Africa has potential to dominate sports—govt

Minister of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development Grace Chiumia said Africa has potential to dominate the world in sports.

She was speaking yesterday during the opening of African Union Sports Council (Ausc) Region 5 executive meeting currently underway at Sunbird Capital.

Malawi is hosting the Ausc conference which has drawn delegates from Zambia, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa , e-Swatini ( formerly Swaziland) and Zambia.

The minister said Malawi is committed to working continuously with Ausc Region 5 Secretariat and all fellow countries.

“If resources and plans are well harnessed, Africa can do well and be dominant in global tournaments. As a member country we are also trying to be compliant to the regional requirements by paying annual subscription fees, hosting and taking part in regional programmes and abiding by the policy of the region,” she said.

Chiumia said to achieve success there is need to do a careful soul-searching process to identify factors for poor performance and come up with solutions that will assist athletes and teams to improve.

Chairperson of Ausc 5 Vetumbuavi Veii said  the aim of the Ausc is to use sports to achieve peace, integration and unity in Africa.

He said top of the Ausc agenda is the use of its various pro-Africa tailored programmes to encourage the continent’s inhabitants to develop and come together as one, irrespective of their colour, political, class, gender or economic status.

“These are regular meetings, they will have 2 meetings every year as executive committee they meet with council of ministers, women in sports and people with disabilities and the idea is to promote unity and why they are making strides,” said Veii.

The Ausc is the sports arm of the African Union.