adminFungai Muderere
ATHLETES and the people of Bulawayo have been accorded a perfect opportunity to be with President Mugabe following the postponement of the official opening of the Region 5 Games.The Games were initially set to be officially opened yesterday by the President but the ceremony has since been moved to Sunday.
“His Excellency has decided to give more quality time to the young athletes and people of Bulawayo as he considers these Games of utmost importance to the unity of the nation and region. Had he come to open the games on Thursday he was going to be with us from 9AM to 11AM,” the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Andrew Langa, told a media briefing at the Command Centre on Wednesday.
Minister Langa said on Sunday the opening ceremony would start at 2PM and President Mugabe would be in the City of Kings and Queens until 6PM.
“This gesture and consideration is great and we thank His Excellency for that. This being the case I extend an invitation to all Zimbabweans and Bulawayans to converge at Barbourfields Stadium and as early as 11AM they should be seated. We need to show we’re Zimbabweans. We need to show people that Zimbabwe is safe, no-one will be harmed,” said Minister Langa.
The opening ceremony will also feature a colourful artistic presentation and displays by some 3,000 artistes after which President Mugabe will kick start a women’s football match.
Meanwhile, preliminary rounds of the Games will be watched for free, regional organising committee chairperson Mvuzo Mbebe announced on Wednesday.
Participants are from 10 countries – South Africa, Zambia, Angola, Malawi, Botswana Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique and host nation Zimbabwe.
The countries will compete in athletics, basketball, football, boxing, judo, tennis, netball and swimming at the various venues around the City of Bulawayo.
ZITF, Large City Hall, Luveve, White City and Barbourfields stadia, Bulawayo Athletics Club (BAC) and Bulawayo Swimming Pool are the Games venues.
“With regards to charges, all the preliminary events will be free for the spectators. However, there’ll be a ticketing system to control the crowd by the security,” said Mbebe.
He said an assessment will be made with regards to charges as the Games progress to semi-final and final stages.
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