One billion Pula World Cup flop
MQONDISI DUBE
STAFF WRITER
With the start of the 2010 World Cup exactly a week away, Botswana has begun counting the costs of the monumental three-year failure to attract teams to train or camp in the country ahead of the historic tournament.
While international teams fly overhead en route to South Africa, taxpayers eager for solace will find no comfort in statistics indicating that the country's failed bid has cost them about P1 billion.
The funds include those earmarked for infrastructure development with the primary objective of luring World Cup teams to Botswana. These include the P66 million renovation of the National Stadium, which is still incomplete amid reports that the drainage system has been condemned. Another is the Lobatse Stadium, which is being built at a cost of P193 million and will only be completed on June 19. The Francistown Stadium is also way behind schedule.
Undisclosed sums were paid to a British consultancy firm, Alexander Ross, for the production of a feasibility study into the possibility of hosting top teams. The consultancy report noted that Botswana could not host two top teams at once because of a shortage of beds and world-class stadia. What was overlooked was the fact that the World Cup teams have to be in the host countries a week before the tournament starts.
The P433 million upgrading and expansion of the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport has met with limited success mainly being the opening of the new terminal late last month. However, other works involving the construction of extensions to the main car park, further work on the new separate terminal, aircraft parking aprons, extension of the runway by one kilometre and others are still under way.
The implementing government authorities have insisted that these projects are ultimately for the benefit of Batswana in the long-term and that the National Development Plans (NDP) 9 and 10 guide their development.
However, a perusal of the statements and sentiments made at the inception of these various projects indicates that their development was fast-tracked with the World Cup (and the attraction of teams thereof) in mind.
This week, investigations by Mmegi Sport revealed a campaign doomed to fail from the start. Major sticking points, according to sources close to the campaign, included government's preparedness to fund facilities, but reluctance to pay World Cup teams willing to train and/or camp in Botswana. Others include the delays in finalisation of facilities and the apparent "all fingers and thumbs" approach by government and other stakeholders in the campaign to attract teams.
"There was a generally uncoordinated attempt to attract these teams to Botswana. It was never clear whose responsibility it would be to bring these teams here; government's or the private sector. If government, then who within government or should it have been a parastatal. Even in the event that the teams came here, there were inadequate hospitality and sporting facilities to host them.
"Also, the issue of paying the teams' appearance fees in the case of those willing to play against the Zebras was a major sticking point," the sources said.
Botswana's 2010 World Cup Task Force, co-chaired by the ministers responsible for sport and tourism, has borne the brunt of the blame from critics. Formed in 2007, the Task Force - made up largely of government officials - suffered from red tape, hampering the innovation and creativity needed to tap into the World Cup slipstream. The Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Kitso Mokaila, also remained largely on the horizon.
It was apparent that without funds, or the willingness to spend, the Task Force would never attract any team. Even if the funds were available, the non-availability of a suitable venue was always going to stand in the way. The Task Force remained confident and optimistic about Botswana's campaign until the very last hour.
In March as it became clear that the campaign was running out of steam, Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture, Shaw Kgathi told the media the effort was turned to convincing teams to play practice matches ahead of the soccer showpiece.
But the Task Force forgot that besides the UB Stadium, which does not compare favourably with other facilities in the region, there was no suitable venue to host teams like Brazil and England. In addition, Kgathi said the Task Force was unanimous in turning down teams that demanded "astronomical appearance fees".
"We felt the money could be better spent elsewhere like developing our national team," Kgathi said then.Taking stock of the campaign, Botswana Football Association (BFA) president, David Fani feels that sufficient effort was put into attracting teams.
While he concedes that the campaign was a failure, Fani wants other factors to be considered. At the top of that list is the lack of a quality facility, which could have seen top teams train here before heading to South Africa.
Fani cites Brazil as one of the teams that was keen to play a practice match this week but the unavailability of the National Stadium threw spanners into the works.
"Yes we failed (to attract any team) but that should not be interpreted as saying that efforts were not made. Certain circumstances contributed to our failure to attract teams. Brazil could have played here on Wednesday if the National Stadium was ready," Fani said.
Instead Brazil opted to play in Zimbabwe and Tanzania, beating the former by 3 - 0 in front of 60, 000 wildly jubilant fans in Harare's National Sports Stadium on Wednesday.
Fani does not see the reason why anyone should apologise to the nation for a failed campaign.
"I don't think there is need for somebody to apologise. You only apologise when you have done something wrong. We tried our best," Fani said.
The BFA president refused to comment on the country's lack of preparedness in terms of facilities, saying there were relevant people who focus on stadiums. Thus, circumstances involving official reluctance, contractor delays, and bureaucracy somewhat over-zealous penny-pinching, have conspired to deny Batswana a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to taste the World Cup first hand.
The stadiums and facilities under development, while a boost to local sporting in the long term, will stand as a reminder of the opportunities missed.