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Date : 30/11/2006
Source: Ndebele: Premier's Sport Awards
Title: Ndebele: Premier's Sport Awards


Speech by KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Mr Sibusiso Ndebele, at the Premier's Sport Awards, International Convention Centre (ICC), Durban

We are here this evening to pay tribute to the talent of KwaZulu-Natal, to the people behind the courageous and award winning sportsmen and women, and importantly to those administrators for keeping the competitive edge in sport and the games clean.

Your efforts have come with blood, sweat and tears and we are proud of you.

When the history of post-apartheid sport is written, the 1995 World Cup will provide a seminal moment of reflection. It led to one of the abiding images of the 'new' South Africa; President Nelson Mandela appearing at the final in the number six jersey of the Springboks, the South African team. The media rushed to outdo themselves.

This was followed by that 'miraculous' victory in the African Cup of Nations in 1996. It was on 3 February to be exact in front of 110 000 spectators at the First National Bank (FNB) stadium that Neil Tovey lifted the trophy after Doctor Khumalo had dominated the midfield against Tunisia and Mark Williams had delivered the killer blow.

And straight after that we qualified for the 1998 World Cup with Philemon Masinga's right footed thunderbolt settling matters against the People's Republic of Congo. Masinga's goal and coach Clive Barker's boeing like celebration will forever be etched into the memories of 'liberated' South Africans. Like Francois Pienaar and Nelson Mandela, Masinga wore the number six jersey.

It is true to say that since then we have not enjoyed the same measure of success on the playing fields in team sports. It is in this period of the lack of international success, especially the inability to qualify for the 2006 World Cup that we saw President Thabo Mbeki's brilliant analysis of the broader role of sport in our society and pointed the way to embarking on the long road to victory. I quote President Thabo Mbeki:

"The whole of our nation was very disappointed when our soccer national team, Bafana Bafana, failed to qualify for this year's Soccer World Cup. However, our absence from the tournament and the way we fared at the African Cup of Nations has sounded alarm bells about the state of soccer in our country and sports in general. The excitement generated by the 2006 World Cup and the fact that we will host the next one, should inspire the entirety of our nation to engage the issue of what we should do to improve our performance in the field of sport." (Thabo Mbeki, ANC, 9 June 2006)

"Fortunately all of us agree about the critical importance of this area of human activity. Health for all remains one of the central goals of our reconstruction and development process. Clearly we must therefore do everything possible so that sport plays its part towards the realisation of this goal."

Sport is not only about playing the game

To all this analysis must be added that sport is not just about playing the game. It is a vital part of our growing economy. Between 1997 and 2000 sport and recreation's contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) grew from 1,9 to two percent. This represented a net worth of R15 1913 billion. This figures spirals to R16 765 billion if capital expenditures were factored in.

Some 34 325 personnel are employed full time by the industry and 6 140 part time. Sport also has a huge influence in the broadcast and advertising industries. With the World Cup 2010 looming, money on stadiums and infrastructural development is set to increase substantially. Stadium costs are estimated at R6 billion.

In July 2006, President Thabo Mbeki announced that R3 billion would be spent on upgrading the country's public transport system (Business Report, 8 August 2006). Sports tourism is a big growth area. Our province with events like the Comrades and Dusi Canoe marathons and the Midmar Mile has shown its comparative advantage in this market that is estimated at 30 percent of all tourism.

We are also agreed that sport plays an important role in the development of our youth. It also provides a most appropriate outlet for the energies of our young people, helping to keep them away from unhealthy and anti-social activities such as gangsterism, alcohol and drug abuse.

We are further agreed that sport plays yet another important role in terms of uniting our people, helping us to accelerate the process of building a non-racial society and improving the social cohesion that our country needs. All of us have seen how much the victories of our national teams inspire pride and joy among all of us, teaching all of us that we are one nation.

Half time

We are meeting here tonight as we celebrate two and half years in office as the provincial government. I expect a soccer coach would say at half time, we have possession; we control the midfield now we need to turn possession into goals.

We have set the goals and now focusing on scoring. Like in a soccer game it is goals that always silence the opposition.

We have shocked our critics. Despite the persistent calls of the doomsayers we as a nation have displayed a consistent tenacity to succeed. This was a province trespassed by violence and devastation and yet today we have turned that around and have a province that can justly say is at peace with itself.

Our eye is still on the ball to:

* increase investment in the province
* improve skills and capacity building
* broaden participation in the economy
* increase competitiveness.

Ladies and gentlemen, as stars of this province, lest you not believe that you don't have a role to play, opportunities exist beyond the boardroom, markets and transcend the sports fields too.

