10 Apr 2022

Orapa United must commercialise in order to operate without mine assistance, Orapa Letlhakane and Damtshaa Mines (OLDM) assistant general manager Ditiro Lentswe has said.

He was speaking at the team’s event to celebrate Mascom Charity Cup tittle recently.

Lentswe said the team should transform into a business entity. 

He said Orapa United supported OLDM pillar of happy people; people transformation in training, sports and youth development as well as general entertainment through team followership. 

“The purpose is to make life brilliant in everything we do in Orapa and Boteti,” he said.

Team chairperson, Kagiso Mogocha, said Orapa United were  going through tough times when Mascom Charity Cup launched.

And they took the turbulence as positives to inject energy into the team for extraordinary results with limited resources.

He said they went in the semi-finals as the least favourite to proceed to the final stage, noting that what gave them energy and the drive was that their opponent, Gaborone United had been dominant over them and they aimed for a breakthrough as a team.

The team, he said, came out victorious through a 5-3 penalty shootout win against GU.

Consequently Orapa saile through to the final against Security Systems which they beat 1-0.

Mogocha stated that the championship had triggered a renewed response in them; an adrenaline rush to put up a good show in the remaining premier league matches, “and we are aiming for extraordinary outcome by end of the league,” he said.

Board chairperson, Lefhoko Sethoko, reiterated that they intended to transform the club in to a business entity.

 “We want to lessen the burden that we have on our sponsor,” he said. 

Orapa United, he said, was a big brand in the northern region, which a lot of people wanted to identify with and its merchandise on high demand.

He said the aim was to see Orapa United export talent to international teams, noting, “if we believe and dream, this will come in to fruition.” 

He said they wanted community ownership of the club. 

Coach Mogomotsi Mpote said they wanted to establish a sports shop to sell merchandise. ends