31 Aug 2023

Botswana will on Sunday host the Southern Africa Inter Municipal Sports Association (SAIMSA) games.

The games will be hosted under the Local Authorities and Health Inter Sport Association (LAHISA) banner and will be kick-started with an official opening by Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, Tumiso Rakgare, local government and rural development minister, Kgotla Autlwetse giving the closing remarks as well as Gaborone City mayor, Austin Abraham performing the welcome remarks.

The games will conclude on September 9 with a closing ceremony at the Bank of Botswana grounds. 

There will also be an official send-off dinner. The winning teams in the various sporting codes will receive medals.  

The games will be held under the theme: Promoting Wellness Through Sports Without Borders. Teams are expected to arrive on Saturday

LAHISA public relations officer (PRO), Mmilidzi Diphuti said the SAIMSA games were organised for employees under the ministries of local government and rural development, lands and water affairs as well as health for countries in SADC region.

He said LAHISA was a wellness and interaction association for employees of the three ministries in the SADC countries affiliated to SAIMSA, a SADC wellness organ comprising of Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia and Zambia.

Diphuti also said Zimbabwe and Malawi had shown interest to join the association and had been invited to watch the games. 

He said the games were hosted on an annual rotational basis with Botswana being the 2023 host taking over from Zambia as previous past hosts.

He noted that the games were suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Diphuti also said the games played a pivotal role in nurturing talent and encouraging workers to value sport in their life.

“It serves as a platform for public servants to display their skills, determination and passion while also providing them with opportunities for growth and progression in the respective sporting code,” he said.

He said teams will participate sporting codes includes football, netball, volleyball, snooker, darts, marathon, tug-of-war, lawn tennis, table tennis, golf and swimming among others.

Diphuti said the games would be hosted at the University of Botswana Stadium, National Stadium, BONA courts, Maruapula and BoB grounds as well as using community halls at G-West, Old Naledi and Tsholofelo for indoor sports while swimming will be done at Gaborone Dam. ENDs