All roads lead to Letlhakane village in the Boteti District on the 30th of July 2023 as Lucara Botswana will host its annual General Manager’s Cycling Challenge.
Lucara Botswana is the owner of Karowe Diamond Mine near Letlhakane. Hordes of cyclists and cycling fanatics from across the country and neighbouring countries are expected to grace the event.
The event is part of Lucara Botswana’s Corporate Social Investment (CSI) initiative and it was started by the diamond company in 2018. The event is designed to promote sport and health activities amongst employees and the general public with an aim to positively impact livelihoods in various communities across the country through charitable activities. Over the years, proceeds from the cycling event have been channeled towards various charity organisations.
Responding to Sunday Standard questions recently, the General Manager of Lucara Botswana, Johane Mchive said the event aligns with one of their adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of Good Health and wellbeing.
“The cycling event is also aimed at promoting sport amongst the youth; hence we have established a junior cycling team, made up of youths from Boteti area, who have been developed to a point where they are now registering podium finishes in national cycling events,” he said.
The General Manager said they had around 300 cyclists last year and are expecting the same number this year if not more. He said they are happy with this number as the cycling event has been growing since inception. He said the number of cyclists gracing the event increased tremendously from 10 cyclists in 2018 to 300 in 2022. Mchive also added that the amount of money raised for charity has also increased significantly over the years.
“We now have more business partners coming on board to donate towards the cause and these are efforts we really appreciate as Lucara. Just like last year, we are expecting cyclists from Southern African countries such as South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Zimbabwe,” he said.
Lucara has invited Dr Khumoetsile Mapitse who will be the guest cyclist. Dr Mapitse is the Principal Officer at Pulamed. The main sponsor is Afrihub, sponsoring the event with P150 000. The company was also the main sponsor last year as it donated P100 000 towards the cycling event. Mchive said these sponsors are their unique partners as they have been with them for two years in a row. He said they are expecting to raise at least P1million from this upcoming event. Mchive said since inception they have managed to raise P2.7 million. They are expecting 120 sponsors to come on board or more.
Mchive said the money raised from the past cycling event will be used by the diamond company in amongst others, improvement of their library facilities in the country, procurement of computers and ICT material, books and computer training for students in various schools. He also said they have a proposed library initiative which will be established in Boteti District to attract students and the teaching staff to inculcate a reading culture bearing in mind that many Primary Schools do not have existing or demarcated libraries.
The General Manager also revealed that as part of their cycling initiative, there is a junior cyclist program in schools. He said the mandate of this program is to develop talent in Boteti Region from grassroots level and support the junior cyclists in pursuing their passion and potentially making a living from this sport. He said the program has been running since 2018 and continues to grow from strength to strength.
“There are currently six junior cyclists and two teachers, and the program is being reviewed to include more students,” he said.
Amongst other important issues he said they have partnered with Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST),so that they research and make recommendations on the importance of library development in the education sector. Lucara Botswana is owned by Lucara Diamond Corporation, a Canadian company.
