Will Motsepe’s visit provide the Midas touch?
The local business community has been criticised for its lackadaisical attitude towards supporting sport, with even the most popular code, football feeling the dearth. South African business mogul, Patrice Motsepe, who is also CAF president, recently touched down in Gaborone and had a tête-à-tête with a handful of corporates that have stood by football. The majority, if not all, sport codes, are heavily reliant on the government grant for survival.
Motsepe, a respected businessman with vast interests across the continent, emphasised the need for beneficial partnerships between football and the private sector.
“African football cannot compete due to the economic environment. Where there are good partnerships with the private sector there is good progress,” he said during a brief dinner at Avani.
He warned that if there are no tangible investments into football, the country should not reap any rewards. “You derive benefits based on the investment that you make. You
need to get resources into football. You should show the corporate community the benefits of associating with your product,” he said. “You should accelerate private sector investment in football in this country,” he added.
Former Botswana Football League chairperson, Aryl Ralebala decried the country’s small population, arguing it was a disincentive to investment.
“The population is small and football as a sport is not sustainable commercially,” he said.
However, Motsepe said the small population should not discourage football administrators as Botswana’s sound economy was a good starting point.
He said it was a pity that what the Botswana Football Association (BFA) gets as an annual grant, does not cover the yearly budget of one club in South Africa.
Nicholas Zakhem, the BFL chairperson, said it was difficult for football as companies were reluctant to sponsor.
Township Rollers director, Jagdish Shah said football had not explored seeking financial help across borders yet some of the companies that operate in Botswana are headquartered in South Africa.
“We keep putting our hands in the same pocket,” he said. BFA president, Maclean Letshwiti said the days when football clubs are run as a society should be a thing of the past. He said Motsepe’s association with football had brought hope.