The Sunday Mail
Ishemunyoro Chingwere
ZIMBABWE is failing to make it in sport because the country does not have a policy to capture, nurture and retain talent from the rural areas, a senior Government official has said.
Sport and Recreation Minister Makhosini Hlongwane also believes that some sports still have colonial structures in place.
ln his address at a meeting attended by sports associations in Bulawayo on Friday, Minister Hlongwane highlighted that sports such as rugby, cricket and hockey are not being played in rural areas 36 years after independence.
“The current sport and recreation organisational structure is by and large still a mimic of the pre-independence organisational structure of the same sector, with residual colonial eggs still an important part of how we are organised as a sector,” he said.
“During my short stint at the Ministry of Sport and Recreation, I have been consulting with the national sport associations and other stakeholders in the sports and recreation industry and have revealed deep structural weaknesses within the sector.
“The absence of a clear organisational structure which seamlessly integrates all layers of sport and recreation development, from the grassroots to elite sports, has arrested the capacity of the sector to develop to its optimum potential,” he said.
Minister Hlongwane has brought a breath of fresh air into the sporting fraternity since coming into office in September last year.
He noted that mining communities can play a key role in developing sport as they have a lot of sporting facilities.
“The efforts of providing sport and recreation by mining communities should be applauded,” he said.
“However, the provision of these was not part of a deliberate national strategy for the development of sport and recreation in the country but a deliberate intervention designed to arrest negative sentiments by labourers whose working and living conditions were a continued source of discontent.
“At these mining installations, soccer and netball were largely seen as sports for the majority while golf for example was seen as a sport for the elite.”
Hlongwane added that national associations need to look beyond short term planning and address yawning structural deficits that have isolated grassroots’ participation in organised sport.
