegal, and a combined effort from Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. During a press conference in Gaborone on Wednesday, Mamelodi expressed unwavering confidence in his team's efforts to secure the hosting rights for the 2027 tournament.
"As Bidco, we remain confident that we have done our best and we still think we have in there a compelling bid," he said. Mamelodi acknowledged that while they would have preferred to conduct in-person visits to various countries for lobbying, they effectively engaged CAF executive members via telephone to promote their bid. “But they did stress that they were looking at other bids and not just the Botswana one. Lobbying will continue until the announcement is made on the 27th.
If you take your eyes off the ball, you will be hurt,” Mamelodi said. “In a football match, you win some or lose some, but with this one, unfortunately, there is no draw.” Each bidding country will have a 10-minute presentation, followed by a question-and-answer session with the CAF executive committee.
"Our expectation is that once all those presentations have been made, we expect the executive committee to retire and vote, we believe it will be through secret ballot and then the decision communicated to us," Mamelodi explained. Furthermore, Mamelodi revealed ongoing efforts to finalise the initial joint bid between Botswana and Namibia. While plans were in place for a meeting with Namibian counterparts, Namibia cited budgetary constraints as a reason for postponement.
"That meeting has to happen, we have to account for BONA (Botswana, Namibia) bid up to the 19th of April; everything that we did, how much we have spent," Mamelodi said. The Bidco mandate ends on September 30 but Mamelodi said if possible they will work extra days to bring their tour of duty to an end.