29 Nov 2018

Kgosi Malope II of Bangwaketse is worried that Kanye is endowed with talent in sport but the peri-urban village with a population well over 50 000 according to the last census report, has yet to produce a team with a premier league status.

The village, has over the years, produced super stars like the late Terrence Mophuting, Rio Maswabi, Peter Mabile, Horse Pelekekae, Naphtally ‘Scara’ Kebalepile, Phenyo ‘Mzambia’ Mongala and Joel Mogorosi among others who have without any shadow of doubt, etched themselves indelibly on the minds of many  soccer lovers.

Therefore, Kgosi Malope said in an interview, that his wish was for Kanye teams to form a formidable squad that could represent the village in the elite league.

He explained that the idea was not to dismantle the existing teams all together, but have one big team that small teams dotted across the vast village could feed with players. Kgosi Malope said he was currently in talks with the teams with a view to sell them his vision.

Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Thapelo Olopeng, has given the idea thumbs up.

He said forming a team that could be representative of the sum total of all the teams in the village, was a step in the right direction.

He said having small teams scattered in one place, without knowing what the other was doing, would never get the village anywhere fast.

Where possible, he said the ministry yearned to see small teams merge into bigger clubs that could add value to the sport and pledged to throw his weight behind the initiative to make it materialize.

About the stadium he explained that the ministry would only afford to build a community sports centre not a stadium per se in Kanye. He however explained that the P5 million worth of structure would have all the features of a fully-fledged stadium.

Olopeng said a stadium could have otherwise cost an upwards of P15-20 million adding that the scaffolding would enable them to extend until the structure suited the Kanye population. Funds permitting, he revealed that the plan was to spread similar centres across the length and breadth of the nation, adding they would meet FIFA standards and be eligible to host International events.

He pointed out that maintenance of stadia was ‘very costly for government given that they are not profit making entities.” ENDS