22 Nov 2021

  Government has fulfilled its promise; delivery of houses to the 4x400m Tokyo Olympic Games relay team.

This was prove of committment  to sport development and intention to produce world class athletes, said the Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Tumiso Rakgare, during an event to hand over the houses in Gaborone yesterday

The team won a bronze medal, an achievement that was deemed beyond expectations, given challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rakgare said the bronze medal and the African record would go in history books as one of the greatest achievements by Botswana.This, he said, was also worth noting because Botswana was appearing at the world biggest sport spectacle for the 11th time.

In the previous 10 appearances, the country only won one medal being a silver courtesy of Nijel Amos at the London 2012 Olympics. 

“It was a feat that convinced us, if we were ever in doubt, that we have what it takes and if we put our minds and resources to it, we can hold our own against the best in the world,” he said.

Rakgare said while the bronze had not outstripped the silver, the conditions under which it was attained called for a celebration.

“To the relay team and indeed the rest of the team to the Tokyo Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, thank you so much for making us proud,” he said.

Government, he said, had made a commitment to reward the men’s 4x400m relay team with two bedroomed houses.

Baboloki Thebe, a member of the team, which was made up of Isaac Makwala, Bayapo Ndori, Zibani Ngozi, Leungo Scotch and Anthony Pesela, said they were now inspired to do more.

He thanked government for rewarding them with a basic need of shelter that would give them dignity and pride.

“I don’t know how to express my happiness, but what I can say is that we will continue to work hard to represent our country with pride,” he said in an interview.

Meanwhile, the six houses have cost more than P2.6 million. 

And Botswana Housing Corporation  furnished  all the houses while Multichoice Botswana installed decoders and offered free subscriptions on its Compact+ bouquet. 

Nashua Botswana installed internet equipment and would provide free internet for two years, while G4S Security would contribute alarm equipment and monitoring for 12 months.

Bokomo will provide a  P500  hamper of their products for 12 months and Furnmart provided 15 per cent discount of the furniture and fridges. ENDS