The University of Botswana (UB) main campus in Gaborone recently hosted the Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (BOLESWA) intervarsity games, which ended on Friday.
Upon arrival at the stalls, where most of the activity was, one was welcomed by the sounds of heavy house music tunes coming from every direction. They were accompanied with an ambiance sound of back-up generators in the background. It was not just about fun and games as many people spent most of the time drinking at the stalls. In fact it was so hectic that, the stalls ran for 24 hours daily.
One could buy food and alcohol any time of the day.
Many people (students) didn’t go to the intervarsity games to participate or even as spectators in the various sporting activities on display. Rather, most students were either indulging themselves in binge drinking and skirt chasing. It was more like a beer festival, because even the working class knocked off to go straight to the stalls. They would have to sleep during the day, dancing the night away.
There were also a lot of criminal activities there. Being overwhelmingly crowded, there were a lot of pick pockets who were loitering about in search of valuables, especially cell phones and wallets, etc. Students who live on campus suffered the most as they got robbed off expensive gadgets like laptops and I-pods as criminals invaded their rooms whilst they were out. Nolo Mojwale, a bus driver from Lesotho, says he got jacked whilst he was sleeping inside the bus.
“I just heard a strange noise whilst I was asleep; next thing someone covered my mouth with a pillow,” he says. “They ran off with my bag with all my clothes, shoes including my passport,” he said.
Zwelithini Dlamini, a university student from Swaziland, says it wasn’t his first time to come to Botswana. He says he came here not for the sports but to try his luck on the Batswana university girls.
“I always look forward to drinking St. Louis every time I’m in Botswana,” he said. “The prices were a bit steep this time around though, but I still drank as much as I wanted,” he added.
Top South African DJs, such as Black Coffee and Professor, made the intervarsity games more enjoyable.
Having been paid their allowances before the intervarsity games started, most students are now broke as they have squandered their monies at the stalls, said Emmanuel, a first year student at UB.
“I’m broke; I lost my cellphone and house keys. I was caught in the same slugfest everyone was in. My allowance got spooned out on girls and lots of beer,” he said.
Dipogiso Sono, a UB student who was running a stall at the intervarsity games, says business was good and that he made a killing.
“I was making about P3500 every night since Saturday, and I’m glad everything is over because I haven’t got a decent good night’s sleep for this past whole week,” he said.
