22 Oct 2025

 The organisers of the World Athletics Relays Gaborone 26 are determined and focused to deliver a memorable event in May next year despite facing limited resources.

With Botswana set to make history as the first African country to host the prestigious event, the Relays chief executive officer, Moses Bantsi said in an interview that the were adamant that financial hurdles would not derail their ambition.

The organisers are still struggling to secure solid sponsors, but Bantsi confirmed that they would not despair.

He indicated that positive progress was being made, having approached members of the business community who were promising to come on board.

“In terms of seeking sponsorships, I think we are there. There are companies that showed that they were with us and some have committed to give us human resources. We already have Halfway Toyota on board,” Bantsi said.

He highlighted the importance of securing support beyond just capital.

He also indicated that government support provided a strong foundation, explaining that the state could not manage alone, given that refurbishment of the National Stadium and the University of Botswana stadium, to be used as a warm-up track, was costing government P32 million.

“That is a contribution on its own. They have also given us offices where the secretariat is operating. Government has helped us pay the World Athletics bond fee, which is about US$500 000 and has paid 50 per cent of the broadcast fee, which is $650 000,” he said

Bantsi confirmed that preparation was ongoing and they had moved beyond initial planning.

“Now we have passed that stage, we are on the readiness stage. This means looking at how we roll out the plan we had put down,” he said.

He said the readiness stage was seeing immediate action across multiple fronts, including marketing, logistics and venue management while organisers were also looking at how they would advertise and lure people to learn about the World Relays.

He added that the operation plan had moved to action in key areas which included freight and forwarding, where they have already appointed a local company called Andrews to handle logistics. “This decision was prioritised because World Athletics believes shipping takes a considerable amount of time globally, and the organisers are determined to speed up the delivery of essential equipment,” he explained.

On ticketing, Bantsi said the immediate goal was to appoint the vendor for ticket sales.

Also, he said they planned to test the market by the end of October or early November, pending procurement procedures.

On the venue, Bantsi said the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) was expected to hand over the newly refurbished National Stadium facility to the organisers by the end of this month or beginning of November, keeping the venue preparations on track. BOPA