Africa-Press – Botswana. When the Africa Netball Cup took centre stage in Botswana a week ago, it brought with it the bittersweet memories of the Gaborone 2017 Netball Youth World Cup (NYWC).
In the annuls of great events hosted in Botswana, the Gaborone 2017 NYWC sits as one of the greatest sporting achievements. But far from the successful hosting and the enthusiasm that came with it, some deep etched regrets and memories linger.
Leading to the NYWC games in 2017, the then International Netball Federation (INF) President Molly Rhone stated that Botswana should expect to remain with a good netballing legacy.
“One of the main things is the legacy that is left from netball. From the two nations that last hosted this tournament, Cook Islands and Scotland, the latter got a new nice facility and so did Cook Island. We would like to see that here as well. We will play indoors and Botswana will also have sprung a wooden floor, that should enable Botswana to host more international games,” Rhone said prior to the Gaborone 2017 NYWC games.
Contrary to this however, Botswana did not get any new facility nor even get a sprung wooden mat. For the recently concluded Africa Netball Cup, Botswana had to use a sprung mat donated to Botswana Netball Association (BoNA) by Netball South Africa (NSA).
The donation was part of the legacy from NSA’s recent hosting of the Netball World Cup. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a source noted that had the floor been purchased as promised in 2017 as a legacy, there would have been no need for NSA to donate a floor to Botswana. The source stated that the floor was cheaper to purchase back in 2017 than is it now. It is currently valued at P2.5 million.
“BONA had to spend P125 000.00 just to get the donated floor from Cape Town, South Africa. This money is said it was meant to be used for something else however the floor was a just priority and without the games would not have been held,” the source explained.
The donation however is not just a mere heart to heart donation. BONA Public Relations Officer (PRO) Mokeresete Mokeresete stated that the logo of NSA will be carried as a partner to BONA for every international ranking game it plays in years to come because of the sprung floor donation handed to Botswana.
Of greater benefit though, Mokeresete says that “through this donation, Botswana will always be the second option after South Africa for hosting international games. That alone will help our athletes for high performance competitions.”
Meanwhile, the source said ‘had the NYWC 2017 been audited right and accountability taken regarding how finances were used, future hosting would not be such a challenge.’
“It is not too late to seek accountability from the LOC of the Gaborone 2017 NYWC about what happened to the legacy projects and the money which was meant to go towards it. If accountability in sport is never taken, we are just going to host things, waste money and fail to improve our infrastructures. Look at BONA courts, they are old and not in good condition yet the legacy project said they will be refined.”
The source said as much as South Africa made Botswana their legacy project, this should have not been the case. the source says it should also be seen as a shame for Botswana after hosting NYWC 2017 to have failed to have a solid sustainability strategy.
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