The informal sector in Francistown should not raise their hopes too high because the Botswana Games will not attract the number of spectators like in football matches.This is according to the Botswana National Sports Council led delegation which made a presentation at the Francistown City Commission last week. This response came after councilors had sought to understand how the informal sector would benefit from the upcoming Botswana Games.
In his answer, Local Organizing Committee Chairperson, Bobby Gaseitsewe, said they had registered about 90 people from the informal sector, but will select only 16 who will be given stalls at the stadium to sell their products at standard prices to be decided. “It’s not like the stadium will be packed to capacity like in our previous games and someone is likely to make a loss or little profit depending on the situation, but that is the nature of business. It’s a gamble,” he explained.
Councilors however expressed disappointment, saying information on how the games would benefit the people of Francistown had not been shared before hand, “We are worried that with only a week to the games, most of the information was never availed to us until today when you are here. We don’t even know the process which was adopted to decide on how to help those from the informal sector to benefit from these games, how they can register and get stalls there,” said Specially Elected Councilor Peter Ngoma.
Satellite North Councilor, Oratile Tumedi also expressed concern over the lack of information on how people can acquire stalls, “Many people are still enquiring out there on how they can acquire those stalls and we didn’t have answers as they were never availed to us by the Local Organising Committee. How did that process take place?” Tumedi quizzed.
Registration however remains open at the District Commissioner’s office, and a draw will be held on 3rd December.