26 Jan 2015

A prison is considered a place of isolation and minimal interaction with society.

However, on Saturday it was a different story at First Offenders Prison in Gaborone where renowned former boxer, Thuso Khubamang of Scud Missile Promotions, staged a tournament for inmates who showcased their talent in football, music and dance.

The event themed: Hope for Prisoners, attracted representatives from Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC), coaches of some premier league teams, national Under 20 coaches and the media, among others.

It was a fun-filled day for both inmates and guests which saw an interesting football match between prisoners from Botswana and their Zimbabwean counterparts in local prisons. The locals succumbed to a 1-0 loss to the Zimbabwean team which was a marvel to watch.

The game was an opportunity for inmates gifted in football to sell their talent to the coaches who were present for consideration when they are released from prison.

As it was a day for everyone to show their talent, commentary was done by two young men who surprised many with their amazing interpretation and made the game even more interesting.

In an interview, Khubamang said he had been in partnership with the Botswana Prisons Service for rehabilitation programme since 2005 when he started with boxing tournaments in prisons and later other sporting codes. He said the objective of the project was to nurture talent in prisons so that when inmates get out of the prison they should continue and focus on their talent to avoid going back to prison.

Khubamang said he benchmarked the idea while he was in the United States America where he felt it would also work for local inmates.

He further noted that through such rehabilitation programme, they had managed to bring on board organisations such as LEA, Department of Youth, Sport and Culture and the Ministry of Education and Skills Development to help the inmates in different ways. ENDS