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GETTING READY FOR RIO 2016 . . . Stanley Mutoya, the general manager of the African Union Sports Council Region Five, makes a point while talking about the Region’s preparations for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympics Games in Harare yesterday

Collin Matiza Sports Editor
ZIMBABWE recently hosted the Council of Ministers Meeting for the African Union Sports Council Region Five in Bulawayo where some of the key decisions that came out of that indaba included the adoption of the Podium Performance Programme designed to help the region develop medallists for the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Council of Ministers also made a decision that the region will now host regional annual sports awards beginning in 2015.

The awards are designed to give incentives and recognition to outstanding athletes, administrators, technical officials and the media.
This was disclosed yesterday by Stanley Mutoya, the general manager of the African Union Sports Council Region Five (formerly Zone Six), who said that a number of programmes, which are aimed at developing sport in general in the Southern African Region, were also adopted during the Council of Ministers Meeting which was spread over two weeks in Bulawayo.

Speaking to The Herald, Mutoya, the former chief executive of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee, said they had a number of significant meetings during their stay in Bulawayo where all the 10-member countries of the African Union Sports Council Region Five were represented.

The 10-member countries of this region are Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Mutoya said they chose to hold their meeting in Bulawayo because it is the city that will be hosting the 2014 African Union Sports Council Region Five’s Under-20 Youth Games.

“During our stay in Bulawayo, we first had our Technical Commissions and Committees meeting on November 1 and 2 and then we had our Secretariat meeting on November 3 and 4 which was followed by our Executive Committee meeting on November 6.

“After this, we then had a Council of Ministers of Sport meeting which was attended by all the 10-member countries of the African Union Sports Council Region Five and we finally finished with a meeting with the organising committee of the 2014 Under-20 Youth Games on Saturday, November 9.

“Basically what came out of these meetings, significantly for the commissions, was an induction after the reconstitution of our committees following the election held in Maseru, Lesotho, in November 2012,” Mutoya said.

During the induction, Mutoya said, they had the Women in Sport Committee, which is now chaired by Zimbabwean Eugenia Chidhakwa who was re-elected to that position, the Sports for People with Disabilities Committee, the Finance and Marketing Commission, and the Sport Development Technical Commission.

“So, the induction was to orient these committees and commissions to articulate the programmes and activities of the Region as well as execute the 2013 to 2018 Strategic Plan,” Mutoya said.

The executive committee of the African Union Sports Council Region Five then held a meeting where they made some recommendations for consideration by the Council of Ministers, which is the highest decision-making body in the structures of the Region.

“Some of the key decisions that came out of the Council of Ministers meeting included the adoption of the Podium Performance Programme designed to help the region develop medallists for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and Paralympics Games and other major international competitions beyond.

“The Council of Ministers also made a decision that the Region will now host or have regional annual sports awards beginning in 2015.
The awards are aimed at giving incentives and recognition to outstanding athletes, administrators and technical officials as well as the media,” Mutoya said.

But one of the major outcomes during Council of Ministers meeting in Bulawayo was the handover of the Region’s chairmanship from Zambia to Zimbabwe for the next two years.

Mutoya said as a Region, they “remain resolute to harmonise sport in all member countries as well as elevate it to a higher level”.
The Ministers of Sport who attended the Council of Ministers Meeting were Zimbabwe’s Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Andrew Langa, who chaired that meeting, and those from Angola, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa.

The Deputy Ministers of Sport from Zambia and Zimbabwe also attended that meeting while Botswana was represented by its Ambassador to Zimbabwe.

“Swaziland did not attend this meeting because there was a new Cabinet that was appointed just a few days before the meeting,” Mutoya said.

The African Union Sports Council Region Five’s Secretariat, led by its chairperson Vetumbuavi Vell of Namibia, also attended the Bulawayo indaba.

Other members of the Region’s Secretariat who attended this meeting were the vice-chairperson George Jana of Malawi, secretary-general Mvuzo Mbebe of South Africa, the chairperson for Finance and Marketing Commission Charles Nhemachema of Zimbabwe and the chairperson of Sport Development and Technical Commission Inacio Bernardo of Mozambique.