26 Nov 2024

By qualifying for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations ((AFCON) in Morocco, the senior national football team, The Zebras has inspired not only upcoming footballers but many young people in the country to dream big and work hard to turn their dreams into reality.

This was said by the Minister of Sports and Arts, Jacob Kelebeng when making a statement in Parliament on Monday to congratulate the Zebras for qualifying for the continental showpiece.

Kelebeng said that while there was never any doubt about the team’s talent, commitment and perseverance, there was always awareness that the team faced a mammoth task in a team of Egypt’s stature, especially when playing away.

“The Zebras, however, did what they needed to do and secured the point against all odds. This was also in line with the fact that in the past few years, there has been an indication that our performance in sport was improving,” he said.

He cited domestic clubs’ performance in continental competitions, The Mares’ qualification for the Women Africa Cup of Nations twice in succession and the karate ladies’ senior national team which qualified for the Karate World Cup, now ranking third in Africa following their bronze medal at the 2024 African Games in Ghana.

Kelebeng also mentioned the latest exploits by Malak Macheng, who was crowned the Ladies ITF/CAT U14 champion in legs one and two, on singles and doubles categories in Gaborone last week.

“She became the first Motswana to achieve that feat and after that, her year-end ranking is expected to place her amongst the best in the continent,” he said.

 Kelebeng said that the Botswana Excellence Strategy and the National Transformation Strategy among others, placed a strong emphasis on the development of value chains across all economic sectors.

He said that the performance by the Zebras, other teams and athletes should be a catalyst to the establishment of a self-sustaining sport industry and as well as creation of sport related value chains.

“Other sectors of the economy should take advantage of the opportunity and explore possible ways to sell the country,” he said and applauded current athletes and performers, including beauty queens for having set a new standard of excellence, which he said he was confident that would inspire many others.

Kelebeng pleaded with Parliament to influence government to increase investment in sport and the arts, with the intent to quickly diversify the economy.

“The sport and arts sectors can be self-sustaining, create jobs and products that can be consumed even by international markets if adequately resourced,” he said.

Mr Kelebeng stated that talent identification and nurturing should be conducted in a systematic manner that allowed for graduation of athletes, performers and artists from amateur to professional.

Kelebeng said that it was imperative that government invested in systems that supported development of the arts and sport from an early age and such included purpose-built infrastructure that met international standards, to enable the country to host international competitions.

He called for athletes and artistes to be well incentivised and rewarded to attract the necessary talent.

He said the Rewards Package for National Teams and Athletes, which was approved in 2022, would be reviewed to address gaps that had been identified, to make it more comprehensive by including the arts, while paying attention to issues of affordability.

“I therefore plead with this house to support this initiative and assist in galvanising the private sector and Batswana in general to support sport and the creative sector financially, technically and otherwise,” he said.

Kelebeng also brought to the attention of Parliament, other critical competitions scheduled for 2025 such as the Dakar Rally in January, the African Union Sports Council Region V Youth Games in June, Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in July, World Athletics Senior Championships in September and AFCON in December.  ENDS