He dismissed claims that the Maun, Masunga and Molepolole sports complexes are sub-standard as stated by the administrators. He is concerned that the three facilities are not fully used and claims that they are not up to standard are a non-starter. "Get another reason why you are not using these stadiums. You are the ones who approved these sports' complex plans and now you are saying they are of low standards," Kgathi said at the Botswana National Olympics Committee (BNOC) general assembly of Thursday. He urged sports codes to use the venues to prove to government that they desperately needed them. "We have to de-centralise, we cannot have all our activities in Gaborone," Kgathi said.
He stated that the government is committed to developing sports in Botswana but this will be meaningless if facilities are not used. "Facilities that we build around the country are a clear testimony to our commitment to sports development," he said. He expressed concern that though they try to build stadiums, some take longer than planned resulting in cost overruns. He gave the example of the National Stadium refurbishment saying that it is not certain when the works will be complete. He said the stadium has defects and need to be re-done. He explained that supervising consultants gave the contractor the go-ahead to lay the tuff only to realise later that some things were not done properly. The minister expressed disappointment that some of the companies that do shoddy jobs are owned by locals.
