Hon. Minister opens 20th edition of COSSASA games

02 May 2019

The Honourable Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Harries Bulunga today officially opened the 20th edition of the Confederation of School Sports Associations of Southern Africa (COSSASA) games.

The games will be hosted at the Mavuso Sports Centre until Sunday with five countries competing, namely Eswatini, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Speaking during the official opening at Mavuso earlier today, Honourable Bulunga thanked COSSASA for making Eswatini hosts of this year’s edition of the games.

"I would also like to thank COSSASA for picking Eswatini as hosts of this year’s extravaganza. May I assure all of you here that this was a brilliant decision and we are ready to prove this over the course of this tournament. Our promise to you is a spectacular tournament, one never seen in the entire history of COSSASA," he said.

The Honourable Minister then highlighted the challenge of a decreasing number of schools partaking in sport.

"In Eswatini we are faced with a challenge of an ever-decreasing number of schools, particularly high schools, partaking in sport. While we understand the need for schools to prioritise their core business of teaching and learning, we also know that pupils need to play sport at school to compliment their studies. This is an issue that is troubling us and we will discuss it with various stakeholders including the Ministry of Education. We also hope that by hosting these games the interest in schools sport in our country will be reignited," Bulunga added.

The opening ceremony was attended by the COSSASA Executive led by President Solly Duiker, Under Secretary in the Ministry of Sports Nhlanhla Motsa and Manzini Mayor Mcolisi Mabuza amongst others.