09 Jun 2024

Africa Union Sport Council (AUSC) Zone 5 has been urged to help ensure that matters of concern to the community of people living with disabilities are not window dressed.

Speaking at the official opening of the 2024 AUSC Sports with Disability Conference in Gaborone on Wednesday, deputy permanent secretary of library, archives, arts and culture, Tebogo Matebesi said the region should advocate for serious commitment from policy makers to set aside resources, structures and systems that are inclusive and accessible to all.

“This conference is meant to inform policy and strategies for scaling up efforts to improve the welfare of people living with disability through physical education, physical activity, sport and recreation. So as delegates, it is your responsibility to take policy makers to task if their determination towards the enhancement of the welfare of persons with disabilities in sport slackens,” he said.

Matebesi said Botswana was committed to creating an inclusive, cohesive and accessible society as evidenced by her national sport development plan, and that the country prided itself as an inclusive nation that provides equitable access to resource and opportunities to vulnerable sections of the communities, especially girls, women and those with disabilities,” he said.

Matebesi said therefore that the conference resonated well with the national priorities of Botswana, such as social inclusion, which would enable people to have a voice on issues affecting their lives.

He further said Botswana was currently reviewing policies, programmes and laws to accommodate the needs and interests of people living with disabilities and the elderly.

He urged delegates to ensure that gatherings such as the 2013 Women in Sport Conference held in Gaborone and the 2015 Sport for People with Disabilities Conference held in Malawi were perpetuated until their desired targets were met.

“Our concerted efforts must be deployed unreservedly towards addressing key challenges faced by people with disabilities in sport as well as facets of development obstructive to their progress. We need pragmatic solutions and not mere intentions that yield less results, and time is now,” he said.

Matebesi said it was sad to note that people with disabilities made only one per cent of participants in sport in the region, a narrative which he said could only be changed through bold steps.

ANOCA Zone VI vice president, Admire Masende said they expected the conference to deliberate on challenges faced by athletes with disabilities, as well as opportunities that sport presented, inclusive strategies to achieve gender equity, which he said were all crucial in ensuring that people with disability were given a chance to equally excel in sport.

“ANOCA Zone VI is strongly committed to supporting the development of sport for people with disability across our region because we believe that sport is a powerful tool for empowerment, social integration and personal growth,” he said.

He said this then called for increased accessibility of sporting facilities by people with disability, foster development for qualified coaches and trainers specializing in sporting disabilities.

All these, he said needed to be coupled with creating opportunities for people with disability to compete at all levels and promote awareness and understanding for disability sport in communities.

Masende said such would require collaboration to share practical experiences and form partnerships. ENDS