09 Oct 2022

Pool table snooker will be a source of income for the country’s youth, says Youth, Gender, Sports and Culture minister, Tumiso Rakgare.

Rakgare visited some Francistown areas with snooker tables such as the Bus Rank, Area L, Satellite and Donga locations on Thursday.

With unemployment rates high in the country, Rakgare said such games were more than just entertainment as they had potential to generate income.

He encouraged the youth through their creativity and innovation to utilise the available facilities.

Rakgare, who was accompanied by Francistown East MP, Buti Billy, said Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) could assist by resuscitating Botswana Snooker Association for it to compete locally, regionally and internationally at a professional level.

He urged snooker players to consider organising mini tournaments and roll out the game to other parts of the country to allow the youth to explore their talent.

“This is already an internationally recognised game, with the help from the ministry to grow the skill, we are capable of qualifying to participate in world competitions,” he added.

Even though pool tables were associated with bad activities such as drugs abuse and alcohol consumption, he said with the right exposure and education on developing the skill it could benefit many young Batswana.

Rakgare said attraction would also come from potential investors in the private sector who could invest in staging tournaments.

For his part, Billy encouraged young people to explore the games as government continued to encourage growth of skills or any act resulting from the Reset Agenda.

Billy said evaluation was needed to improve the indoor games and prove to the youth that it was a necessity to join the sporting code.

One of the Snooker owner in Area L, Brandon Motsemme said he bought his second pool table last year to use for entertainment.

Once he realised how much money he made monthly from allowing people to use his pool table, he relied on it to make a living.

He said on weekdays he could receive about 30 people and over 50 on weekends especially at night when the bars were closed.

Motsemme urged other Batswana to be supportive and participate in some snooker social clubs around Francistown to grow the game.

He said the more people push for the recognition of such clubs, the high were chances of government intervening and providing funds to promote the sport. BOPA