BFA race against time in AFCON 2015 bid

MQONDISI DUBE
Staff Writer | Friday September 24, 2010 00:00

 

The Botswana Football Association (BFA) is racing against time to submit a formal bid for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations before the September 30 deadline.

BFA, through the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC), is yet to submit the bid document to the Ministry of Sports, Youth and Culture for scrutiny before the government commits its support. BFA president, David Fani, said they submitted the document to BNSC this week, with the CAF deadline only seven days away.

'Yes, we are worried about the time left. Initially, we were of the impression that the bid submission deadline will be at the end of October but it was brought forward to September 30,' Fani said.

He explained that they submitted late because when they inquired about the matter from CAF in May, they were told to wait for the formal bid process. 'We could not submit until we knew the requirements for the bid. In May, CAF told us to wait for the formal bid process,' Fani said.

He said the bid is a comprehensive document and he is confident the submission will go through.

However, the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Shaw Kgathi said the government will need at least two months to go through the bid document.

At press time, Kgathi, said he had not received any document from the BFA regarding the bid. The minister was out of Gaborone yesterday, and said if the bid document was submitted, it was done in his absence. 'I have overheard that they want to present a bid (to government). That will be an interesting proposal as 2015 will be the year before we celebrate our 50th independence. Even though I have not consulted government, it will be an interesting bid. In terms of infrastructure, we are almost there as we need only one stadium which can be constructed between now and 2015,' Kgathi said.

The minister refused to comment on the CAF deadline for submission of bids. He said this is the responsibility of the BFA. He did  not state whether or not the government will support the bid because they have to wait for the formal document from BFA.

BNSC executive secretary, Kitso Kemoeng, said  they have received the bid document from BFA and they are in dialogue with the government.

'We are in dialogue with government. After receiving the bid proposal from BFA, we immediately engaged the government,' Kemoeng said.

A source close to the bid said the document was only handed over to the BNSC this week. The source said the bid is likely to strain relations of the Ministry of Sports, Youth and Culture, BNSC and BFA.

The BFA has battled a tumultuous 12 months in which its chief executive officer, Tosh Kgotlele, was dismissed after match-fixing allegations. Junior national teams missed international competitions after the association failed to register them due to an administrative gaffe. A fortnight ago, it emerged that the association had misled the nation on the constituency tournaments and suspension by FIFA.