Chronicle Editor
Harare Bureau
THE Sports Commission is expected to issue out a statement and give clarity on the sporting activities ban which was pronounced by Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga among other raft of measures on Saturday evening.
The measures to curb Covid-19 come into effect today.
The Vice-President, who also doubles as the Minister of Health and Child Welfare, announced a new raft of measures to help in containing the Covid-19 cases which are on the rise again in the country. Vice-President Chiwenga said 596 new cases and 26 deaths were recorded in the last seven days.
“Sadly, it has been noted that there has been a general complacency in adhering to the preventative measures both in the communities and workplaces. We are also witnessing a sharp increase in cases and death globally and in the Sadc region. In order to curb this surge in cases and deaths in Zimbabwe and prevent a potential third wave, the following measures will be implemented effective Monday 14 June 2021.
“With regards to gatherings, the following measures are to be implemented.
“All gatherings except funerals are banned. These gatherings include but are not limited to weddings, church gatherings, music festivals, and sports activities,” reads part of the press statement. With clarity not yet provided on the sports activities, it is not yet clear whether all sport that had resumed goes back on lockdown.
The Government has been giving sporting codes the green light to resume in a phased approach, starting with the low-risk codes.
Medium and high-risk codes such as football, rugby and netball got the nod to resume towards the end of March this year.
And all the sporting activities, which are currently underway, are being staged without spectators.
For instance, the Chibuku Super Cup football tournament is being played in an empty stadiums with players and officials undergoing routine Covid-19 testing before match days.
Close sources yesterday said the Sports Commission was in a marathon of meetings since Saturday evening with a comprehensive statement expected to be issued out soon. Official comment could not be obtained for the regulator.
The Premier Soccer League chief executive Kenny Ndebele told The Herald yesterday that they stand guided by the Government.
“We will follow all Government directives and guidelines,” he said.
The veteran administrator could not be drawn to comment further on whether the clubs will have the capacity to play their matches under a bio bubble environment should the need arise.
Upon resumption of football, clubs were grouped under location and playing matches in groups.
But some teams such as ZPC Kariba, who are in Group One which is based in Harare, have been shuttling twice a week between the capital city and the resort town fulfilling mid-week and weekend matches.
The army clubs, Black Rhinos and Cranborne Bullets, have also been traveling to and from Mutare where they are playing their matches while Triangle and Ngezi Platinum have also been traveling to Zvishavane more often to play their group matches.
According to Vice-President Chiwenga’s statement, travel from hot spots areas is going to be restricted with such places updated daily.
“With regards to the management of local hot spots, the following measures shall be implemented:
There will be daily national updates of hot spots as part of the daily Covid-19 situational report.
The public is being advised not to travel to these hot spot areas.
If the above measures fail to control the hot spot areas, targeted lockdowns will be effected in those areas,” reads part of the statement.
Football had returned about two months ago with only the top-flight leagues thus the men’s Premier League and the women’s league given the nod to train and play.
The men’s league started with the Chibuku Super Cup and the main league programme was tentatively set to start on July 19. The women’s league was scheduled to start June 19 and clubs are currently training as part of their pre-season preparations.
Some of the sporting disciplines such as athletics were getting to the peak, having had a number of competitions since the resumption of sport.
Tennis Zimbabwe just hosted two International Tennis Federation 18-and-Under tournaments in Bulawayo that ended on Saturday and were resuming local tournaments.
TZ manager Cliff Nhokwara said they stand guided by the Government.
“We will stand guided by what the ministry says through the Sports Commission. We obviously advise our provinces to put everything on hold,” said Nhokwara.
The Zimbabwe Handball Federation had resumed the periodic camps for the national Under-21 side and provincial competitions were scheduled to start over the weekend. ZHF secretary-general Edison Chirowodza said they will revert back to online-based programmes.
“The ban is a drawback as we were gearing up and most of our league games had started.
“We are going to revert to online-based activities as we recently acquired an online app called XPS where we are engaging our players on training programmes and activities,” said Chirowodza.
For netball, the national association has been working on the best possible format for their return considering the time left before the end of the year and protecting their players, officials and everyone involved.
Most of the clubs had already started training in preparation for resumption of competition after more than a year of inactivity. Judo Association of Zimbabwe president Smart Deke said they will wait and come up with the best possible way to start again when they get the green light to do so.
“We are now going to wait again and see how best we are going to start again as we are also monitoring this situation of Covid-19 because really we were now about to resume fully . . . But now that the spike is also hitting us again we have to abide by what we are being required to do so that we can all fight this invisible giant of Covid-19,” said Deke.
However, other sports codes such as triathlon and swimming had completed their local season.
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