IN a bid to curb the escalating rate of Gender Based Violence (GBV) especially during the festive season, the Minister of Gender, Youth, Sports and Recreation Likeleli Tampane has launched the Christmas Holidays sports tournament.
sports
Dec. 15, 2020
TEBOHO JAFETA
2 min read
Tampane launches Christmas games
The Minister of Gender, Youth, Sports and Recreation Likeleli Tampane
The launch was held in Maseru on Monday and was attended among others by the Parliament Social Cluster Chairperson, Fako Moshoeshoe together with the Minister of Health Motlatsi Maqelepo.
“Today we launch the Christmas sports in all our communities nationwide. We made a request to the Parliament to organise these games. After we thoroughly thought about this, we came up with a plan to organise an event to help curb the impact of GBV amongst the youth because we are aware that they are highly impacted.
“We also wanted to keep them busy so that they may avoid engaging in criminal activities during the festive season,” Ms Tampane said. The Ministry of Health she showed, gave them guidelines during the games, adding that both the Lesotho National Olympic Committee (LNOC) and the Lesotho Sports Recreation Committee (LSRC) are part of the project.
“Winners will receive awards by the end of January including balls and medals, among others. Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will hand over balls to Members of Parliament and later to other community leaders. At a later stage we will hand over PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) to the communities before the games start to ensure the safety of the participants,” she said.
For his part, Mr Maqelepo warned that COVID-19 is still rampant in Lesotho, making a special reference to the recent new cases recorded in Leribe and Botha-Bothe.
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“Sports activities have been given the green light to start, but we expect only half the capacity of spectators at the games. It is easy as our grounds are open in villages and that will allow social distancing among the spectators,” he said.
He showed that all the participants and spectators are expected to wear facial masks and use sanitisers before, during half time and after the matches.
“As the Ministry of Health, we advocate for good health and it is only through engaging in sports that one can avoid non-commutable diseases and stay healthy,” Mr Maqelepo said.
Mr Moshoeshoe said the initiative is inclusive of all community leaders including MPs, Principal Chiefs, Councilors and Village Chiefs.
He added that health officers and World Health Organisation (WHO) officials will also attend the games.
The Director of Sports Puisano Tšosane said: “The teams will compete in both football and netball. The winners will get full uniform, a trophy and gold medals, runners-up will get balls and silver medals with the third team getting balls and bronze medals. If things go according to plan, there might even be prize monies for the winners.”
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