THANDAZA DOPING SAGA: GOVT ROPES IN RADO

MBABANE – Following the news of local athlete, Thandaza Zwane, testing positive for drug substance last year, government has taken stern action to ensure such does not happen in future.

Zwane was banned for four years by the Regional Anti-Doping Organisation (RADO) after testing positive to the illegal substance.

The Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Harris ‘Madze’ Bulunga said after the incident last September,  they immediately met the CEO of the Eswatini Sports and Recreation Council (ESRC) Darius Dlomo, and tasked him, in collaboration with EOCGA, with ensuring that more work was done to improve doping education and controls in Eswatini.

This, the legislator disclosed yesterday at Thokoza Church Centre during the official opening of Regional Anti-Doping Organisation (RADO) Workshop.
The workshop, aimed at educating local officers on doping control measures in sports, started yesterday and will run until Friday.

Ban

“Back in September 2019, we received the news that one of our athletes had received a four-year ban from RADO. We are therefore extremely pleased to be here to witness the start of this programme which will capacitate these 16 participants from the various sporting codes in Eswatini with the necessary knowledge to then implement programmes that will promote clean sports in our beautiful country,” said Bulunga.

He added that they should thank RADO for the invaluable support which has made this exercise a possibility.
“We are extremely grateful and we hope that such investment will result in clean sport across the board in our beautiful kingdom. On behalf of His Majesty’s Government, I wish to reiterate our zero tolerance on any forms of doping.

As a country, we are committed to adhering to all RADO and global anti-doping measures and competing in the spirit of fair play,” said the minister.
Bulunga further highlighted that in their quest to develop the sporting sector and turn it professional, they were cognisant of the fact that doping issues cannot be taken lightly. He said if they dared not put focus on educating and effecting strong controls to curb doping, it would prove an Achilles heel to the development of their sector.

“As we continue to push towards professionalisation of the sector, I call upon everyone in sport to give due diligence to issues of doping in order for us to achieve the meaningful growth we so desire,” he said.

He encouraged the participants to ensure that they shared the knowledge they would gain from the workshop.

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