It’s heading to 12 noon on a warm Friday and outside Botswana’s affluent Avani Gaborone Resort and Casino, an all-electric Mercedes Benz EQE 350 has attracted the attention of resident athletes and hotel staff.
This sleek, modern aerodynamic model – conjured up by Mercedes-AMG GmbH’s Head of Design, Bastian Baudy – has a range of 660 kilometres on a single charge, boasts massage seats, ambient lighting and advanced infotainment, competing favourably with rival models like the Porsche Taycan or Audi e-tron GT.
Mercedes is among the main sponsors of this year’s Botswana Golden Grand Prix Continental Tour Gold track and field meeting and have provided their fleeting fleet to drive around the galaxy of stars signed up for the big show at Gaborone’s National Stadium.
Botswana Golden Grand Prix Meeting Director Glody Dube has the option of cruising around in one of the EQE 350s as he ticks the critical boxes ahead of the starter’s gun.
After all, he calls the shots and makes things happen at Botswana’s flagship sports event that has sold out at the 22,500-seater stadium, conveniently nestled between the University of Botswana on one hand, and the Stanbic Gaborone Gold Club on the other.
But with official carriers Mercedes Benz also having offered Dube and co. turbo-charged 2024 GLC220d models that boast panoramic sunroofs, Burmester sound systems and 20-inch allow wheels, the modest Dube has elected to shuttle around in his ageing, 1.6-litre Corolla Altis that has certainly seen better days.
Humble to a fault, Dube’s been there done that, and isn’t interested in the trappings of success and power, preferring the practicality and efficiency of a stealth bomber, just eager to keep Botswana on the global track and field map.
The 47-year-old Dube finished fifth in his international track debut for Botswana at the 1997 Africa Junior Championships in Ibadan, Nigeria, clocking one minute, 50.16 seconds in the 800 metres. Kenya’s Benjamin Kipkirui won the race in 1:49.66.
“Betrayed By The Government’
Post-running, he has, almost single-handedly, built the FNB Botswana Golden Grand Prix brand from scratch, fighting ferocious court battles to save the meeting that failed to take place last year due to an ownership tug-of-war that he, eventually, won against government officials notorious for their “hand-in-the-till” mentality.
“Last week it emerged that Glody’s company, Golden Door Sports Agency, had been stripped off the rights to organise this year’s Golden Grand Prix. A nation responded with shock and anger. They felt one of their own had been betrayed by the government officials, in particular, the Botswana National Sport Commission chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho, who was explicitly singled out by Glody in a letter to the sports ministry,”Mqondisi Dube blogged on online news platform ‘Mmengi Online’ in the height of the legal battle over the Grand Prix’s ownership in February last year.
“Some sensed opportunistic behaviour only equated to that of scavenging hyenas where some officials were viewed as putting their snout in the feeding trough, disregarding their limited input…”
Thankfully, a change of regime that ushered in opposition leader, 55-year-old Advocate Duma Gideon Boko, as Botswana’s sixth President last November, taking over from the regime of Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi, offered Dube some much-desired breathing space.
And newly-appointed, youthful Sports Minister, Jacob Kebeleng, maintained that President Boko’s new government was determined to right the wrongs of the previous regime “in all sectors, including sports” focusing on a new era of governance “focused on merit and accountability.”
On April 12, he battled to keep the Continental Tour meeting alive after late renovations on the track caused jitters and almost led to the postponement of the Botswana Golden Grand Prix, the second leg of the 2025 Continental Tour Gold series after the series launch at Melbourne’s Maurie Plant meeting in February.
“This event started long back in 2011. It was just a minor competition borne from the knowledge we obtained as athletes when we were still running,” Dube, whose Golden Door Sports Agency runs the meet, flashed back.
“I had to find out how to organize these events… by then the meeting did not have a name… they used to call it by my name.
Down Memory Lane
“And then, the name became ‘Sports View International Meet’ in 2012 and we moved on to 2014 and started getting a lot of recognition from African countries. We tried to arrange ourselves and move to an upper level, CAA (Confederation of African Athletics) recognized us and we then wrote to World Athletics for further recognition,” Dube continued down memory lane.
“In 2018, we were given a status under World Athletics events and we organized the meet as Gaborone International Meeting. We then applied for a status for 2019 and we got the ‘Bronze’ status, but, unfortunately, Covid-19 happened and we couldn’t organize a meeting.
“Meanwhile, Kenya put us on the spotlight by organizing a meeting during the Covid-19 lockdown and so we were also forced to do the same and in 2022 we hosted the first Bronze status meeting.”
