Government to compile sport inventory

February 26, 2021

Government to compile sport inventory

Minister Kirsty Coventry

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
GOVERNMENT will conduct a comprehensive inventory of all sporting infrastructure in the country to determine their true state and fund all required renovations for the facilities to match international standards.

All sports facilities have been lying idle for about a year now due to a freeze on sporting activities declared at the end of March last year following the outbreak of Covid-19.

Responding to a question from MP Dexter Nduna during a Parliamentary question and answer session last week, Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry said the ministry’s technical arm, the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC), was conducting the exercise and once complete a full report would be tabled in Parliament, which will map the way forward.

Nduna had asked Minister Coventry if the Government had any plan to take over infrastructure of sporting facilities from councils “because they are in a deplorable, dilapidated and disused state”.

“They might never be usable ever again if they have not been taken over by Government in the manner that the State took over clinics and health care institutions,” said Nduna.

Minister Coventry said her vision was for the sporting facilities to not only be good for domestic competitions, but be able to play host to international tournaments in line with the country’s sports tourism objectives.

She said during the sporting infrastructure audit, the SRC will also come up with costs needed for renovations and recommend how to get the facilities up to international standards.

“At the moment what the Sports and Recreation Commission is doing is taking inventory of all sporting infrastructure that we have around the country, but not just that; the state in which it is right now and the potential cost it would take to get the facilities back to levels expected internationally for international games and tournaments. Once that is done I will be able to bring a report back to the House to give an update and a way forward,” said Minister Coventry.