‘Duiker a no-brainer for Chiefs’

Mochudi Centre Chiefs vice president, Olebile Sikwane says appointing club legend, Itumeleng Duiker was a no-brainer. Duiker joined Chiefs on a two-year deal this week replacing Elias Chinyemba who parted ways with the club in February. “Duiker was a no brainer.

He is our club legend, a qualified coach highly committed to youth development. His track record at a very resource-constrained Extension Gunners inspired our decision. He has previously coached Chiefs and he knows the culture of the club,” Sikwane said yesterday. “Duiker is the greatest soccer player in the history of Botswana and the respect he gets from everybody makes it easier for him to work with just anyone. He has a straightforward mandate; to return the team to the Premiership,” he added. Duiker faces a difficult task ahead as he takes over a sleeping giant of Botswana football.

Chiefs were a dominant force over the last decade before a spectacular decline saw the Kgatleng side relegated to the First Division. Sikwane said the intention is to get Chiefs back to the Premiership and also transform the club into a commercial entity. “If we can achieve these two, we would have made history as a committee,” he said.

He admitted COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on a club that was already surviving on a shoe-string budget.

“Our income streams have dwindled but we saw this as an opportunity to go aggressive on the commercialisation process so that when we complete it, investors themselves should see us as an attractive brand to work with.

We believe that once we have properly arranged our furniture internally, investors would come to us, not us going to them,” he said. Sikwane said the club has been trying to put its house in order first before engaging prospective partners.

But in the meantime, Sikwane said chairperson Edwin Mothulatshiphi was engaging stakeholders who are eager to assist so that the club survives during the COVID-19 period.