Sport wants indoor facility, not mini-stadiums
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday November 9, 2018 11:55
Tebele was reacting to President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered on Monday.
Masisi said the government continues to improve sporting infrastructure as part of the grassroots sport development programme.
He said this financial year, P50 million has been allocated for the construction of 10 community sport facilities or mini stadia, around the country.
“These will be basic sport facilities for youth recreation, and will consist of boundary wall, an artificial turf, soccer pitch and changing rooms with ablution facilities,” he said.
The facilities are earmarked for Tonota, Mmadinare, Bobonong, Tutume, Kasane, Goodhope, Kanye, Rakops, Tsabong and Moshupa.
But Tebele feels an indoor facility are a much more pressing issues than the 10 stadiums. Tebele said sports associations are always complaining about the lack of an indoor sport facility and the P50 million could have been channelled in that direction. He said the absence of an indoor facility has stifled the growth of other codes, which rely on such.
He said athletes would always find it difficult to produce results when they train in outdoor facilities but, at international level, compete indoor.
Moreover, Tebele said the address failed to cater for people with disabilities. He had expected Masisi to talk about inclusion. Tebele said it is yet to be seen if the 10 stadiums that are going to be built, would be accessible to people with disability.
“The President should have gone deeper and explained how the stadiums would be set up and what motivated the government to build those stadiums,” he said. Botswana Rugby Union vice president, Bob Lekan said the decision to build stadiums is politically motivated.
“Other things are being planned properly but not sport. Who was consulted on these stadiums? They are talking about football pitches, so football is the only sport?” he wondered.
Lekan said existing stadiums are under-utilised and it was unnecessary to build more. Instead an indoor sport facility could have been ideal, he said.
However, the Botswana Football Association (BFA) public relations officer, Tumo Mpatane said they are excited about the construction of mini stadiums. He said they are being built in areas where BFA has footprints and will assist in the development of young talent.