BAA at loggerheads with Betway, BTC over pledges
Calistus Kolantsho | Monday January 12, 2026 06:00
The two companies made promises following outstanding performance by the athletics team at the 2025 World Athletics Championships held in Tokyo last September.
BTC, the local telecoms company, had pledged cash and in-kind connectivity sponsorship worth P300,000 to the athletes and coaches.
Betway on the other promised P1.3 million to reward athletes, coaches and support staff.
BAA CEO, Mabua Mabua, said they did not have issues with Debswana and Orange Botswana, who also made undertakings to the team.
“We started the conversation of payment of athletes in October, and there have been back and forth because the two companies needed many different documents at different times,” he said.
Mabua said the BTC pledge had some conditions that were difficult to fulfil because some of the team members are professional athletes with binding contracts elsewhere.
Some of the conditions were that the athletes should meet and greet employees of the telecommunications group, customers, appear on the BTC podcast and also open accounts with the company's mobile money service, SMEGA.
BTC also wanted to be granted permission to use images of the athletes.
“When companies realise that elite athletes have contracts, it becomes an issue.
“We cannot force Letsile Tebogo to make an appearance at BTC because he has a contract with Orange Botswana,” the BAA CEO revealed.
Mabua explained that in the beginning, Betway's conditions were different from those of other companies. He explained that the company requested BAA to register as a supplier, which they did.
“They then requested tax clearance. We told them that we do not pay tax, and they said we should get a tax exemption from BURS. They also needed a bank confirmation letter and an invoice in October,” he said.
Mabua added he even suggested that Betway should pay athletes directly to avoid further delays.
MmegiSport is informed that Betway stated that it does not make payments to individuals.
He said that, still in December, the gaming company requested a due diligence document, something that was not initially needed.
Mabua stated that going forward, the BAA is going to develop a pledge guiding code. He said some companies that pledge come up with conditions that are difficult to fulfil.
He noted that Betway had requirements that were totally different from what was on the ground.
Betway country manager, Michelle France-Mabiletsa, told MmegiSport that there are processes in place that should be followed.
“We make payments following those processes. I am not saying BAA delayed the process; maybe it is because they were never requested to submit documents. By the time we requested the documents, they realised that one of the documents was not up-to-date,” she said.
France-Mabiletsa added they were excited by the performance of the team, hence their pledge. She said they would always support athletics, and world champion, Busang Collen Kebinatshipi, is a Betway ambassador.
“The money is available, we are waiting for the requirements to be fulfilled. It is checks and balances,” she said.
For their part, BTC officials acknowledged that there have been some delays regarding the pledge. BTC’s Stakeholders Relations, Lesego Goitsemang, said the payments would be made by today (Friday).
“The delays were basically on the documents that we needed. We will be paying straight to the athletes and coaches,” she said.