19 Mar 2017

 Debswana Mining Company has injected P4.2 million in the Re Ba Bona Ha programme and team Botswana preparations for the upcoming Netball World Youth Cup that Botswana will host in July.

The P1.2m will be used to fully prepare the Under 21 netball team, whereas the P3m will be used in the Re Ba Bona Ha programme for three years.

Speaking at the official launch of the sponsorship on March 16, Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Thapelo Olopeng said Botswana’s athletes had put up amazing performances at various international competitions.

Olopeng said they had been able to bring home a number of medals in most of the competitions, adding that as a result of their performance, they had experienced an increase in the number of professional athletes.

Furthermore, he said it was prudent that all stakeholders continuously work towards pursuit of excellence, saying Re Ba Bona Ha Sport Development Programme was an example of the pursuit of excellence.

Minister Olopeng in that regard said Debswana’s continued sponsorship of the Re Ba Bona Ha and now the Netball World Youth Cup, was testimony of the private sector heeding government call for partnership in the development of sport.

“You will agree with me that these achievements are a milestone in the development of sport. In view of this partnership, I therefore wish to express my gratitude to Debswana for having been the main sponsor of Re Ba Bona Ha since 2008,” he said.

He said Debswana’s generous sponsorship towards the Netball World Youth Cup 2017 would go a long way in preparing the team for the world stage, adding that hosting the World showpiece was the biggest milestone for Botswana in pursuit of the Botswana Excellence Strategy and the vision for sport.

For his part, Debswana managing director, Balisi Bonyongo said grassroot development in sports may not appear to have the same allure as professional sport and as such may not attract the same level of sponsorship.

He highlighted that it was always important to inculcate the spirit of sportsmanship at a young age and Re Ba Bona Ha programme was suitably placed to nurture the process of producing globally competitive sports persons.

“Since 2008, we have invested over P5 million sponsoring this great initiative that has been used to develop coaches and administrators as well as procurement of sporting equipment,” he said.

Bonyongo further said three new boxing stars at the Lobatse Re Ba Bona Ha boxing centre had entered mainstream sport.

He noted that Obakeng Molebo was part of Team Botswana at the 2016 Africa Union Sports Council Region 5 games in Angola, where he won a bronze medal together with Bakang Rakhudu, who won a gold medal and the most promising award at the 2017 Botswana National Boxing Championships in the 49kg category and lastly Karabo Mogorosi , who won bronze at the same event in the 69kg category.

“It is therefore through our passion and belief in the objectives of the Re Ba Bona Ha programme that we were motivated to continue with this partnership and Debswana has decided to extend the sponsorship with an amount of P3 million for a further three years from 2017 to 2019,” he said.

Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC) chairperson, Solly Reikeletseng said Debswana’s gesture would energise Team Botswana when they face the World in July.

Reikeletseng said the sponsorship would also grow a seed of success on the athletes as they grow into senior athletes. ENDS