04 May 2026

At the same venue where the blue, black and white national flag was first hoisted during Botswana’s independence day in 1966, the national athletics relays team united the nation this past weekend.

The National Stadium, the precise site where at the stroke of midnight, September 30, 1966 the birth of Botswana’s very nationhood was symbolised by the lowering of the Union Jack and ascending of the Botswana flag to the tune of KT Motsete’s “Fatshe Leno La Rona,” bore witness to a triumphant nation nigh on six decades later.

As Collen Kebinatshipi spurted home, at the tail end of Lee Eppie, Letsile Tebogo and Bayapo Ndori exchanging the baton in the Debswana World Athletics Relays Gaborone 26, to win the 4 x 400m gold, the nation erupted into a fit of joy.

Batswana from across the different political, economic, social and cultural backgrounds hugged and celebrated in unison. In the arduous ‘sepache se makgwakgwa’ era where the nation’s finances have proved tight, the man at the helm of the treasury, Vice President and Minister of Finance, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe, sat among the fans at the South Stands and joined in the celebrations.

As the ordinary citizens celebrated and mingled with their government’s second in command, Mr Gaolathe’s middle name, ‘Nkosinathi’ (meaning ‘the Lord with us,’ or ‘the chief with us’ in Xhosa) got a symbolic expression.

As is the case with Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) tourism events, these relays were more than a sporting event that united the nation. It also became an economic stimulous, including for the informal sector.

Gaborone cab driver, Lucas Mpinyane said hosting the relays provided respite in what thus far has been a depressed economy.

“This not just lifted the national mood,” he told BOPA at the Gaborone Secondary School (GSS) Grounds parking precinct. “It helped us generate income at a time when we’ve been receiving less business. I’m normally based at one of the local hotels, where I often assist local and foreign guests to travel around town. We had athletes, their coaches and officials staying there and they utilised our services to move around town.”

He added that the visitors he handled, from Latin American countries Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Chile, asked to be shown around town and to sample traditional Setswana cuisine, and he shuttled them on trips to places such as Airport Junction, Mokolodi Nature Reserve and the Botswana Craft over the weekend.

“The games were highly beneficial to us, they were an economic boost. The success of our team on the track was an added bonus,” said Mpinyane.

Most of the fans who thronged the stadium were impressed with the organisation, though some complained that accessing the venue on the first day, Saturday, was a bit cumbersome, a situation they said improved on Sunday.

As the games concluded on Sunday evening, a carnival atmosphere engulfed the capital, as vehicles filed out of Gaborone Central with hooters blaring and the national flag hoisted.

Some followed the national athletes to their hotel and gave their heroes rock star treatment, cheering them as they disembarked the team bus onto their abode.

In what had hitherto been a build up to the country’s diamond jubilee- the 60th anniversary of independence- in rather hushed tones, the nation had regained its voice. ENDS