09 May 2019

Jwaneng Township mayor, Obed Monkge says Jwaneng should be turned into a sports hub as it has facilities for various sporting codes.

 

Speaking at a dinner organised by Wells International Softball Club to present a trophy they won during the Easter tournament to the Jwaneng leadership on May 8, Monkge suggested that such a move would also help promote Jwaneng

and diversify its reliance on mining.

 

Monkge also called on Jwaneng softball teams, being Wells and Gatalamotho to always aim to do well in all the tournaments they partake in and strive to make up the bulk on the national teams.

 

“We are currently proud of your achievements and you make our town proud.  This is a way of promoting it and as the leadership of this township, we assure you of our support,” he said.

 

Wells chairperson, Batsetswe Gontlafetse, who is also the vice president of Botswana Softball Association, said since Wells was formed in 1993 as a break-away team from Gatalamotho, they had never had any rivalry except in the field of

play.

 

In fact, he said the two teams work cordially as they often share resources such as transport when going for tournaments and away games, which also makes it easy for good Samaritans who want to assist.

 

He said the two teams were some of the crowd-pullers in the country especially that they had been doing well for the past five years both locally and internationally.

 

“One of the reasons both teams are doing so well is that we have a system of retaining our retired members, which helps financially as they are able to buy merchandise just like active members, and they also provide guidance and moral

support to the young players,” he said.

 

Gontlafetse also indicated that there was need for softball to reinforce youth structures, adding that both Gatalamotho and Wells had an informal arrangement with the two junior schools in Jwaneng to integrate and work with the students.

 

For his part, Gatalamotho chairperson, Joel Ramolemana pleaded with other stakeholders to make facilities such as schools accessible to them, saying that at the moment, they had challenges of organising tournaments and inviting outside

teams because of lack of accommodation.

 

“We need schools to accommodate outside teams, so without access to schools it will really be difficult to organise tournaments around,” he said. Ramolemana also appreciated Debswana for the support.

 

On other issues, he indicated that softball had done a lot in helping keep many youth in Jwaneng engaged, thereby desisting from delinquency. 

 

He also said breaking away from Gatalamotho by Wells was an advantage as having two teams in Jwaneng now meant more competition; a move he said had GEN worked as the two continued to both be a force to reckon with.

 

The two teams’ representatives also indicated that their teams were ready for the local Top 8 championship billed for Gaborone in July. ENDS