The Sunday Mail
Ranson Madzamba
THE appointment of Kirsty Coventry as Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister was welcomed by the majority of Zimbabweans.
She is a renowned Olympian who made the country proud and brought prestigious medals from the Olympics.
The appointment of the young and energetic, Tinoda Machakaire as her Deputy was also seen as a positive move to change the face of sport in the country as he is a well-known sport promoter, while Permanent Secretary, Thokozile Chitepo, is a seasoned civil servant and well-known to be a woman of action.
As the trio navigates the terrain, Coventry has revealed moves she has undertaken to expedite the growth of sport and overcome various factors affecting development, including limited time given to sport, cost and levels of awareness.
She believes these factors have in many ways limited participation, investment and general support for the growth and development of sport as an industry in the country.
“The growth and development of the sport industry like in any other Third World country has been affected by a variety of factors and these include time given to sport, cost, awareness, environment, access, enjoyment, self-esteem, risk as well as the delivery models. These factors have in many ways limited participation, investment and general support for the growth and development of sport as an industry in the country.
“Furthermore, the perception that sport is a pastime activity without due consideration for its valuable economic throughput presents and has always been a problem in the establishment of sport as an industry in the country.
“This mindset issue has promoted a laissez-faire approach in the delivery of sport in the country and in some respects stagnation. There is also poor corporate governance, limited human capital with core competencies in sport as well as limited support from corporates within and outside the country,” Coventry said.
She said she is working together with her team in the ministry and parastatals to ensure they deal with the hindrances.
“However, and in order to alleviate these market failures, the ministry and its arms are seized with a business re-engineering process, emphasising on the following drivers; sport product/programme design, infrastructure and equipment, workforce and marketing and communication.
“To date, the processes have seen significant progress with structural reforms taking place in the parastatals and some remarkable investments being made by Government to support infrastructural refurbishment and development”.
Recently, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation accompanied by the ministry’s officials toured various sporting facilities in all the provinces to establish how best they can be capacitated.
This comes as Coventry indicated that the ministry has already started the refurbishment of various sport facilities, including those which were of late, deemed to be in bad shape and underutilised.
“The ministry is mindful and privy to the existence of underutilised sport facilities within the perimeters of this country. This underutilisation due to lack or limited activity around these facilities has resulted in the deterioration of the facilities.
“In this regard, the Ministry notes that the issue does not only reside in the need to refurbish these facilities, but in generating activity within them.
“To that end, programmes such as the community sport and recreation club system, which projects to create community clubs for the maximum utilisation of facilities have been promulgated. It is hoped that through continual usage facilities can be maintained and sustained in good order’’.
She also outlined some of the work that is already underway.
“The ministry is also conversant of the need to develop and maintain standard facilities and has been on a drive to refurbish country clubs, parks and open spaces with a view to increasing accessibility, safety, sustainability and user friendly facilities.
“Refurbishment works are underway at Ncema Valley Country Club in Esigodini, Tongogara in Shurugwi, Concession Recreational Park, Nemamwa Recreational Park in Masvingo, Hwedza Country Club among others.
“The Ministry is in the process of identifying national, provincial or district facilities which will undergo refurbishment to meet international standards.”
She also gave an insight into the collaboration with the Local Government and Public Works Ministry on the upkeep of sporting facilities in the country.
“The issue regarding the provision of sport and recreation services to Zimbabwean communities by delivery agencies such as Local Authorities is not a matter of trust, but of mandate as provided by the laws of this country starting with the Constitution.
“Section 32 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe intimates that: ‘The State must take all practical measures to encourage sporting and recreational activities, including the provision of sporting and recreational facilities for all people.
“In view of this, all arms of the state (Local Authorities included) are constitutionally required to be hands on in ensuring sport and recreation service is provided.
“More so, the Urban Councils Act and the Rural Councils Act in the first schedule and second schedule thereof mandate Local Authorities to develop and manage sport and recreation facilities on behalf of the public in their different localities.
“In this regard, these provisions still need to be respected without reserve. However, as a Ministry with a view to augmenting the role of the Local Authorities, we are prepared to partner with these organisations as has happened in scenarios where Government has funded through the Ministry the refurbishment of Sakubva and Barbourfields stadium facilities which are administered by local authorities” Coventry said.
She also spoke on the performance of Zimbabwean athletes on the international arena.
“Zimbabwe has had its fair share of success as well as under-performances in regional, continental and international events.
“The lack of consistency has mainly been due to fluctuations in programming and prioritisation of high performance programmes.
“In view of this the Ministry is at an advanced stage in promulgating a National Sport and Recreation Strategy with the aim of improving the following areas:
l Low application of sport science to sport performance
l Absence of high performance centres and high performance personnel
l Limited exposure to international competitions
l Lack of athlete development pathways from grassroots to elite level
l Lack of standard sport and recreation facilities /Unequal distribution of facilities
l Lack of supportive grants for national sport associations
l Low level of sponsorship and low allocation in sport and recreation grant
l Lack of human capital that meets the current need of sport/limited administrative and technical capacities
l Failure to bid for hosting of continental and international tournaments
l Failure to brand sport and recreation
The Minister bemoaned the fact that some swimming pools, including the one at Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex, have been idle for years.
“The spatial distribution of good swimming facilities in Zimbabwe is still limited, but it is important to note that the country has some good public and private swimming facilities.
“You may be aware that in order to ameliorate the situation in the case you have cited, the ministry has regained custody of Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex and it is our hope that the facility will be attended to at the earliest convenience.”
The Ministry, Coventry said, was working with the Sport and Recreation Commission to weed out age cheating.
“Government, through the SRC, is in the process of developing a national database for all sporting disciplines which will capture athletes’ demographic data as they participate from grassroots to elite level.
“This will be important in eliminating age cheating. Government, through the SRC, is also training national associations on the importance of maintaining standards of sportsmanship and ethics. We need to invest in a national database.”
She noted that the Covid-19 pandemic has been a major hindrance in the development of sport worldwide and Government, through her Ministry, will soon disburse RTGS $10 million as Sport Relief Fund to athletes for their sustenance while other mechanisms are being worked out.
“The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has singularly brought a huge distortion and abrupt halt to the flow in the entire ecosystem of sport in the country. Agreeably, sport has become a reliable source of income for many athletes and athlete support personnel in the country as it has tremendously become across the globe through participation in major events organised nationally, regionally, continentally and internationally,’’ Coventry said.
Ranson Madzamba is the Communication and Advocacy Acting Deputy Director for the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation.
