18 Feb 2018

Sports is considered a key factor in personal and community development as well as national building.

Officially opening Confederation of University and Colleges Sports Associations (CUCSA) Annual General Assembly on Friday, Assistant Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, Fidelis Molao said sports had over time proved to unite nations, where there was social and political turmoil.

Sports, he said was key to a lot of problems affecting society, given that it was also used to prevent health problems, and also an important tool in character building of the youth as it was also used to instil discipline and encourage team work particularly in young people.

Furthermore, he said sport was used to address the problem of unemployment .

“I take it that our ultimate goal is to have as many of our sport men and women participating at professional levels in the different sports code, and this is awhy government should allocate sufficient resources for sports development because it is a worthwhile investment,” he said.

Molao said Botswana would be hosting CUCSA Games in June, adding it was their hope that everything possible would be made to ensure that the Games were a success.

Botswana Tertiary Student Sport Association (BOTESSA)patron, Kgosi Puso Gaborone said Botswana was happy to be given the rights to host 2018 CUCSA Games. As a country, he said they viewed that as a great opportunity to play a meaningful role in sport development within the region.

“It is also a great opportunity as a country to showcase our talent and what we can offer. We were  here on Monday to launch the Local Organising Committee for the Games and I can assure you, Mr president that from the composition of the LOC, we are going to deliver the best games ever,” he said.

CUCSA president Ben Naobeb said they were happy that Botswana through their BOTESSA pledged to deliver memorable games.

He therefore encouraged CUSCA members to give full participation and support to Botswana given that they had promised to deliver top-notch games ever.

CUCSA, LOC chairperson, Fish Pabalinga also assured delegates that they would deliver on their assignment looking at the team that they had assembled to prepare for the games.

He said CUCSA Games were planned for June, and he was confident they would kick off as planned.

He said Batswana in general were a very hospitable nation and they hold a very high standard of Botho. Ends