After watching the action from the terraces, Botswana’s national boxing team head coach, Thebe Setlalekgosi has finally thrown his hat into the ring.
Thebe, who has been a Councillor for 10 years, will vie for the Member of Parliament position in his home constituency of Malapye East, situated in North East of Botswana’s capital city, Gaborone.
“Our current MP resigned a few months ago, actually it was my idea to move up to become a Member of Parliament, I’m not doing it because our MP resigned. I was ready to face him just like the rest of the candidates,” said Thebe.
“I just felt the need to stand so that I can contribute more on sports development as MP because I’ve been involved in sports for 31 years, and also as a reputable farmer.
“So with my experience in sports and agriculture, I decided to climb the ladder from being a Councillor to become a Member of Parliament.”
Botswana’s general elections are scheduled for October this year.
Encouragingly, Thebe has successfully cleared the first hurdle by flooring his opponents, winning the ticket to represent the ruling Botswana Democratic Party in the October general elections.
It was not an easy fight at the primary elections but he used his boxing skills well to overcome his opponents.
“It’s going to be a difficult contest but I’m confident of victory,” said the Star 3 coach who has handled Botswana’s national boxing team from 2008 at the Beijing Olympics.
For now he has relinquished his position at the helm of Botswana’s national team to concentrate on campaigning for the MP position but much depends on the outcome of the October elections.
So, does this mean Thebe has quit boxing?
“I will never quit boxing, I repeat again never, boxing is part of my life,” said Thebe who started learning boxing as an 18-year-old rookie.
He went on to win five national titles. He first boxed as a light-welterweight, then moved up to welterweight, light-middleweight and quit boxing after 11 years as a heavyweight.
Among his accolades include a couple of national titles, zonal gold and Africa Championships silver medal, a quarter-finalist at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia, and round 2 of the 1997 World Championships in Hungary.
As a coach, Thebe has been at it from the grassroots level, zonal, Africa, Commonwealth Games, World Championships and the Olympics in Beijing 2008.
Thebe is also the head coach of Diamond Trading Company Botswana (DTCB), one of the top clubs in the land-locked Southern African country. Among the international boxers in DTCB are 2023 African Games bronze medallist, Keamogetse Kenosi who’s currently on a boxing break.
Credit: AFBC Communications
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