{"id":35993,"date":"2023-10-07T07:29:42","date_gmt":"2023-10-07T07:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/public-response-to-the-results-of-botswanas-afcon-27-bid-should-be-an-eye-opener"},"modified":"2023-10-07T08:06:27","modified_gmt":"2023-10-07T08:06:27","slug":"public-response-to-the-results-of-botswanas-afcon-27-bid-should-be-an-eye-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/public-response-to-the-results-of-botswanas-afcon-27-bid-should-be-an-eye-opener","title":{"rendered":"Public response to the results of Botswana\u2019s AFCON 27 bid should be an eye-opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>Every country in the world dreams to one day host the FIFA World Cup or the international Olympics. Hosting these are not an easy feat. It takes many years of planning and massive infrastructure. Even for countries that are well developed it is never easy to host FIFA World Cup.<\/b><\/p>\n

With regards to International Olympics, a city that wins the bid to host them also wins the gloating rights to say it is among the best in the world. These games are at a global scale. There is need to have functioning public transport. There is need for functioning global banking system.<\/p>\n

There is need for top class hotel industry. And last but not least there is need for world class sporting facilities. At Africa level, hosting AFCON is one of the most coveted sports undertakings. It bestows pride and a sense of achievement on the winning country(ies).<\/p>\n

For countries in Africa where division, polarity and tribalism are often rife, hosting such a big sporting event often has an effect of uniting the country, at least for the duration of the games. Such unity often starts at the bidding stages, the moment an announcement is made that a country would be submitting its name and documents to be considered to host.<\/p>\n

Yet for Botswana the situation has been totally different. The moment an announcement was made, there was an internal argument about even the desirability for Botswana to host.<\/p>\n

Then the argument flared over whether the sports ministry of Botswana football Association could lead the bid. We need as a people and country to pause and reflect.<\/p>\n

Ever since the ministry responsible for sports announced that Botswana will be submitting a name to host AFCON27 games, the country has been fiercely divided on the matter.<\/p>\n

We simply cannot continue like this. Initially Botswana had partnered with Namibia. But along the way Namibia pulled out. Namibia gave their reasons for pulling out. It is not for this this editorial comment to evaluate the reasons given by Namibia. We take those reasons at face value. This week Botswana lost the bid host AFCON27.<\/p>\n

Instead of nationwide sadness of even protests alleging any \u201cunfairness\u201d of the process, Batswana have taken to social media to express not outrage but delight at losing the bid.<\/p>\n

Is this a lack of patriotism?<\/p>\n

Is this a lack of nationalism?<\/p>\n

Is this a kind of self-loathing?<\/p>\n

Whatever the answer, the response by Batswana to losing the bid has come as a shock to outsiders. How do so many people celebrate losing the right to host such a prestigious continental sports tournament? It does not make sense.<\/p>\n

But for many of us in Botswana while saddened by the results of the bid and also more so by the public response to the loss, we are not by any stretch surprised. Our political leadership has been actively dividing the country along political lines and in worse cases, along subtle tribal lines.<\/p>\n

People have as a result lost confidence in anything and everything that political leadership does or says. Minister of Sports, Tumiso Rakgare, a political party functionary was the public face of the bid. This was not a wise decision, especially given the country\u2019s pervasive political polarity at the moment.<\/p>\n

But then for those in power, the possibility of winning the AFCON hosting rights promised something to gloat about ahead of the elections next year. That potential annoys political opponents who in turn go all the way on scotched earth tantrums. We need to reflect and stop politicizing things that stand to unite the whole nation.<\/p>\n

In the past we have used this space to warn those in power the dangers of wanting to own sports heroes and beauty queens at the exclusion of political opponents.<\/p>\n

When the Zebras win, that victory is for the nation. Not for government and certainly not for any political party. In fact it would really help that when a minister or president invites these sportsmen and women say for lunch or dinner at the State House, also invited are some of the community leaders and also politicians from opposition. This would provide a semblance of unity.<\/p>\n

How is it an achievement of the ruling party or its leader that deserving women are appointed to positions of power in the private sector? This denies these worthy women an opportunity to be celebrated by a nation united behind them.<\/p>\n

Many of them know nothing about politics. But all of a sudden they find themselves objects of political campaigns by political parties.<\/p>\n

Government and the ruling party need to dial down on dividing the nation. We need to try and find each other as a people.<\/p>\n

Source: Sunday Standard<\/b><\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. Every country in the world dreams to one day host the FIFA World Cup or the international Olympics. Hosting these are not an easy feat. It takes many years of planning and massive infrastructure. Even for countries that are well developed it is never easy to host FIFA World Cup. With regards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":35992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-35993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nPublic response to the results of Botswana\u2019s AFCON 27 bid should be an eye-opener - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Every country in the world dreams to one day host the FIFA World Cup or the international Olympics. 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