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Eddie Chikamhi-Senior Sports Reporter

THE Regional Annual Sports Awards (RASA) are set to return next month in Eswatini after a three-year Covid-19 induced sabbatical. 

The organisation said in a statement the awards will be held on June 24 under the theme “Celebrating Excellence, Inspiring Innovation!” 

Traditionally, the event is held in May to correspond with the Africa Unity celebrations. 

“The RASA are organised in the month of May around Africa Day to magnify and celebrate Africa’s rich sporting heritage,” the AUSC Region 5 statements said. 

“This year however, the event will be hosted on June 24 as the proposed date of 27 May (tomorrow) coincided with a major global event that would have created a counter attraction. 

“Region 5 invites its citizens to heed to the call of the African horn and the beat of the African drum’s celebratory rhythm boldly and powerfully announcing that this Region is indeed the vanguard of African heritage and Pan-Africanism. 

“All are invited to savour the rich sporting heritage of Africa at large and particularly Region 5, the leading home of innovation and excellence.” 

The Awards are meant to recognise and celebrate outstanding performances and meritorious service to sport by the Region’s athletes, coaches, administrators and journalists. 

The event has taken the Region by storm since its inauguration in 2016 in South Africa. It was held for three years in a row in South Africa before moving to Namibia in 2019, marking the first episode of the rotation among member countries. 

But the organisers were forced to cancel it for the last three years following the outbreak of Covid-19. 

“The idea was to rotate hosting of this event to all Member Countries in alphabetical order to give a chance for respective Region 5 Member States to enjoy a close-up interface with this prestigious event. 

“Regrettably, like all other global sporting events and programmes the journey was stopped right in its tracks by the novel Covid-19 pandemic that gripped the world with ruthless devastation for a period of two years between 2020 and 2021. 

“With the world having opened sport in a calculated moderation, Region 5 took a conscious decision to resume hosting of the RASA in 2022 with the first post-Covid edition scheduled for Eswatini in 2023,” said the AUSC Region 5 statement. A total of 12 categories will be recognised and these are the Junior Sportswoman of the Year; Junior Sportsman of the Year; Sportsman of the Year; Sportswoman of the Year; Sportsperson of the year; Sportswoman of the Year with disability; Sportsman of the Year with disability; Team of the Year; Coach of the year; Journalist of the Year; Confederation of the year and Country of the year. 

The RASA has grown significantly from four countries — Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe in the inaugural event in 2016 — to 10 countries in 2019. 

The Awards are designed in a way that involves contributions from all of the 10 Region 5 Member Countries. 

The AUSC Region 5 comprises Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. 

These 10 Member countries are expected to host their own National Sports Awards preceding the RASA. 

Winners of the countries’ sports awards become nominees for the RASA in ten of its twelve categories of the programme. 

The 2023 edition will however, have eight countries participating as Lesotho and Angola were unable to host their own national Sports Awards which is a prerequisite for a country to enter contestants for the RASA. 

Work is underway to ensure that both Angola and Lesotho will return to the RASA to give the event the full credence that it craves. 

Previous RASA winners in various categories have included the likes of Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa, Kirsty Coventry who is the current Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation in Zimbabwe and Caster Semenya of South Africa. 

The AUSC Region 5 is the sports arm of the African Union (AU), which was once the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). 

The main aim of the AUSC Region 5 is to use sport to achieve peace, integration and unity in Africa. The mandate includes coordination of sports development and sport for development within the Region and ensuring high performance and socio-economic transformation of societies through sport.