RESIDENTS of Bulawayo will finally get a sense of ownership of Zimbabwe African Union Sports Council Region V Under-20 Youth Games when they catch a glimpse of the mascot at its unveiling and tour of the city on Saturday.
FORTUNE MBELE SPORTS REPORTER
The roadshow will start from the city centre and move into the high- density suburbs before returning through the low-density areas.
The Region V Youth Games will be hosted in Bulawayo from December 5 to 14. Marketing director Kennedy Ndebele yesterday said 11 Sadc countries have confirmed participation.
Hosts Zimbabwe, Zambia, the Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Namibia, Mozambique, Malawi, Botswana, Angola and Lesotho are the countries that would be taking part.
The mascot will be unveiled at a ceremony at St Patrick’s Hotel on Saturday morning where the Sport, Arts and Culture minister Andrew Langa will be the guest of honour, before it is taken to the people to conscientise them on the games.
“We are using the mascot to make the people aware of the games. It is a marketing promotion.
“It will bring a sense of pride and ownership of the games to the people since they are being hosted by Bulawayo.
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“It is our intention to drum up support for people to know about the games and attend them. It is the first time that we will have a mascot after the last big games that were hosted by Zimbabwe, the All-Africa Games 19 years ago. It will also be commemorative for the city which celebrate 120 years of existence this year,” Ndebele said.
After the unveiling at St Patrick’s, the mascot will be taken through Leopold Takawira Avenue at the Tredgold Building area where there will be a function before the roadshow would move to Basch Street and into Luveve Road.
From Luveve Road the procession will make a turn into Mpopoma through Nketa Drive up to Khami Road and pass through White City Stadium to Siye Phambili Drive.
The mascot will be taken to Nkulumane complex, to Sekusile shopping centre in Nkulumane, Nketa, before taking another route back to Siye Phambili Drive, Bellevue into Wellington Road in Montrose, then Matopos Road before returning to the Bulawayo Small City Hall for the closing ceremony.
Meanwhile, Ndebele said the deadline for applications for volunteers to assist during the games will be tomorrow.
