Africa-Press – Lesotho. The Ministry of Sports’ deputy principal secretary, ‘Mabataung Khalane, has declared that the government of Lesotho is fully committed to the successful hosting of the regional 2020 African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Games next year.
The regional organising committee is in the country to oversee Lesotho’s readiness for the games and Khalane says every month the cabinet is following up on progress made, what needs to be done and helps in any way it can.
She continued that the local organising committee is fully operational and endorsed by the cabinet. She urged the local organising committee to work hard and she said that the government will provide the funding that is needed to prepare for the games.
Khalane also revealed that government has received proposals from the private sector and the local organising committee of the Maseru 2020 games has finalised the companies that will provide financial help towards the games.
Khalane said they are not at the stage to disclose such companies yet. “The minister sent me and said I should tell everyone that the government of Lesotho is fully committed to hosting successful youth games in 2020,” she said.
“That commitment has been endorsed by the cabinet of Lesotho and we have been instructed as a ministry to report to cabinet every month so that they are able to track progress and also to assist when ever need be. Our local organising committee is fully fledged and operational. It shows commitment by the government of Lesotho.
We are also committed to ensuring that all the infrastructure requirement that include accommodation, sporting facilities are available even before the kick-off off of the games, however I will not want to hide that we are having some challenges, the government of Lesotho does not have the funds that are required to make facilities available,” she said
“The ministers of gender and finance have agreed that we are going to go out of the country and seek assistance from private investors, we have already done that, we have invited the proposals from private investors to establish whether they are able to fund development of the infrastructure, the games will be held in Maseru, we need sporting facilities, and accommodation at NUL.
Proposals have been received from private investors and the evaluation committee has finalised the selection of the companies that will be able to finance the infrastructure; however, we cannot disclose the decision here because we still have to consult with ministry of finance as it is charged with the responsibility of engaging private sector.
I wish to pledge that the government is willing and it is able to ensure that the infrastructure facility and team Lesotho is ready to participate in the games by 2020,” she continued.
