Online ReporterEllina Mhlanga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
OLYMPAFRICA Foundation programme manager Marieme Coumba has expressed optimism following her site visit in Masvingo, where the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee are hoping to establish an OlympAfrica Centre.
ZOC revived efforts to push the project after Masvingo City Council donated a minimum of three hectares of land to the National Olympic Committee.
And Coumba, based in Senegal, was in Zimbabwe for a site visit last week.
“The whole purpose of my visit to Zimbabwe was that the Olympic Committee had land where we could build an OlympAfrica Centre.
“So, I went to Masvingo to assess the land to see if it was well located; if it meets all the conditions that we require for us to build a centre somewhere.
“And luckily, the land was very well located because it’s surrounded by schools and is inside the community, which really is helpful and will be useful once the centre is built, because once we build those sport facilities, we don’t leave them like that.
“We actually make them active. They have to be operational and active, which means the children and young adults of the community have to come daily to the centre to practise sport activities.
“And also, to benefit from the sport and educational activities that we fund all over the year.
“So, the fact that the land is inside the community and very well located is also very good because it will be accessible to everybody,” said Coumba.
“The next step is actually looking great, because from here I will just have to do a report to the office and tell them that the land meets all the requirements, so we can move ahead.
“So, the next step is actually officially giving feedback to the National Olympic Committee.”
The multi-purpose sport facility, to be constructed in partnership with the Association of National Olympic Commit-tees of Africa (ANOCA) and OlympAfrica, will serve as a legacy infrastructure investment for Zimbabwean sport and community development.
The main objective of OlympAfrica is to use sport as a tool to educate children and young adults in communities, driving social development.
“Those centres are centres for the community, even though it belongs to the National Olympic Committee, it also belongs to the community and is free of charge.”
Initially, the project was set for Epworth after ZOC entered into a partnership with the Epworth Local Board, wherein the local authority provided the land.
But the construction failed to take place due to illegal settlers who occupied the land.
Coumba said the donation by Masvingo was a huge step towards turning the project into reality.
“Actually, the OlympAfrica project is not something new to Zimbabwe.
“The National Olympic Committee has been seeking land for 10 years now. So, they actually succeeded this year to get land, which was donated by the municipality of Masvingo, which is actually a huge step towards the whole project.
“Because now we can go ahead and build the centre, and then start funding sport activities, educational pro-grammes, recreational activities for the children and the young adults of the community,” said Coumba.
