Region Five Youth Games mascot comes to town

THE 2014 Africa Union Sports Council Region Five Youth Games mascot is set to be unveiled on Saturday at a ceremony in the city.
The mascot will immediately embark on a road show to various suburbs around the city.
Local Organising Committee director of marketing Kennedy Ndebele said the mascot would be coming to meet the city’s residents and is expected to be the face of the games.

With three months left before the Games kick off on 4 December, preparations for the regional showcase are moving a gear up, and the LOC is planning various activities to create awareness of the games.
The Games will run from 4 to 15 December.

Ndebele said after wide consultations they decided to select a mascot that reflects the city of Bulawayo.
“We will introduce the mascot to the people and we intend to use it as a tool to create awareness of the games while also ensuring a sense of pride and ownership of the games by the people of Bulawayo,” he said.

The mascot is an elephant, which is heavily associated with the region through various logos and particularly that of the City of Bulawayo.

Ndebele said they felt the elephant is an appropriate mascot as it has a strong association with the host city.
“Indlovu is a big animal that has a long historical association with the City of Kings hence our decision to select it as a mascot. On Saturday we will embark on a roadshow to some parts of the city, where the mascot will meet people and residents will have the opportunity to take photos with the mascot,” he said.

Ndebele said the showcase would kick off at the Large City Hall then move along Robert Mugabe Way and the procession will turn at 12th Avenue and make a stop at TM Hyper before continuing to Mpopoma then Nkulumane Shopping Complex. He said they would also tour Sekusile Shopping Centre in Nkulumane, Nketa, Morningside and Famona.

“This is the first of several roadshows we are going to hold as we create hype around the games and because they are youth games, we encourage young people to take an active part in all aspects of the games. We have also opened a Facebook page, where people can log onto to see various updates concerning the games. Social media is a powerful tool particularly if you want to reach out to the youth hence we are aiming at increasing our presence on social sites,” said Ndebele.

More than 1 400 athletes from 11 countries have confirmed participation at the games although more countries could take part as 15 nations were invited to the sporting extravaganza.