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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
THE challenges caused by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic have slowed down the transferring of the National Sports Stadium from the hands of the Ministry of Local Government and National Housing into the custody of the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation.
The facility was placed into the hands of the Sports Ministry by the Government this year following a sustained lobbying process which is aimed at giving sport associations and athletes easy access.
The National Sports Stadium had been under the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works since its construction in the mid-1980s. The Sport Ministry was also given permission to manage the Magamba Hockey Stadium, which is currently in a bad state due to years of poor maintenance.
Coventry revealed yesterday they are still in the process of transferring the facilities after delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“That process is still ongoing. Unfortunately, Covid-19 hit and most Ministries went down to skeletal staff as we know. So a lot of those processes have taken a lot longer but we are in the finalisation of getting those stadiums, two hockey stadiums (Magamba and Khumalo) and the National Sports Stadium, transferred.”
That coupled with a limited budget have curtailed the Ministry’s plans to start putting mechanisms in place for the revival of some of the facilities.
The Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation are hoping for a better and fruitful season in the coming year after most of their plans and initiatives suffered a setback due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The issue of deteriorating facilities and the need to revive them has been one of the topical issues in the sports sector.
There have been concerns on issues of affordability and access to the available facilities.
Addressing the media yesterday in Harare, Coventry said most of their plans have been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Early in the year Minister Coventry and her team toured a number of the facilities, including the National Sports Stadium, Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex and Magamba Hockey Stadium, which is currently in a sorry state.
“Unfortunately after that as well we had looked and set down as a Ministry and decided to try and put some form of budget together for this year but again Covid-19 hit and as most Ministries treasury sent money into health as that was needed at the time.
“So that’s why we have not put any money this year into the big facilities. It was just not feasible… So, that was decided that we would look at a specific budget for this next year.
“Again that budget was sent on to the treasury for request, yes we have been given a better budget for next year, but it was about four times lower than what we had initially wanted. So again the team is sitting down now to look at the priority areas that we will now have to focus on.
“Ultimately, we would like to see these facilities brought back to life but they might not be in the exact spot,” said Coventry. She cited the extent to which Magamba has been neglected, whereby nothing could be salvaged in terms of the astro-turfs, which means there is a lot of work that needs to be done to resuscitate the facility. And that would need a lot of money.
The Minister noted that there is a need for the facilities to be self-sustainable, hence they need a holistic approach when it comes to the revival of facilities.
She also highlighted the need for the country to identify the sporting codes the country has been doing well in and start prioritising according to the results being produced.
With regards to issues of access to facilities, Coventry said they want to focus on better access for everybody, hence the Ministry is going for multi-purpose facilities.
And for the next few years, the Ministry’s main focus is on revamping the community centres across the country where there will be multi-purpose facilities in all the sectors they oversee from sport, arts and youth.
Going into 2021 it’s likely to be a tough year for most of the national sport associations since there wasn’t much happening this year, hence could not generate money.
Minister Coventry said they will do all they can to bring some relief for the national associations. But again it also comes back to the budget.
However, she believes with the amendments being made to the Sport and Recreation Commission Act, and the Sport Integrity Bill, they will be able to restructure and reconfigure the Sports Commission. And with the buy-in from corporate sponsors, there will be better governance in sport, which may open doors for partnerships.
Online Reporter