THE African Union Sports Council Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games will not start today as scheduled with some venues still to be completed while the opening ceremony has been moved to Sunday. SPORTS REPORTERS
Regional organising committee secretary-general Mvuzo Mbebe confirmed the delay and the postponement of the official opening ceremony at a press conference in Bulawayo yesterday, saying some of the equipment to be used was still to arrive while some venues still needed touch-ups.
Mbebe said the ceremony had been moved due to logistical challenges while a senior government official said the postponement was because of the ongoing Zanu PF congress and the death of former diplomat Kotsho Dube.
The games will now start tomorrow.
Mugabe was due to officially open the games this morning at Barbourfields Stadium, but is holed up in the capital for the tension-filled congress and the organisers are hoping the president will be free of his party business on Sunday.
“There will be no games tomorrow (today) and football will be moved to Friday,” Mbebe said.
“The official opening of the games has been moved to Sunday to make sure that it is befitting the chairperson of Sadc President Robert Mugabe. It is normal for games of this nature to have it this way and this will not affect the start of the games.”
Media, Information and Broadcasting Services permanent secretary George Charamba, who is the presidential spokesperson, confirmed Mugabe’s unavailability.
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“The opening ceremony has been deferred to Sunday because of the congress which is starting this week and the declaration of Kotsho (Dube) as a national hero,” Charamba said.
Dube, who was aged 79, died in his sleep at his home in Kumalo, Bulawayo, on Monday, just a day before the Zanu PF national congress kicked off.
Mbebe apologised to Bulawayo for the changes in the programme.
“We want to apologise to the people of Bulawayo who had planned based on the opening ceremony being held tomorrow (today),” he said.
“We want to be thorough in our preparations and have a ceremony that fits the status and standard of the games.”
The former South African Broadcasting Corporation executive said most of the venues were ready to host the games.
Bulawayo Athletic Club, where tennis will be played, Bulawayo Pool for swimming, Large City Hall for boxing, ZITF for judo and White City for netball are the venues that he confirmed are ready for the games.
“For basketball, we have a challenge with the equipment which is docked in Durban and they are being taken off the ship,” Mbebe said.
“The trucks which will bring it here will leave by midnight and arrive in Beitbridge by tomorrow night (tonight) and it should be in Bulawayo by Friday. We are hoping to start work on Saturday morning.”
Basketball was due to start tomorrow.
White City, which had been scheduled for completion by November 15 and later November 28, is still to be completed.
“We went on site today (yesterday) to check on the progress, obviously it is not yet finished,” he said.
“Initially we were meant to start athletics on Saturday. The contractor had three-quarters of the track done and by tomorrow (today) they are going to finish the back bend. By Saturday they should complete the work. The track has to settle and the paint has to dry therefore athletics will start on Monday.”
By yesterday, 1 308 athletes, 1 289 officials, 1 122 volunteers, 119 VIPs, 212 media personnel and 575 local organising committee personnel were already in the city ahead of the games kickoff.
Mbebe said they were happy with the accommodation, transport and food facilities.
Angola, Swaziland, South Africa and Namibia are already in the country for the games while Botswana, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique had not arrived in the country by late afternoon yesterday.
