BMS in P10 million treasure hunt

Kabelo Boranabi | Friday February 21, 2020 12:28

Riding on deficit: The Botswana Motor Sport (BMS) needs P10 million to prepare for the Africau00e2u20acu2122s largest off-road cross-country dubbed Morolong 2020 PIC: KENNEDY RAMOKONE

In September, the BMS will stage Africa’s largest off-road cross-country event dubbed Morolong 2020.

The race would cover a distance of more than 6, 000km making it the biggest cross-country rally in the continent. It would thus surpass the Afriquia Merzouga Rally that runs for close to 3,000km in Morocco and the 1,000km Toyota Desert Race (TDR) that takes place every year in Botswana.

However, with just a few months before the event, the organisers are battling to raise funds for the race. Speaking to Mmegi Sport, BMS head of international automobile and FIA global trainer, Thabiso Seobamo said the organisers were yet to map the race terrain, as they remain crippled by funds. They have since sought assistance from the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development.

“We are on course in preparations for the race but we are faced with financial challenges. We decided that all national races would be held in stature as the TDR hence these take a chunk from our budget.

We could have done a road survey at the moment, ideally we hoped that by November we would have done it. But we are forging forward with idea, we have written a couple of letters to the Ministry, and we are awaiting response at the moment,” Seobamo said.

“We are looking at a budget of over P10 million but that excludes the national team activities. This is a long-term investment and does have value. We need at least around P6 million and our annual grant does not even go for over P1 million. We are trying to achieve these activities with a budget that does not match that.”

He however remains optimistic that the association would be able to raise the funds before the event.

“We affiliated to international bodies like the FIA. This gives us an advantage on the international level that we can host events like this. We are looking at things like broadcasting rights. We are also having a website under construction, these are the platforms that we will try to source funds from,” he said.