02 Apr 2017

The Queen’s Baton Relay is expected to arrive in Botswana on May 1 ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth games.

The CEO of Botswana National Olympic committee, Tuelo Serufo told members of the media in Gaborone recently that the baton which was launched by Queen Elizabeth during the commonwealth day on March 13 will be accompanied by the commonwealth VP and will leave the country on May 4.

Serufo said Gaborone and Letlhakane will host the baton as the two have schools participating in the 2018 Gold Coast School Connect programme.

“We choose Bokamoso junior secondary in Gaborone and Supang Memorial School in Letlhakane as the two have been twinned with other schools in Australia as part of the Gold Coast Connect cultural exchange programme,” he said.

Serufo further said the baton had a message enclosed within and will only be read aloud to officially open the 2018 Commonwealth games.

“The idea of the baton is to unify people of the commonwealth. As it moves around it should interact with many people as possible,” Serufo said.

On other issues Serufo said as a committee they were saddened by the fact that the Durban bid to host Commonwealth games could not proceed.

“We were clear from the onset that we supported Durban. One of the key reasons we supported them is that they are an African nation like us and the Commonwealth games have never been held on the African soil.”

In her remarks BNOC, manager member support, Wedu Motswetla said there will be a few stop overs to ensure that the baton covers a significant amount of kilometers.

 “We have seen it very important that in transporting the baton to Letlhakane we have a few stop overs in Mmashoro Primary School, Paje Primary School and BIUST in Palapye,” she said. ENDS