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Burzil Dube

Tobias Mandoreba in Hwange
MATABELELAND North province has declared its readiness to host the Youth Education through Sport (YES) Games from December 9-13 in Hwange.

The province will also host the National Youths Games in August 2017.

Local organising committee (LOC) chief executive officer Burzil Dube said:

“All the systems are now activated as we prepare to receive visitors from the country’s provinces next month. The entire committee is clicking as we continue with preparations. Today we toured venues for the games, namely Coalfields, Thomas Coulter, Lwendulu and Megawatt primary schools and Lwendulu Old ground.

I am happy with the infrastructure, which is being continually spruced up for the event. We also visited Hwange High School, the Command Centre, and again the facility is top notch, including its IT network, which will make life easier for everyone.”

The games will be launched by the Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs Minister Cain Mathema in about a week’s time. The games budget stands at $100 000, with the revenue base hinged on affiliation fees to be paid by each province. They also expect a Government grant, while other fundraising initiatives are in full swing.

Matabeleland North sports and recreation development officer Newman Masuku tipped the host province to win the games, whose competitors will all be under the age of 15 years.

“As a province we are using a number of tried and tested hands, which have hosted games of such magnitude in previous editions and we are confident of surpassing the standards set by Mashonaland West last year.

I also have faith in our Team Matabeleland North general manager Ronald Sibanda from Mosi High School, who is a passionate, seasoned, resourceful and experienced leader, who will make our province hard to beat,” said Masuku. This year’s YES Games run under the theme “Unethical practices, a barrier to youth development through sport”.

@tobymandox