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Collin Matiza Sports Editor
THE African Union Sports Council Region 5 will tomorrow host a Regional Sports Confederations web-based seminar.
The webinar is open to all 18 AUSC Region 5 recognised Regional Sports Confederations presidents and secretaries general.
The AUSC Region 5 are one of the five regions entrusted with the responsibility to develop sport under the African Union.
This follows the dissolution of the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa, under which the Region 5 was known as SCSA Zone VI.
Members of the region comprise Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The webinar will be officially opened by the AUSC Region 5 Council of Ministers chairperson, Likeleli Tampane, who is also the Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport and Recreation in Lesotho.
Sport continues to struggle to rediscover its soul in the wake of the devastating Covid-19 pandemic.
Through this webinar, the region plans to reflect on the commitments, and milestones, made in the 2019 confederations forum held in July 2019 in Gaborone, Botswana.
They also hope to bring about collective refinement of strategies, in the quest to bring regional sport activities to full, swing in the near future.
The seminar will also address issues that are key to the region’s preparations for the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games, including commitments to mitigate manipulation of sports competitions.
The Region 5 Youth Games, which is a flagship Under-20 sport event in the region, was scheduled to be hosted in Lesotho this month, but was postponed to December 2021 due to the pandemic.
The chief executive of AUSC Region 5, Stanley Mutoya of Zimbabwe, said this webinar forms part of the region’s preparation for the Sports Review Forum in Lesotho in 2021.
“The Sports Review Forum will be used to assess the 2018–2028 Strategic Plan in which matters of sports development, high performance, talent identification, Quality Physical Education, Sport for All and competition hosting feature prominently.
“This webinar will also present to the delegates the latest developments regarding the Region’s Confederations Assistance Programme which will see confederations in compliance with the region’s requirements receiving support in the next four years.
“The AUSC Region 5 will use this indaba to update Confederations on some developments with regards to the Podium Performance Programme, Region 5 Youth Games, Regional Annual Sports Awards and Regional Museum among some of its programmes,” Mutoya told The Herald yesterday.
Several leaders of sport in the region have been lined up to participate in panel discussions among them being Aleck Skhosana (Athletics South Africa president) and Tuelo Serufho (ANOCA Zone VI secretary-general).
Athletes will also be featuring prominently in this webinar as they are the reason for the existence of the sports confederations.
Online Reporter