The World Athletics Council awarded Botswana to host the 2026 World Athletics Relays scheduled for May 2–3, 2026, in Gaborone. The World Athletics Relays in Gaborone will see Botswana host a World Athletics series event for the first time. According to information reaching MmegiSport, Professor Martin Mokgwathi is the Local Organising Committee (LOC) chairperson. Speaking during an interview, BAA vice president-administration, Kenneth Kikwe said as preparations for the event gather pace, the BAA board took a decision to appoint Bantsi as CEO and vice president-administration, Oabona Theetso is the acting BAA president.
“The changes will be in place until relays, but Bantsi will resume his role as BAA president after delivering the relays,” he said. Meanwhile, a source has revealed that BAA affiliates are not aware of the appointments. “Affiliates raised concern in the last Annual General Meeting (AGM) about lack of communication by the office, and there is no change. This is our event, but we are not part of it. We do not even know members of the Local Organising Committee (LOC). We expected the board to bring the list of LOC members and their credentials to us before they can be launched,” a source said. A source said there was a team that went for benchmarking in Guangzhou, China, and there was nobody from clubs.
