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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter

THE African Union Sports Council Region 5 secretariat will hold a meeting on Friday next week with various confederations to be apprised on which sport codes from the Under-17 level have been active as part of guidelines to determine which codes will be included in this year’s Games.

The ninth edition of the Games were initially set to be held in Maseru, Lesotho, last year, but were called off due to the Covid-19 pandemic which saw governments imposing lockdown restrictions in an effort to contain the scourge.

The Games will now run from December 3-12 in Maseru following a Ministerial Troika meeting held last week.

The Ministerial Troika was chaired by Lesotho Minister of Gender, Youth, Sport and Recreation Likeleli Tampane and was attended by Malawi Minister of Youth and Sport Ulemu Msungama and Botswana Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development Tumiso Rakgare.

In a brief interview from the Ausc Region 5 headquarters in Botswana, chief executive officer Stanley Mutoya said following green lighting for the Games to go ahead, they had officially informed member countries about the development.

“We have just informed countries about the Games. We are now planning CDMs meeting for May during which we will hear each country’s state of readiness and plans. We are meeting confederations on Friday 23 April to get a sense of which sport codes have resumed at Under-17 level then decide which sports to be on the Games programme,” said Mutoya.