Online Reporter
Lovemore Dube, Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE President Emmerson Mnangagwa National Sports and Community Development Initiative will be launched in Bulawayo early next year.
The president and board chairman of the prestigious Old Mutual Academy of Cricket Excellence Trust, formerly the Heath Streak Cricket Academy, Joseph Rego confirmed this last week.
Rego says the launch and eventual operation on the initiative will see the President’s enduring legacy engraved in the hearts of every sport loving child.
“Schools and parents in Zimbabwe will witness a deep and loving impact on the minds and souls of every Zimbabwean through kindness once the initiative is launched. The Emmerson Mnangagwa National Sports and Community Development Initiative sets out a “supremely ambitious and transformational vision” for the development of sport in the nation ensuring healthy lives, promoting well-being for all children and creating a powerful impact on their overall education and life skills development, including empowerment, leadership and self-esteem.
“The prestigious initiative will focus on using the power of sport to help children and youth on their pathway to success. The initiative will lay emphasis on transforming the lives of hundreds of talented kids, especially those hailing from less-fortunate backgrounds that have no access to sports facilities and equipment.
“It will focus on empowering girls, offering the Girl Child the opportunity to build their self-esteem, courage and self-efficacy, leadership and belief in their own ability,” said Rego.
The initiative will develop multiple grassroots sporting hubs across the country by providing sport equipment and basic sporting infrastructure to schools across Zimbabwe.
The project will also provide sports equipment, fund resuscitation of basic sporting infrastructure and create outreach programmes by employing qualified coaches and sport teachers who will design a structured programme that can aid in the development of sport.
“The initiative will play a significant role in helping children stay healthy and perform better emphasising on the evils of drug addiction, substance abuse, intoxication and destructive activities.
The project will provide experience and employment opportunities to our youth graduating in sporting professions from our tertiary institutions.
“The project will also focus on attracting global investments and global support to rehabilitate sporting infrastructure across the country. This is expected to inspire and attract national corporate investment in sport for children, especially for the vulnerable.
The project will focus on making a positive contribution in the creation of employment in the sports sector and support the President’s vision to catapult the country into an upper middle class income economy by 2030, added Rego.
He hailed the inspiring backing that he has received from his partner Elifasi Mashaba who has been actively campaigning to mobilise support to create a better world for children.
Mashaba was the first chairman of the Heath Streak Cricket Academy when it was established in 2013 and has through the years been championing the development of sport.
Rego praised Mashaba for his support of the academy and commitment to the 2030 agenda that sport can help build a strong and healthy Zimbabwe.
As 2025 draws to a close Rego, who set up the Bulawayo academy with his late friend, Heath Streak, has proved to be an inspirational figure in the develop of cricket at grassroot level.
The iconic Indian national has been involved with some high level successful world cricket events and has periodically taken Zimbabwe junior teams to India, the world’s best cricketing nation for exposure.
Rego’s life has been an inspirational and transformational journey that catapulted him to being one of the most celebrated sports administrators in the country.
His tireless efforts and undying passion have seen Zimbabweans enjoying the fruits of his hard work. Children from less privileged communities are now competing at par with those from more affluent backgrounds.
The annual Old Mutual/Cabs Junior Cricket festival involving over 40 schools from Bulawayo and Victoria Falls is testimony to that.