Playing ball for success

Noting the words of President Mbeki earlier we can assure you that as a province we are poised to rise on all fronts in the sports arena. Together with a partnership with the federations, sponsors and municipalities, development and transformation in sport is taking place throughout the length and breadth of our province.

The initiatives to promote the development of football in our province are well documented in our 2010 and beyond strategy.

These include:

* the provision of support to the South African Football Association (SAFA) with the process of restructuring from four regions to 11 districts, aligned to district municipalities
* provision of computer and other equipment
* soccer enrichment programme, provincial under-17 league
* capacity building for coaches, administrators, managers and technical officials
* infrastructure development in rural areas.

Of course we are building a new stadium at a cost of R1,7 billion, the King Senzangakhona Stadium, and the Dube TradePort all in time for 2010.

We are excited that disadvantaged communities are now taking part in competitive sport such as surfing, canoeing, swimming, rugby, tennis and cycling apart from the more traditional codes such as athletics, cricket and boxing. The Rural Horse Riding Festival and Indigenous Games is an example of such.

At a provincial level the school sport mass participation programmes have included 159 rural schools, contributing sporting equipment and running programmes attracting the youth. This national flagship programme aimed at getting the nation to play has seen over 500 000 people benefit from this programme on a yearly basis.

The stipend which ranges from R1 200 to R3 500 is paid to unemployed youth who are trained to run the programme, contributes to feeding an average family of five people per trainee.

Fifty percent of the youth employed are women and all the hubs and schools in the programme are located in disadvantaged areas. Schools that have not benefited from the provision of sport will now benefit through the provision of sport equipment, sports assistants and a vigorous programme of coaching and competition.

KwaZulu-Natal, first of firsts

We have been proud hosts of a string of highly successful and extremely high profile international events in the past years; this is apart from the yearly hosting of the Durban July Handicap, Comrades Marathon, Dusi Canoe Marathon, the Spar Ladies Race, the Amashova Cycling Race and the A1 Grand Prix Motor Racing Competition.

At this very moment the International Paralympic Swimming Championships are taking place at the Kings Park Aquatic Centre and will continue until 9 December 2006.

There are quite a few proud moments for KwaZulu-Natal that I want to share with you.

* the 1995 Rugby World Cup semi-final was held here
* the semi-final of the African Cup of Nations was held here in 1996
* the 2003 Cricket World semi-final was held here
* the World Cup Beach Soccer 2005 was held here
* David Beckham broke his finger in a friendly match between England and South Africa, here, 2004 and there is no truth to the rumour that Posh did it.

Of course we have know that the finals for 2010 FIFA World Cup will be played in Johannesburg and we have been assured that one of the semi-finals in 2010 will take place right here in KwaZulu-Natal.

World Cup 2010

Lasuka lahlala, let the games begin!

We are getting ready for the second largest international sports spectacle after the Olympic Games, the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The event will contribute more substantially to addressing the socio-economic challenges we face. It provides us with a golden opportunity to boost our tourism and sports industry. It will push our economic development to a higher notch. The tournament will assist us to address the infrastructure backlogs we have in our roads, transport, sports facilities and telecommunications and broadcasting networks.

The event also brings a unique opportunity to ensure that the world learns more about the strengths and opportunities of a country and continent undergoing far reaching reconstruction and development.

Sporting pioneers

Well I think my time is up and before you show me the red card, I will conclude with these words.

Tonight belongs to our stars in the sporting fraternity.

Our nominees tonight are of the highest calibre. Amongst our nominees are a former Olympic swimming gold medallist, an all Africa boxing champion, a young football team that brought honours not only to KwaZulu-Natal, but to the country as the under-15 world football champs.

We are also proud to acknowledge our junior sports persons who have put KwaZulu-Natal on the world map in surfing circles, and inclusion in the Springbok Rugby side. We also want to acknowledge the feat of our junior women's football player for her 48 goals in the Vodacom Women's League.

Besides our athletes we can also boast of the achievements of our administrators, who amongst them hold top executive positions in their National Sports Federations.

We also salute our community builders who work tirelessly to lay the foundation from which our talented athletes are identified and channelled into the high performance arena.

Heartfelt congratulations to all nominees who have been shortlisted from the submissions received.

Whilst only one winner may emerge in each section, being nominated is an achievement to be proud of. We acknowledge your role as sports ambassadors of this province.

In the next few moments you will all stand with pride, whether you take home a trophy or not. You are our inspiration and KwaZulu-Natal is proud of you.

Masisukume sakhe! Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
30 November 2006

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