The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube
ALL is set for the Africa Union Sports Council Region Five under-20 Youth Games which are scheduled to kick off with the official opening on Thursday.
Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Andrew Langa said everything was set for the Games that are going to be officially opened by President Mugabe.
Langa said although there had been concerns in the delays in stadia renovations, with White City in particular, he was confident of a breakthrough before the Games start.
“President Mugabe will officially open the Games at midday on Thursday but before that we are planning to have His Excellency tour the Games Villages, which is Hillside Teachers College and with time permitting, White City stadium.
“We are looking forward to a spectacular opening ceremony at Barbourfields stadium and we would like to invite the people of Bulawayo to come in their numbers as we usher in the Games,” said Langa.
He said he had been monitoring the progress at White City on a daily basis and was confident athletics, will take place at the venue.
He said although the Regional Organising Committee had indicated that they would like athletics events to take place at night, an omission during the construction of the stadium had led to flood lights not being installed at the venue.
“We had initially planned to have flood lights at White City but unfortunately there was an omission during construction but we believe our (Zimbabwe’s) temperatures are conducive for the athletes to run in the morning, afternoon or evening hence they will choose the best possible time,” said Langa.
He said there had been great financial support from Government, particularly the Ministry of Finance that released the funds to ensure preparations ran smoothly and that he was in constant contact with regional organising committee chairman, Mvuzo Mbebe, who was happy with the preparations.
According to Langa sports ministers from participating countries were expected in the country on Wednesday, and would hold a meeting with their Zimbabwean counterparts on the day to ensure the official opening ceremony met the required standard.
“We are ready to receive the participating teams from other countries who are scheduled to start arriving tomorrow (today) with Botswana being the first country to arrive on Sunday (today),” said Langa.
Over 1 500 athletes and officials are expected to take part in the 10-day sporting extravaganza that will see athletes from 11 countries battling it out in eight sporting disciplines, namely football, athletics, boxing, basketball, judo, netball, tennis and swimming.
Apart from Zimbabwe, participating countries include Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Malawi, Zambia, Namibia, Angola, Swaziland and Seychelles.
Local organising committee chairperson Khonzani Ncube said training of protocol officers had been done, and they were ready to welcome the visiting teams.
Hillside Teachers College will house the athletes while the command centre will be at Bulawayo Polytechnic.
