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Benson Dube

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Government has hailed Solusi University for recognising that sport and recreational activities are important in enhancing livelihoods, even for those that are made involuntary introverts due to forced interaction with knowledge.

The Seventh Day Adventist Church-run higher learning institution held a sport and recreation day at its campus yesterday in which students participated in various activities, which included soccer, basketball, netball, volleyball and indoor games.

In a speech read on his behalf by his acting permanent secretary, Benson Dube, Sport and Recreation Minister Makhosi Hlongwane said it gave him pleasure to witness a whole university coming to a standstill to commemorate the significance of sport and recreation.

“This substantiates that Solusi University understands sport to be key human development. This vehemently contends the narrow perception that sport and recreation activities are for the subaltern and not intellectuals. You will agree with me that it is very rare for universities to shut down their rigid routine intellectual errands in exchange of sport and recreation. However, Solusi University has transcended the ‘ought to be’ function of a university, proving that there is more to knowledge than cramming statistics and philosophies,” said Hlongwane.

He said Orthodox rationality could have meant that a social science charged university can only barter time for lectures for colloquiums and periodic fellowships and not sport and recreation, but on  the contrary, Solusi University had posed as an exception to all other institutions that sport and recreation activities are necessary sociological components of complementing the usually busy lifestyles and the surfeit of the mundane, which compromises human health and happiness.

“It will be seriously remiss of me if I do not mention the contribution of sport to the economy and the well being of the society in general. Though it is acceptable that our sport and recreation sector is still growing, I want to underscore the fact that we have individuals within the sector who are paying taxes to the Government through contributing to revenue generation of the fiscus. These structural adjustments we are making to the sport and recreation sector are in tandem with the Zim-Asset blueprint. This policy provides a lifeline through which we can make a huge impact on the economy through employment creation, value addition and beneficiation through sport and recreation,” Hlongwane said. — @skhumoyo2000