Zebras plead for 50% housing discount
Kabelo Boranabi | Wednesday December 10, 2025 09:52
During the team's send-off ceremony held on Sunday evening, the Zebras pleaded for a 50% housing purchase discount from the Botswana Housing Corporation.
Standing in for the team's captains, veteran goalkeeper Kabelo Dambe said the football career is a demanding but short one without any tangible benefits. He asked the Minister of Sports and Arts to consider engaging BHC for a half-price discount to give the players some dignity once they hang up their boots.
“I have been sent by the players to you, Minister. We are all aware that the football career is very short, and here in Botswana, football is not really fully professional. So the players have sent me to ask you to consider speaking to BHC on our behalf. To ask that we at least get a 50% discount on the houses, so that we can have something to fall back on when we retire from the game, ' Dambe said.
Football rewards have never extended to housing initiatives, while athletics has been the only sporting code enjoying the winners' prize housing initiatives locally. The men’s 4×400m relay team that won bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics were each handed fully furnished two‑bedroom flats. More recently, medallists from the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics received houses under the same policies.
Meanwhile, head coach Morena Ramoreboli presented the final 26-man AFCON travelling team with little to no surprises. The duo of Shanganani Ngada and Losika Ratshukudu, the youngest member of the team, stand in to make their debuts at the biggest stage of continental football. Dambe is the only surviving member of the 2012 team and is the oldest in the team. Only five players are based abroad and mostly in North Africa, while the majority of the squad is made up of locally based players.
The Final Zebras AFCON 2025 team list:
Goalkeepers: Keeagile Kgosipula (Chiefs), Goitseone Phoko (Galaxy), Kabelo Dambe (Rollers)
Defenders: Mosha Gaolaolwe (Rollers), Thatayaone Ditlhokwe (Al Ittihad, Libya), Shanganani Nganda (Chiefs), Tebogo Kopelang, Thabo Leinananye, Chicco Molefe(all Galaxy), Alford Velaphi, Mothusi Johnson (both GU)
Midfielders: Godiraone Modingwane (BDF XI), Gape Mohutsiwa (MC Oran, Algeria), Mothusi Cooper (Rollers), Lebogang Ditsele, Thabo Maponda ( both GU), Monty Enosa, Gilbert Baruti (both Chiefs), Olebogeng Ramotse (Galaxy),
Forwards: Omaatla Kebatho, Thabang Sesinyi (both Galaxy), Kabelo Seakanyeng (MAS FES, Morocco), Tumisang Orebonye (Wydad AS, Morocco), Segolame Boy (Sua Flamingoes), Losika Ratshukudu (Ubuntu FC, South Africa), Thatayaone Kgamanyane (GU)