"At first I thought it was a scam" - Lioness Ratang on AFCON performance

Sharon Mathala | Monday December 22, 2025 09:30

23 year old Lioness Ratang became the first Botswana artist to to perform at Africa's football spectacular, The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Staffer SHARON MATHALA briefly caught up with the start following her performance in Morocco.

For the artists she tells Mmegi Online that when she was initially contacted by representatives from AFCON , tha she will be the only Botswana artists at the fan parks along with Africa's trendy musicians .

'At first when we found out we thought it's a scam, Then when it finally became real and the conversations and part work started it was a shock,' she recalls.

The youngstar says with all the hardships they endure as entertainers the opportunity came at a time when she was at a time low emotionally.

'It came ( the call) at a time where I was not good emotionally and this news wiped my tears . I almost gave up this year so this became a like a reminder for me,'

'I saw my God,' she stressed .

On her song choices , The 'nako tsele' songstress explained that 'My song choices were based on what my country likes and wanted to represent and sell my country , I wanted to give people a feel of what we like in my country. And funny enough people vibed to them and they knew the songs. We are actually very glad we went through tha route in terms if the song choices '

In the end she encourages her fellow entertainers to never give up 'you never know and trust and believe tha God will carry you through the journey .'

She says with this opportunity it truly proves that even Botswana artist can compete on world stages no matter how old or established they are locally .

Using the opportunity to network she has already started talks with a popular artists in Morocco and a collaboration is in the works.