The Botswana national team, the Zebras, will make its maiden appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon early next year.
This will no doubt be an expensive exercise for the team and the country.
When the country qualified, there was unprecedented excitement, which seems to have whittled with the passage of time. But the major battle and challenge still lie ahead in terms of preparation and funding.
We do not want to be seen to be pointing an accusing finger at the Botswana Football Association at the moment for seemingly not mobilizing support and funding for the team well ahead of the daunting task.
This is particularly so because we do not know what the football association is doing behind the scenes to ensure that our debut appearance will not be anything short of glory and success.
We are aware that the preparations and participation at the African tournament will be an extremely costly exercise that warrants an early mobilization of funds to ensure that we are not caught napping at the eleventh hour.
It is in this regard that we are compelled to implore the BFA and government to become proactive in mobilizing funding now so that by the time the preparations begin in earnest, the team is not constrained in making the necessary preparations.
We urge BFA and government to start now because we are frequently told that the association is broke. This is in addition to the fact that government is just emerging from a disastrous economic downturn as a result of the global economic recession.
It might seem there is still sufficient time between now and the start of the tournament early next year.
However, borrowing from the Setswana proverb that “mosele wa pula o epiwa go sale gale”, we are inclined to motivate the relevant authorities to start making all the necessary arrangements – the earlier the better.
In the same vein, we ask the public and the private sector to come on board and make donations so that we really make our mark at the tournament.
It is only appropriate that the BFA sets up a donations fund/account now so that by the time they need money for related expenses, it is readily available.
The road to qualification was not an easy one and even more so will be our participation at the prestigious African competition.
The hurdles are, however, not insurmountable.
If we all put our heads and resources together, we are destined to surprise Africa by our success.
A success at the African tournament will open up opportunities for our footballers in the international arena. It will also become a glorious public relations success for our country.
The success will catapult our footballers beyond South Africa which is currently our only export market.
This, of course, will not be easy but having graduated from the whipping boys of Africa to becoming the first country to qualify for AFCON 2012, we are hopeful that we are destined for bigger things.
And success should be our goal.
Rre Fani of the BFA, we implore you to wake up from your slumber and start drumming up support and funding for the team. Put up a concerted campaign to attract funding to meet camping and friendly games expenses in preparation for the games.
To all Batswana, we say this is a life time opportunity for the team, which should not be squandered. Let us all donate whatever little we can to ensure that our boys are motivated enough to do the best they can at the tournament.
They have already shown us that they can do it. This they did by qualifying. All they need is our overwhelming support – in whatever form.
The same goes for the business community.
This is the time to showcase your social responsibility by donating handsomely to the team so that it is not handicapped in its first ever appearance at this very important international stage. We are hopeful that benefits abound in your financial support in terms of the mileage that you will derive from the success of the Zebras.
 Bagaetsho, Motswana a re se tshwarwa ke ntsa pedi ga se thata.
To the Zebras, we say gallop guys, gallop and show the world what stuff you are made of.
