Botswana netball senior national teams, both the men and women, are in camp as they prepare for two major international competitions — the Africa Cup in December 2025 and the Netball World Cup qualifiers in 2026.
The ongoing training camp, which is hosted in Jwaneng, is sponsored by Debswana Mining Company. The Africa Cup will take place in Lilongwe, Malawi, and serves as one of the key opportunities for teams to measure their performance ahead of the World Cup qualifying campaign.
As part of the camp, Botswana will host Zimbabwe in a test match series. These matches are intended to assess the readiness of both national teams. Botswana Netball Association (BONA) president Mpopi Moatlhodi says the matches are crucial for the teams as they have not played competitive matches in a long time. “We need to see how prepared we are before the Africa Cup,” said Moatlhodi.
She also stated that the test series is a valuable opportunity for the national coaches to evaluate the performance of their players in real game situations. The women’s national team is coached by South African Martha Mosoahle-Samm, while Neo Dema leads the men’s team.
Coach Mosoahle-Samm has been tasked with leading the women’s team to a strong performance at the Africa Cup and to qualify for the World Cup. According to Moatlhodi, the test matches are timely, not just for the Africa Cup, but also in preparing the squads for the World Cup qualifiers in Kenya next year. Only four African nations will qualify for the World Cup, making these preparations critical. She expressed confidence that the coaching staff would use the series to identify areas of improvement and assess individual player capabilities.
In addition to these competitions, the women’s senior national team has been invited to the Six Nations Tournament in Singapore, scheduled for 2–8 November 2025. This tournament will include women’s national teams from various countries and will provide further international exposure for Botswana’s squad.
However, BONA is currently facing financial difficulties. Moatlhodi appealed to companies and sponsors to come forward and support the national teams. She revealed that air tickets to Singapore are projected to cost around P447 500, while player allowances are expected to total P149 100. “We don’t even have enough money to buy training gear,” she said. “Even small things like training equipment can go a long way in motivating the players.”
While BONA receives an annual grant from the Botswana National Sport Commission, Moatlhodi said the funding is insufficient to cover all the association’s annual activities. As a result, BONA is actively seeking corporate partners and additional sponsorships to help with preparations and travel for upcoming tournaments.
BONA is calling on the public and local netball fans to come out in support of the national teams during the weekend’s test matches against Zimbabwe, which will take place at the Netball Courts in Jwaneng.
