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Walter Mswazie Masvingo Correspondent
The government will soon craft a policy that will give guidelines on the development of different sporting disciplines, Vice-President Joice Mujuru said yesterday.
In a speech read on her behalf by Minister of State in her office, Sylvester Nguni at the official opening of the National Youth Games in Masvingo, she said the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture will soon carry out consultations across the country to gather information for the purposes of coming up with the sports policy.

She said the consultations should be all encompassing so that the document can be a true reflection of the wishes of the people.  The week-long games are running under the theme, “Empowering the youth and growing the economy through sport.”

“Government through the Ministry of Sport, Art and Culture will craft a policy with special bias towards sport development from pre-school level up to the highest level. The policy is expected to represent the wishes of the majority,” said VP Mujuru.

“The policy should give guidelines on how to build and nurture sporting talent at infancy stage. It should come up with a framework on how to fund and develop sport. It should also address issues to do with accessibility, sustainability, funding and the use of information, communication and technology in sport.”

She said the government remains committed towards the development of sport and has created a stand-alone ministry that oversees the development of sport in the country.

“We have created the ministry to oversee the development of sport among youths. The ministry will however work with other line ministries like Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education in making sure sport especially among youth is taken seriously. So it is against this background that there is need for a good working relationship between ministries. Zimbabwe should be able to produce worldclass athletes who can compete in the Olympics since it has been proved that we have worldclass talent,” she said.

VP Mujuru cited Angela Makaha and Ngonidzashe Makusha who are now plying their trade overseas and are products of the Youth Games.

“We are laden with sporting talent in the country as evidenced by sporting exports that we have made. Makusha and Makaha are some of our shining examples of good national Youth Games products. So I also challenge the organisers to introduce a number of sporting disciplines. The national sport policy would also articulate other sporting disciplines as we endeavor to be benchmarked against the best,” she said.

VP Mujuru challenged people in sport and partners to have a business approach as sport can be a form of employment for the youths.
“There is need to have a business approach because through sport athletes can contribute to the Gross Domestic Product of the country. We should only have a common vision for sport. The business community should also not leave the hosting of Youth Games to government as it is everyone’s duty including churches, non-governmental organisations, to name but just a few.”

Present at the occasion were Masvingo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Kudakwashe Bhasikiti, Bulawayo Metropolitan Province Minister of State, Eunice Nomthandazo Moyo, Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Lazarus Dokora, Minister of Sport Andrew Langa, permanent secretary in his ministry Thokozile Chitepo, among others.

The Games which started on August 16 and will end on August 24.
All 10 provinces are represented.