From a donation of 20 bottles of water, the Botswana Golden Grand Prix has since grown in leaps and bounds with financial institution, FNB, coming on board as official title sponsors after the meet was elevated to ‘Gold’ status in 2023.
“World Athletics ranked us among the top five global meetings in 2023 on a three-year contract, but, unfortunately, in 2024, we didn’t have a meeting.”
Dube’s ambitions are to see Botswana elevated to the top, Diamond League status.
“We are a diamond producing country, and we need to have a Diamond League. Through the guidance of World Athletics, everything is possible and going forward, let us look forward and host bigger events and – together with our athletes – we shall shine one day.”
Assembled Top-Class Field
Dube assembled a top-class field for this year’s meeting with the marquee athletes including homeboy, Olympic 200 metres champion Letsile “Schoolboy” Tebogo, Africa 100m record holder, Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, South Africa’s ageless, freshly-minted World Indoor 60m bronze medallist Akani Simbine and fast-rising Cameroon star Emmanuel Eseme.
Gaborone had to lay down a new track for this year’s meeting, racing against time to beat the deadline and the subsequent action didn’t disappoint the thirsty fans.
Tebogo cruised to victory in the eagerly-anticipated 200 metres race, his first at home since winning gold at the Paris Olympic last year, breasting the tape in 20.23 seconds after pulling away from South African challenger Luxolo Adams.
In the 100m, South Africa’s ageless Akani Simbine, bronze medallist at the World Indoor Championships a month earlier in Nanjing, China, launched his outdoor season in style, defeating Africa’s fastest man and defending champion, Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, to win in 9.90 seconds with Omanyala second in 10.00m.
Near Disaster
USA’s Dalilah Muhammad dominated the women’s 400m hurdles in 53.81 seconds while Kethobongile Haingura (1:44.18) and Tshepho Masalela (1:44.77) completed a Botswana 1-2 finish in the 800m, both dipping under 1:45.
Dube demeanour is cool, calm and collected. He even affords to joke about the near disaster ahead of this year’s Botswana Golden Grand Prix where the late laying of the synthetic track almost led to the cancellation of the meeting, the final lane marks completed barely an hour to the afternoon’s first televised race – the men’s 400 metres hurdles.
“I’m coming to Kenya to help you mark lines in the stadium,” he laughs in our telephone chat last week.
Kenya’s May 31 Absa Kip Keino Classic, like the Gaborone meet a leg of the World Athletics Continental Tour series, has also been in crisis with the designated venue, the Nyayo National Stadium, facing challenges in the laying of a new Mondo track.
The delays have prompted organisers – led by Meet Director Barnaba Korir – to shift the action to the Kenya Defense Forces’ Ulinzi Sports Complex where the media launch was held on Tuesday afternoon.
“I spoke to Barnaba and told him ‘welcome to the game!’ He asked me ‘my friend, Glody, how did you manage?’ and I told him ‘welcome to the game.’ It is a nightmare.”
Dube was in Doha for last weekend’s Diamond League meeting and will be in Nairobi for the Absa Kip Keino Classic.
Juggling Between Family, Event Organization
Dube heaves a sense of relief that he managed to pull off this year’s Gaborone meeting, with the Botswana capital also hosting next year’s World Athletics Relays Championships on May 2 and 3, just after the 2026 Bostwana Golden Grand Prix on April 25.
He puts his success down to the experiences he picked as an elite athlete.
“I’m still carrying this mentality of being an athlete, and of seeing people succeeding, especially our fellow Africans,” he tells me in an exclusive interview.
“I know once Botswana, Kenya, South Africa do well, we shall see athletes coming up as we get all these big events.”
Dube has mastered the art of juggling between family and event organization, preferring to drive in his Toyota Corolla from his home in Modipane, over 10 kilometres away from Gaborone, and back each day in the run-up to this year’s Bostwana Golden Grand Prix, rather than enjoy the comfort of the event hotel, the Avani Gaborone Resort and Casino, which is just 900 metres away from the competition venue.
And also ignoring the all-electric Mercedes Benz EQE 350 and turbo-charged 2024 GLC220d at his beck and call.
“It’s not an easy thing… it’s a tough thing. But it’s just about sitting down with your wife and explain everything to her, telling her ‘I need your support because as I do these things, I’m doing them for the betterment of our lives, and, obviously, when life gets better for me, you will obviously be affected positively.
“The only thing that I’m doing, and I’m not even feeling it, is injecting a lot of money into athletics. You can imagine driving every day to Gaborone and back, and sometimes I go out to assist the athletes – It’s a tough thing, but, however, we know one of these days, God will reward us.”
