National Stadium faces major CAF compliance hurdles
Mqondisi Dube | Monday May 25, 2026 06:00
Despite undergoing major refurbishments in recent years, particularly in the lead-up to the World Relays hosted early this month, the facility remains far from being CAF-certified.
BNSC CEO, Olebile Sikwane, told the Parliamentary body that the facility's track was refurbished at a cost of more than P15 million, whilst other remedial works cost over P9 million.
For his part, BNSC's director of business development and property management services, Makuke Stephen Makuke, revealed that the Commission regularly carries out maintenance work.
He said the Obed Itani Chilume Stadium remains the only CAF-certified venue in the country due to remedial works or design issues at the Lobatse Sports Complex and the National Stadium, respectively.
'The National Stadium has a lot of requirements for it to comply with hosting category three (CAF national team matches). It has to do with design issues,' Makuke told Parliamentarians.
'If you look at our dressing rooms, they are at the Panda stand end, but by CAF requirements, they should be by the VIP (Grand Stand). The tunnel should be by the VIP as well; it should not be on the other side. So there are a lot of modifications that are required at the National Stadium.'
He said there are also issues with the Lobatse Sports Complex, although they are less when compared to the National Stadium.
'We requested funding from government to attend to Lobatse so that we do not have only one compliant stadium.'
He further said there is need to put a roof at the Obed Itani Chilume Stadium, but that will mean the stadium has to close and there will be no CAF-compliant facility left.
Sikwane, meanwhile, said the BNSC will not allow the BDF to use the stadium due to concerns over damage. 'At the end of the day, we are responsible for the stadium, and they are not. We are asking for your support as MPs {Members of Parliament,' Sikwane said.
'The other issue is that we have an asset like the National Stadium that is supposed to generate income for us. But we have a contradiction where people want to use the stadium for a meagre fee. We are under pressure from you, MPs. You ask that we give people the stadium for a minimal fee. To maintain a stadium is not child's play.' Meanwhile, Seleka said the BNSC revenue streams are limited, but they have plans to develop a modern retail mall and also utilise the land around the National Stadium.
'We are about leasing facilities, and this is limited because they are for sport development. We charge minimally, but the sports associations are struggling. It's imperative to come up with measures that will diversify our income streams.
'We want to commercialise land around the National Stadium. The master plan has been approved by the city council. We are currently implementing the master plan to improve our revenue income. We have sites for filling stations to lease to the private sector to raise incomes,' Makuke said.
Further, he said they do not want to lose focus on their mandate.
'Our core is sports development, and we don't want to find ourselves migrating from that and focusing on commercialising. 'We have formed a company that will deal with that part. When the company was formed, the board was dissolved, but it will be the one that will deal with sustainable revenue generation,' he said.