Moorosi Tsiane

LESOTHO Sport and Recreation Commission (LSRC) public relations officer Teboho Rakhomo says just a few national sports associations are ready to resume action now that the government has permitted some sporting codes to resume.

Sports were banned in March this year after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

And last Sunday, Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro announced that outdoor sports could resume with less than 100 people starting on 1 October 2020.

But Rakhomo says it is going to be extremely expensive for some sporting codes to resume and many of the national associations do not the funds to finance their resumption.

He said the commission was also yet to sit down and draw up guidelines that will help those who are ready to return on how to conduct themselves.

“We must ensure the safety of everyone before we open because we wouldn’t want sports to spread the virus,” Rakhomo said.

“We don’t want to regret our decision (to resume) in the end. We must check all the aspects before we can open.

“We are yet to sit down with the Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sport and Recreation to draw up the guidelines to be followed by those who are ready to start.”

He said every association will have to screen their athletes regularly and also record the attendees to ensure contact tracing.

“The LSRC doesn’t have money as we still haven’t received our subvention from the government and it is going to be difficult for us to help associations. However, those who feel that they are ready are welcome to do so. Every association will have to screen athletes and ensure that they are sanitising and also must keep the records,” he said.

He also advised the associations to start preparing their national teams as they are only made up of a limited number of athletes.

“It is much cheaper and easier to start with the national teams because they will be easy to manage. Before the Sunday announcement, seven sporting codes had already been given the greenlight but there has not been any action because they didn’t want to return because it was going to be expensive. It’s still going be expensive.

“Associations like the Lesotho Football Association (LeFA) have already started and have been running workshops jointly with the National Covid-19 Secretariat (NACOSEC) on the measures to be taken as they return. That is what I would advise other associations to do.”

Meanwhile, LSRC vice president, Moipone Mashale, has been appointed the sport representative in the NACOSEC. She will be leading a task team of six people whose names are yet to be unveiled.