Leemisa Thuseho
THERE is need for extensive consultations before cancelling the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Games, analysts say.
Last month, the Minister of Gender, Youth, Sport and Recreation, Likeleli Tampane announced that she had “cancelled” the games. She also went on to dissolve the games’ Local Organising Committee (LOC) but all these decisions were made without consulting the AUSC.
Her reasoning; the government does not have funds to bankroll the project since it is concentrating on fighting Covid-19.
The games were meant to be hosted by Lesotho in December this year but a 31 July 2020 Region 5 ministers’ troika meeting resolved to postpone the games to December 2021.
Tampane chaired the meeting and the next meeting will be held in January 2021.
The games, which are meant to be developmental, see young athletes from 10 countries namely, Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, eSwatini, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Lesotho converge in one country once every two years.
The member countries rotate in hosting the games and it is mandatory for every member to honour its turn.
Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique are the only countries which are yet to host the games for the first time.
The first time Lesotho was meant to host the games was in 2001 but the country failed.
The last time Lesotho failed to host the games; the country was fined US$100 000.
This time around, former Sports minister Mahali Phamotse had an estimated that the budget would require over M4.8 billion to construct new facilities.
The former minister, who left when the former prime minister Thomas Thabane was ousted in May this year, faced serious resistance from her colleagues in government who said the budget was exorbitant. Others even accused her of trying to ensure that members of her party, the Alliance of Democrats (AD) benefited through tenders from the project.
Analysts have also cited this as one of the reasons for which Tampane is has dismantled the LOC, which was set up by Phamotse.
The analysts say while Tampane’s intentions could be good in “cleaning up” a tainted system that was set up by her predecessor, the manner in which she is going about the processes is wrong. Instead of firing people at every turn and making unilateral decisions that are consulted with the AUSC Region 5, she must take measured approaches that do not burn bridges while also consulting widely.
After all, her tenure is only for two years, the analysts say, at best; she should be building bridges. All that’s required for a “place holder” that she is in an interim government whose tenure is only two years long, is to improve the administration because she does not have time to rebuild the bridges.
Moipone Mashale, who has been Lesotho’s Chef De Mission in multiple editions of the games said if Lesotho fails to host the games next year, then it would be a huge loss to its developmental prospects.
Mashale was the team manager during the eSwatini Region 5 Games in 2010, chef de mission at the 2011 Africa Games in Mozambique, chef de mission at the Zambia Region 5 Games in 2012 and, Lesotho’s team advisor at the Region 5 Games in Zimbabwe in 2014. She was also the chef de mission at the 2015 African Games in Brazzaville and is the former president of the Confederation of Southern African Netball Association (COSANA).
With Lesotho sports having endured the lack of standardised sporting facilities for a long time, Mashale said hosting the games would have given Lesotho an opportunity to catch up.
“The games would leave Lesotho with standard facilities for 11 sporting codes,” Masahale said.
“The host country gets the privilege to enhance its technical capacity in various sporting disciplines while it also has a chance to field more athletes unlike when they must travel to another country and are often strained for resources.”
Another analyst who refused to be named for professional reasons said Tampane’s haste in firing the LOC and purportedly cancelling the games was likely to land her into the same challenges that Phamotse faced while she was still in government.
“She is in such a hurry and I am worried that she could make mistakes that could lead to resistance from her peers in government. She could also be sued by the people she fired so abruptly,”
Economist Majakathata Mokoena said each time the country hosts activities of the AUSC’s magnitude, the economy benefits immensely because the visiting teams inject finances for goods and services that they purchase during their tour.
While he contends that the budget was indeed high and the country would take a long time to recover after hosting the games, he feels the infrastructure that would be constructed for the games would in the end benefit the country.
“Lesotho could benefit from the facilities… that will help develop sports. It is high time the country starts considering long term developmental initiatives,” Mokoena said.
He also thinks with proper consultation, the government could have chosen the cheaper route of upgrading existing facilities.
Given the country’s poor economy, it was also advisable for the government to go it alone instead of engaging third party funders as had been done by Phamotse.
“Engaging third party funders puts the government under pressure in repaying the debt.”
The LOC was appointed by Phamotse and some have said its dismissal was a sign of the deep-rooted politics that is dragging the country behind.
And Mokoena opines this is one of the reasons for which the country has remained backward because all new officials will not have any institutional memory to continue with the work of their predecessors.
“This is not beneficial at all… We are not advancing because people are hired today and fired tomorrow. Perennially there are new officials who are learning the job.”
Former Lesotho Football Association (LeFA) vice president Lebohang Thotanyana said the preparations for the games got off to a bad start because of politicisation of the processes.
Like Mokoena, Thotanyana said the dismissal of the LOC would cost the country institutional memory but also said it would be good if the new minister wants to do things differently.
“It is believed that the LOC was made up of people from a certain political party and if it’s true then it is sad because it has cost sports. It would be sad if the new minister does the same but if she wants to do things professionally, that will be a good thing,” Thotanyana said.
He said instead of constructing new infrastructure at a huge cost of M4.8 billion, the government should have come up with a manageable budget to spruce up existing infrastructure.
Former Lesotho National Olympic Committee (LNOC) chief executive officer Tšepo Hlojeng thinks the chances of Lesotho hosting the games are now extremely slim.
While he accedes that hosting the games would be beneficial to the country, he thinks it is also crucial to take into account the challenges that the country is facing on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We must balance the benefits of hosting the games as compared to the need to fund the Covid-19 fight. I think the minister is best placed to know what is more important at this juncture.”
While he has no doubts about the country’s commitment to hosting the games, he doubts that the proposed M4.8 billion infrastructure will address the country’s developmental challenges.
“I don’t think there were adequate consultations with the sporting fraternity… The games are supposed to be developmental and developing world class facilities in Maseru wasn’t going to address the country’s sport development because there is no way those facilities would benefit sports development out there in the districts,” Hlojeng said.
