04 Mar 2014

At least 2 500 youths aged between 14 and 18 from 54 African countries are expected to participate in the Second African Youth Games to be hosted by Botswana from May 22 to 31.

Briefing Parliament recently, the Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture, Mr Shaw Kgathi said the youths would be accompanied by 1 500 officials and would participate in 21 sporting codes.

Mr Kgathi further said delegations including media practitioners from other countries such as China, Canada, Norway and USA would also be in Gaborone to witness the event and to provide technical assistance to the Local Organising Committee (LOC).

He said the games would be broadcast live in most African countries through Botswana Television and Supersport. Mr Kgathi said this meant that there would be plenty of stories and images coming out of Botswana and being read, heard or seen throughout the African continent and beyond through print, radio, television and social media.

The minister said viewers would be treated to a taste of Botswana’s history, culture and music during the three hour official opening ceremony on May 22. He said the theme for the games is: Uniting African Youth, Catalysing Botswana’s Economic Diversification.

“I therefore hope that in line with this theme, we will take advantage of this unique opportunity to profile ourselves as a destination for investment, tourism, education and sport,” he said. Mr Kgathi said this would result in employment creation and consequently, improving the lives of Batswana.

“Through these games, we are also providing a platform for our young people, who are future leaders of our continent, to cultivate mutual respect for others and the world we live in,” he said. He called upon everyone to contribute towards the success of the games through volunteering and making donations.

The LOC has so far been able to get international assistance as the US Olympic Committee has provided a consultant to facilitate BAYGOC on the organisation of the games at no cost to the committee.

Minister Kgathi told Parliament that the Norwegian Olympic Committee (NIF) has also employed three people to be part of the games secretariat in addition to contributing P230 000 to the education programme during the games.

A US based company has pledged sponsorship of 5 000 of each of the following items; duvets and pillow cases, golf shirts, track suits, caps, towels and hand towels.

The minister said  government ministries have also seconded personnel to the organising committee secretariat assisting it to save costs.

Talking about funding, he said the government has contributed P28 million whilst the Association of National Olympic Committee of Africa has contributed P17 million towards the games.

Other sponsors are Choppies with P8.5 million, Ministry of Health contributed over P6 million for campaigns against alcohol and drug abuse during the games. Botswana Medical Aid (BoMaid) contributed P1 million and Mascom made a sponsorship of P880 000.

Orange has sponsored the event with P400 000 and Toongat Hullet has contributed P212 500 while Banc ABC has also contributed P212 000 and BIHL has made a P110 000 sponsorship, said the minister. AT&T Monnakgotla and AgriServe contributed P45 000 and P30 000 respectively.

He said the committee has also secured sponsorships in kind from the University of Botswana, Mmegi Monitor, Avis, Mascom, BIHL Group, Bomaid, Adidas International, Nashua, Dimension Data and ZDO.

“I appreciate all these acts of benevolence and social responsibility, We will deliver the games successfully because of this tremendous support from everybody,” he said. Mr Kgathi said there would be pre-games ministerial meetings of all African ministers responsible for sport on May 23.

He urged MPs to assume ambassadorial roles in relation to the games as well as contributing to the success of the games. ENDS