The Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport And Culture Development Thapelo Olopeng has confirmed that the COSAFA Cup is coming to Gaborone in 2018
Olopeng shared the news on social media recently stating that he managed to convince the cabinet to allow this to happen.
“As part of our commitment to grow sport through participation and exposure, I am pleased to inform you that next year, we are going to host the COSAFA Castle Cup here in Gaborone. Let us all prepare for it as early as now. Sports in our country is growing in leaps and bounds. Thank you so much for always rallying behind our teams of different codes,”the minister shared on social media.
He told the media that despite the tournament being sponsored by Castle, he managed to convince Cabinet, as there are benefits from hosting the competition.
The government’s position is that alcohol producing companies cannot sponsor sports.
“It’s a government position, which is a good position. I presented to my Cabinet colleagues (on the hosting) and they accepted it. These are the companies that have the money to sponsor sports.He added that he recently attended the Carling Cup in South Africa at the invitation of Bobby Motaung but he never saw alcohol being advertised during the game.
He said he will continue to lobby the government in a bid to allow alcohol producers to sponsor sports and contribute to its growth.
It is unclear if the government’s position has shifted, which will pave way for next year’s tournament in Botswana. The country previously hosted the Under-20 COSAFA Cup in 2011 when it was sponsored by Metropolitan.
