SADC Executive Secretary, Her Excellency Dr. Stergomena Lawrence Tax met the General Manager of the African Union Sport Council Region 5 (AUSC Region 5), Mr. Stanley Mutoya at the SADC Headquarters in Gaborone, Botswana on the 23rd of October 2017.
The purpose of the meeting was to establish working relations and collaboration between the SADC Secretariat and the Secretariat of the AUSC Region 5 and to discuss issues related to the implementation of the SADC Protocol on Culture, Information and Sport.
The African Union Sport Council represents 10 SADC Member States as per African Union geographical classification. The AUSC Region5 is the sports arm of the African Union formed in the 1960s, and is based in Yaoundé, Cameroon. AUSC uses sports to achieve Peace, Integration and Unity in Africa i.e. sport as a vehicle of encouraging people to develop and come together, irrespective of colour, economic status, political, class, or gender.
Mr. Mutoya thanked Dr. Tax for the meeting and mentioned that it was imperative for regional sports development bodies to foster and nurture good working relationships with regional bodies in order to harmonise and ensure advancement of sports initiatives. He also stated that the collaboration will improve sports beneficiation through value addition as well as creating businesses within sport divisions.
Dr. Tax thanked Mr. Mutoya for the good work in SADC region on the contribution on Culture, Information and Sport sectors. She mentioned that SADC programmes were best implemented by organisations with competencies such as AUSC through staging of its sports activities which bring citizens of the region together. She further stated that the Secretariat was willing to work with various organisations which supports the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) which provides strategic direction with respect to SADC programmes, projects and activities in line with the SADC Common Agenda and strategic priorities. She also mentioned that following the re-prioritisation of SADC Programmes in 2007/2008, Culture, Sport and Information was to be implemented by stakeholders through the principle of subsidiarity. This included establishment of institutional arrangements for stakeholders to drive implementation in these sectors.
The AUSC hosts its sports competitions every two years and its next chapter will be held in Gaborone Botswana in December 8 -16, 2018.
