Voting starts for Rasa awards
Athletes that performed well across southern Africa will be recognised for their efforts next month.
JESSE JACKSON KAURAISA
The Regional Annual Sports Awards (RASA 2019) have gained momentum following the opening of the voting system on Thursday.
The voting process of the awards hosted by African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 began on Thursday ahead of the grand ceremony scheduled to take place in Windhoek on 25 May.
Nine of the 10 member countries who have entered the winners of their national sport awards as nominees for RASA 2019 include Angola (coming for the first time) Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Stanley Mutoya, the AUSC Region 5 CEO, told RASA media that he is excited to see the RASA brand grow in the manner in which it has since its inaugural edition in 2016.
“Today we have nine member countries taking part in the fourth edition. We welcome Angola into the RASA in this edition as they have had their own domestic awards, making Angola eligible for the 2019 edition of RASA.
“We celebrate this exponential growth given that at inauguration in 2016 we only had five member countries taking part. This is an indication that we have a good product to commercialise,” he said.
“We therefore present this product to the corporates in our region who are interested in associating with excellence and innovation in line with our theme - Celebrating Excellence, Inspiring Innovation,” Mutoya said.
As per the AUSC Region 5 Awards Rulebook, the primary mandate of the AUSC Region 5 is to encourage all 10 member countries to host national sport awards preceding the RASA.
The winners at country level are automatically entered as RASA nominees.
Since the inaugural edition in 2016, the RASA event and the excitement it brings has grown at country level during the hosting of national awards.
There are talks to have more activities during the RASA week to further give the event more excitement and opportunities for the nominees and corporates interact with local hosting country's citizens by giving back in a social responsibility initiatives.
From this year starting with Namibia, the hosting of RASA is on rotational basis, and member countries will host in an alphabetical order.
The African Union Sport Council Region 5 (AUSC Region 5) is the sports arm of the African Union, which was once the Organisation of African Unity. It was formed in the 1960s, and its headquarters is based in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
The main aim of the AUSC is to use sports to achieve peace, integration and unity in Africa i.e. sport as a vehicle of encouraging people to develop and come together, irrespective of colour, economic status, political, class, or gender.
The AUSC divided Africa into seven competition zones due to the vastness of the continent and for financial prudence. The main consideration was the countries' geographical positions. It is from this that AUSC Region was born.
- Additional reporting by RASA
The Regional Annual Sports Awards (RASA 2019) have gained momentum following the opening of the voting system on Thursday.
The voting process of the awards hosted by African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 began on Thursday ahead of the grand ceremony scheduled to take place in Windhoek on 25 May.
Nine of the 10 member countries who have entered the winners of their national sport awards as nominees for RASA 2019 include Angola (coming for the first time) Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Stanley Mutoya, the AUSC Region 5 CEO, told RASA media that he is excited to see the RASA brand grow in the manner in which it has since its inaugural edition in 2016.
“Today we have nine member countries taking part in the fourth edition. We welcome Angola into the RASA in this edition as they have had their own domestic awards, making Angola eligible for the 2019 edition of RASA.
“We celebrate this exponential growth given that at inauguration in 2016 we only had five member countries taking part. This is an indication that we have a good product to commercialise,” he said.
“We therefore present this product to the corporates in our region who are interested in associating with excellence and innovation in line with our theme - Celebrating Excellence, Inspiring Innovation,” Mutoya said.
As per the AUSC Region 5 Awards Rulebook, the primary mandate of the AUSC Region 5 is to encourage all 10 member countries to host national sport awards preceding the RASA.
The winners at country level are automatically entered as RASA nominees.
Since the inaugural edition in 2016, the RASA event and the excitement it brings has grown at country level during the hosting of national awards.
There are talks to have more activities during the RASA week to further give the event more excitement and opportunities for the nominees and corporates interact with local hosting country's citizens by giving back in a social responsibility initiatives.
From this year starting with Namibia, the hosting of RASA is on rotational basis, and member countries will host in an alphabetical order.
The African Union Sport Council Region 5 (AUSC Region 5) is the sports arm of the African Union, which was once the Organisation of African Unity. It was formed in the 1960s, and its headquarters is based in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
The main aim of the AUSC is to use sports to achieve peace, integration and unity in Africa i.e. sport as a vehicle of encouraging people to develop and come together, irrespective of colour, economic status, political, class, or gender.
The AUSC divided Africa into seven competition zones due to the vastness of the continent and for financial prudence. The main consideration was the countries' geographical positions. It is from this that AUSC Region was born.
- Additional reporting by RASA
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