Chronicle Editor
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
COVID-19 has forced the Confederation of Schools Sports Association of Southern Africa (Cossasa) to postpone its sporting activities for the second consecutive year.
Cossasa oversees regional primary and secondary schools’ games.
It cancelled its athletics and ball games due to the global pandemic last year.
The athletics finals had been slated for April in South Africa, with the ball games set for August in Botswana.
Rising coronavirus cases have affected schools’ activities across southern Africa.
Zimbabwe indefinitely banned sporting activities in schools as part of drastic measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.
“Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc and as such, Cossasa Games for 2021 have been cancelled.
The track and field season is over and it is usually done in the first term, meaning we can’t reschedule the track and field competitions. The August holidays are usually reserved for ball games, but they will not be played because of Covid-19.
“Most Cossasa schools’ sport is still banned save for Namibia. Our only hope is that maybe next year the situation will have improved and this will allow school children from the Sadc region to interact and play their games,” said Arthur Maphosa, Cossasa secretary-general.
Cossasa is made up of Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Malawi and South Africa.
Maphosa said schools are the breeding ground for development of any sport and following the Covid-19 induced suspension of activities, development of athletes remains stagnant, raising the possibility of losing some talent in the process after going for more than two years without activities.
“The sports industry has been affected by Covid-19 and the damage caused by the pandemic will be felt in about three- or four-years’ time when the huge developmental gap yawns for all to witness. It’s unfortunate that this is all beyond anyone’s control because lives are more important,” Maphosa said. – @ZililoR
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