Namibia unable to fulfill the financial obligations needed to co-host 2027 AFCON – Minister
The government will not be able to fulfill the financial obligations required to co-host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), and has pulled out, the Minister of Sport, Youth, and National Service, Agnes Tjongarero said Wednesday in a letter addressed to Botswana’s Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport, and Culture Development, Tumiso Ragkare.
The 2027 edition of the AFCON was set to be jointly hosted by Namibia and Botswana.
Tjongarero in the letter said, “The Facilities Audit Report revealed that an amount equivalent of N$4.8billion will be required for the upgrades of sports infrastructure, regrettably, it is one of the key considerations which we are unable to fulfill in making sufficient budgetary provisions in the next three years.”
“We are cognizant of the CAF inspection date for facilities which is in June 2023 in line with bidding timelines,” the minister added.
She explained that after experiencing a severe drought, Namibia had to reprioritize its scarce resources to avoid a catastrophic economic situation.
However, Tjongarero, said Namibia would honour outstanding payments for work completed to date by the 40/60% agreement towards the facilities audit work already completed.
