Members of Botswana men’s 4X400m Olympic relay team have been awarded housing units.
The housing units were awarded to the team members by the Minister of Sports, Tumiso Rakgare this past Monday.
The fully furnished two bedroom houses are a reward for the team’s bronze medal won at the Tokyo Olympics which were held in Japan from the 23rd July to the 8th August earlier this year. The rewards go with monetary incentives given to athletes by various partners.
Led by the evergreen Isaac Makwala, the men’s 4X400m men’s relay team did the country proud as they clinched the country’s only Tokyo Olympic medal on the last day of the games. Following on the athletes’ heroics, the government, through the Ministry of Sports pledged a housing unit for each member of the team.
“Considering that the journey to Tokyo was the most challenging as a result of the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic which hit our shores in early 2020, our performance in Tokyo was beyond expectation,” Minister Rakgare explained.
The medal was the second for Botswana in her entire 11 appearances at the Olympics since making her debut in the games at the Moscow Olympics 41 years ago in 1980. The country’s first Olympic medal was won by Nijel Amos at the London 2012 Olympics.
“While the bronze has not outstripped the silver, the conditions under which it was attained no doubt calls for a big celebration,” the minister said when explain the government’s all out celebration of the medal.
In a move more likely intended to inspire the country’s athletes, Rakgare informed the athletes to know that for them and their peers, current and upcoming, ‘the house will now be a standard for an Olympic medal.’
Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) Acting chief executive officer (CEO) Pascaline Sefawe, has said each of the housing units come at a cost of P467 000 VAT inclusive. However, as part of BHC’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), each of the six housing units was sold to the ministry at a 10% discounted price.
For a good measure, BHC, with the help of Furniture Mart, went further and fully furnished the units, with the latter giving 15% discount on furniture and donating fridges for each unit.
Other partners include Nashua Botswana who have installed internet in all the units along with provision of free internet for 24 months, G4S Security with alarm installations and monitoring for 12 months as well as Multichoice Botswana with decoders and 12 months free subscriptions on Compact+ bouquet.
