Prime Minister Angula opens Youth Games

Namibian Prime Minister Nahas Angula officially opened the SADC Zone 6 Youth Games at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on June 26.
He said that the SADC member states recognised the value of sport in national and regional development, adding that it had now become a booming industry.
â??Gone must be the days when sport was only taken and viewed as the pre-occupation of a select few. Sport is now a large booming industry that contributes tremendously to the Gross Domestic Products of countries. One has just to look at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany at the moment,â? he said, adding that various industries benefited directly from sport, such as tourism, manufacturing of beverages, sports wear and equipment, and construction and catering to name a few.
Prime Minister Angula said that SADC heads of state had long realised the power that sport had in uniting people and bringing about the required socio-economic changes amongst communities and in the region.
â??There was a time when we in Southern Africa, effectively used sport to help bring the system of apartheid to an end. Sports persons and their associations in the then independent frontline states worked closely together, with international sports organisations to isolate and eventually destroy apartheid,â? he said.
He said their main objectives for sport were to bring about regional integration, unity, peace, stability and development.
â??These Youth Games must bring the youth of the SADC region together to compete, meet, mix, form lasting friendships and practically experience person to person integration. Our youth must learn that they are one people, who belong to one region and one continent,â? he said.
Angula called on the youth as well as the officials to be guided by the principle of fair play and not to allow any cheating.
â??Let our youth learn to win magnanimously, but with humility and lose with dignity. Let our youth learn to rejoice together, irrespective of differences in gender, religion, culture, language, the colour of their skin, ethnic backgrounds or any other differences,â? he said before officially declaring the Games open.