Interestingly, Dube is Zimbabwe-born, having migrated to Botswana as a Standard Four child after his mother landed a nursing job in Francistown, Botswana’s second-largest city, subsequently taking up Botswana citizenship and becoming the first Motswana to reach an Olympic track final in the 800m at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
Married Childhood Sweetheart
He married his childhood sweetheart, local girl Amogelang – who is now a Pastor – from close by Francistown.
“We went to school together (with Amogelang), and were in the same class from Standard Seven up to high school, sitting next to each other in class up to Form Five, and then we went and stayed together in Gaborone up till now.”
The couple have three children, two girls and a boy, who were at the April 12 Botswana Golden Grand Prix, handing out flowers to winners.
“I had a bigger boy who, unfortunately, had a car accident an passed away… but you know these are some of the things we face in life…” he regrets.
So passionate is Dube about athletics that he has charted out a cross country course on his Glody Dube Sports Academy in Modipane and, just a fortnight ago, World Athletics sanctioned a Bronze Label cross country meeting on this course to be run on December 13 this year.
“The prestigious recognition places the event among internationally certified competitions contributing to the 2025 World Rankings. Additionally, it serves as a qualifier for the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, which will be held in Tallahassee, Florida, USA on January 10, 2026,” a statement from Dube’s Golden Door Sports Agency announced last week.
Dube’s Golden Door Sports Agency will also host the inaugural Ghetto Classic, a track and field meeting also recognized as part of the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze series and is scheduled for March 1, 2026, at the Francistown Stadium.
“The Ghetto Classic will be followed by another major international fixture, The Road to Botswana Golden Grand Prix, scheduled for April 11, 2026, at the National Stadium in Gaborone. This event will form part of the World Athletics Tour – Challenger level, continuing to solidify Botswana’s presence on the global athletics stage,” the agency’s Communication Manager Calistus Kolantsho announced in a press statement last week.
“The competition will be followed by the third edition of Botswana Golden Grand Prix, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold Level Meet penned for April 25, 2026, at the National Stadium, Gaborone. The event will be held a week before the World Athletics Relays 2026, which are set for May 2-3, 2026 in Gaborone.”
Sacrifice Worth Every Bit
All these developments make Dube feel the sacrifice has been worth every bit, and he appreciates lessons learnt from his stay in Kenya during his elite running days, saving his athletics earnings to buy land and property back home in Botswana.
“One thing I will never forget is that I have learnt a lot from Barnaba Korir and from Kenya in general,” he says, referring to Kip Keino Classic meet director and Athletics Kenya official Barnaba Korir, a former runner and alumnus of USA’s Iowa State University.
Korir was a few years ago inducted into the Iowa State University Hall of Fame for his athletics and academic prowess.
“In my life of running, I stayed in Kenya and in the life of starting this (sports) business, I copied it in Kenya as well – there is a lot I’m learning from you guys.
“If you look at it properly, I’m using the same strategy that I copied from you in Kenya (hosting World Athletics labelled cross country and track meets).
“Barnaba is my pillar in Africa and we talk a lot and that’s why he was here for the 2023 Bostwana Golden Grand Prix.”
The philanthropic Dube has also set up a school – the Glody Dube International School – at the Glody Dube Sports Academy built on land he purchased with his elite athletics earnings.
“I make sure I spend most of my time investing in my land – it makes it easy in organizing events annually. For instance, I can just store the cross country pegs in a cabin after an event and remove them for the next event…”
The next time the pegs will be out will be for the December 13 Bronze Label Botswana International Cross Country meet with the 46-year-old, indefatigable Dube not about to get any rest with a packed calendar of events on his table.
To reward hie efforts, on the evening of last month’s Botswana Golden Grand Prix, President Boko offered to pay all of Dube’s travel and accommodation expenses to attend the Absa Kip Keino Classic on May 31 at the Ulinzi Sports Complex.
A fitting recognition indeed for a man who has placed his adopted nation of Botswana firmly on the global map from his days on the track to his post-career days off the blue singlet.
- elias.makori@ymail.com
Elias Makori, the founder and Managing Editor of Pura Vida Sports Africa, is a veteran sports journalist with over 30 years’ experience. Makori is a holder of a Masters in Sports Management degree from Barcelona’s Cruyff Institute and is also the 2012 World Athletics Journalist of the Year, three-time Kenya Sports Journalist of the Year and twice Africa Sports Media Personality of the Year.
Stay in the Know! Subscribe to our Official Newsletter for periodical updates.