The ManicaPost
Fungai Munyoro Sports Correspondent
THE Sports and Recreation Commission has suspended the Zimbabwe national youth and paralympic games that had been scheduled for Gweru from August 15 to 28 owing to the outbreak of typhoid.
In a press statement released yesterday, the SRC said the games would be played in December instead.
“Following the outbreak of typhoid in Gweru and the subsequent investigations by the Ministry of Health and Child Care, we have been in further consultations with the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs for the Midlands Province, the Sports and Recreation Commission Board, the local organising committee for the games and other key stakeholders for guidance on how to proceed with the matter at hand,” the SRC said.
“Resultantly we regret to advise that the above captioned games, which were scheduled to be hosted from 15-28 August 2018 have been postponed to December 2018. This action has been necessitated by the need to avoid putting the lives of participating athletes and officials at risk of contracting possible typhoid. While the hosting of the games has been deferred, other processes such as resource mobilisation to support the games will go on until the games are held.”
The SRC also advised provincial teams to decamp so that they do not continue to incur further costs.
“As part of the way forward, the SRC, the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation and the local organizing committee will convene all stakeholders’ general assembly in the near future to discuss the technical issues on how to move forwards with postponed Games with respect to the scope, format and exact timing of the deferred games,” the commission said.
