Africa-Press – Lesotho. The cabinet has allocated M280, 815, 000, 00 million to the Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports and Recreation (MGYSR) to host the African Union Sports Council
(AUSC) Region 5 games scheduled for December 2021. The games were scheduled to be in December 2020, but due to the advent of Covid-19 they were put on hold. In
an exclusive interview with Informative Sport on Tuesday the MGYSR Chief Information Officer Maqalika Matsepe indicated that among other things, the money will be used for improvement of infrastructure like construction of
stadiums and also to build a stronger team that will represent Lesotho at the games. “The tournament will be held in Maseru district with 11 sporting codes.
We shall have tournaments for Football, Netball, Boxing, Tennis, Taekwondo … these are just a few. The identified playing grounds to also be renovated for
accommodation and for holding matches and trainings include the National University of Lesotho (NUL), Setsoto Stadium, Bambatha Tšita Sports Arena, Lesotho Correctional Service (LCS), Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) and tennis
courts,” he said. Matsepe continued to show that the ministry is currently getting ready to form the Local Organizing Committee following the dissolution of the previous committee and
cancellation of games last year. Asked whether the ministry will bring back the previous LOC, he stated that he assumes that the committee will be composed of both new and former members.
Matsepe added that there is hope that when the time reserved for the AUSC Region 5 games arrives, sports will be operating in full force in the country.
“If not, preparations will be made to ensure that sports operate well under Covid-19
restrictions and currently the sports mother bodies and National Federations (NFs) are observant to ensure compliance of the teams for the safe return of sports.
The aim is to also encourage players to continue trainings on their own in order to maintain and improve their fitness,” he said. The 10 countries that will take part in the 2021 AUSC Region 5 games are Lesotho,
South Africa (SA), Botswana, ESwatini, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Mozambique and Malawi. AUSC is the right wing of African Union (AU) through which the contributing countries work together in sports fraternity to bring peace and unity in Africa continent.
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