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Keynote Address by Premier of the Northern Cape,
Dipuo Peters, at the Soccer Indaba, Kimberley
Programme Director
MECs, MPs & MPLs
FIFA 2010 World Cup LOC, Mr Danny Jordan
Deputy President of SAFA, Professor
Gadinabokao
The Chairperson of Women’s Soccer, Mme Ria Ledwaba
Dr Ali Bacher
Chief Executive Officer of JohnComm, Mr Connie Molusi
Honourable Mayors and Councillors
Officials of Government
Leaders of Faith Based structures
Sports Representatives
Leaders of industry and business
Rep of CBOs and NGOs
Media Representatives
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
This is a very exciting time for me and the people of this
province; I am therefore extremely delighted to be part of an
initiative, which will put our people and our province on the
soccer map.
Allow me ladies and gentlemen to acknowledge with appreciation the
presence of all our dignitaries who have heeded to our call to be
part of this Indaba.
It gives me great pleasure to also welcome you all.
I also believe that your presence here is an unequivocal
demonstration of your conviction and commitment to our common goal
of ensuring that the people of the Northern Cape are part of soccer
developmental initiatives and that they also participate in the
2010 World Cup. Our province also offers you a chance to escape the
maddening crowds and enjoy its unique beauty. We hope you will use
your visit here to explore possible holiday destinations for your
own pleasure and experience first hand the diversity of our natural
heritage. We also hope you will visit our province again and
unearth the soccer talent we believe is hidden in our
province.
As South Africans, the people’s contract unites us. This
contract includes a responsibility to progressively improve access
to sport opportunities for our young people.
Ladies and gentlemen, this occasion coincides with the Youth Month
Programme, in which several programmes to highlight developmental
opportunities for our young people are being conducted as a build
up to the event to commemorate the 16 June 1976 uprising.
It’s also a programmed aimed at re-affirming our commitment
that the rights of our young people will be protected and
guaranteed.
This programme brings together a nation. Part of the solution is
therefore tied to our public-private partnership of integrated
developmental strategies.
We offer hope to the hopeless, we create avenues for talent to
grow.
You will agree with me that one of the key benefits of empowering
our young people through sport would lead to a situation in which
they depend less on government for their own economical survival.
As such we consider sport and recreation to be a national asset as
it brings people together and promotes social cohesion.
More and more of our young people turn to crime and alcohol for
entertainment and recreation with no sense of value and self-worth.
This is an indication that we need to devise quick intervention
strategies through sport.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am inspired by the participation of women
in this soccer Indaba, nevertheless, we will be, more inspired one
day when we have produced a commendable number of men and women who
will represent this province on national and international soccer
teams.
We have a responsibility to create a nation that is tolerant and
healthy enough to enjoy these sports opportunities and recreational
facilities we are creating for our people.
We cannot and should not accept the perception that we are a
province breeding alcoholics and violent men who kill and rape
their children.
* How do we then begin to encourage our young people, whose hope is
pinned on us to make them part of the professional team will not be
dashed,
*how do we begin to encourage our people to refrain from alcohol
and drugs and focus on sport and recreation, if we do not have
icons and role models in our communities? * we are forever calling
on our youth to use the opportunities provided to them through
sport to transform their behaviour, but how are we going to address
this change if we do not help them believe that this is
possible.
* we have added to the call made by our Minister of Sport and
Recreation – Rev Makhenkesi Stofile who appealed to all of us
to start developing soccer by reviving community clubs in our
townships, villages and schools.
These avenues are crucial levels of empowering young people towards
health and active but disciplined lifestyles. Sport promotes the
motor skills of learners, teamwork and leadership skills.
We have a duty to create role models for our youth, people they
admire and look up to.
Ladies and gentlemen, this Indaba provides us with a rare
opportunity to set the pace for further integrated planning and the
implementation of many other sporting initiatives.
We should participate in this indaba with great optimism, as it
should chart the way forward, and produce clear strategies that
will locate all stakeholders, at the centre of the programme of
action in the country including the 2010 World Cup.
In the Northern Cape more than anywhere in the country, we need an
association of devoted men and women who will bring together this
common vision, and create opportunities for our people.
We must also ensure that women are part of the implementation
process of some of the strategies that are drawn from this
indaba.
Our challenge is therefore to establish a professional soccer team
as well as to provide resources to our talented young men and
women. Our starting point is to get the basics right.
It is our function as government to ensure that all South Africans
have access to sport and recreation and that no individual or group
of individuals lay claim to, or monopolise sport in any form, to
the exclusion of others. Government will and shall defend this
right all the way.
Last year, our Minister of Sport and Recreation, Rev Makhenkesi
Stofile launched the Mass Participation programme in Upington. We
are encouraged that during his budget speech, the Minister
announced that responses to this programme are overwhelming.
We hope that the progress we are making thus far will ensure that
we reach every corner of our province and access opportunity to
all. These are very important building blocks for the developmental
stage.
To me this day fulfils the wish of so many of communities in the
province who lost all hope that their children will ever be part of
the soccer fraternity. Professional teams already exist in other
provinces therefore you’ll forgive me ladies and gentlemen
for sounding over zealous.
This indaba is geared towards empowering our young people,
integrating our service delivery programme and also forging a
partnership with you, saying help us to crawl, and be there when we
can walk.
We need to give our people hope.
By converging here today, you have all placed a permanent sign that
indeed you are serious about the development of soccer in our
province. I am the first to admit that this process will not be
easy. But will be achieved if undertaken in a manner that
encourages high levels of community involvement.
Developing soccer in this province is a responsibility of each and
every one of us. As government we believe that this interaction is
inherent in good citizenship.
It is to the youth to whom we have the highest moral obligation to
create opportunities for their own development, but it is also the
youth who with the provision of appropriate development programmes
have the best chance of social integration.
Ladies and gentlemen, you’ll agree with me that sport is a
very important activity in our society. It is also a very important
indicator of how a particular society is organised. For this
reason, our country too has a responsibility to use sport to assist
our people to move in a particular direction.
A direction which creates a South Africa that is also biased in
favour of the poor and those at risk, such as our youth, women and
people living with disabilities.
That is why we identified the establishment of a professional
soccer team in our province as a matter of utmost importance.
We can only achieve this objective through your contribution and
commitment. Through your strategies and plans, we will begin to
make the wishes of our hopeless prospective soccer players come
true.
This forum will shape and guide us as a province on how to
implement our plans.
The people of this province rely on each and every one of you to
participate fully to ensure that we grasp all opportunities and
maximise the value of our programme of action. We also acknowledge
that our sports infrastructure requires more attention.
Therefore we need to work harder than any other province, to
integrate our systems within this sector. We need to take advantage
of advanced opportunities in other province and urgently address
the challenge of inadequate resources with a comprehensive strategy
that integrates the requirements of all government services.
These are but a few challenges before you at this soccer indaba and
your ability to propose innovative solutions will determine our
success. The people of the Northern Cape deserve to be part of
professional soccer bodies. Your challenge is to help us get there.
Let me further use this opportunity to also congratulate you Mr.
Danny Jordan and your team for the sterling work you continue to do
for the development of soccer in our country. We certainly hope
that your contribution will go a long way in ensuring that we
achieve our objectives. What guides our approach is that each one
of us should lend a hand in doing the simple things that will make
a difference to the lives of our people. Ladies and gentlemen let
me thank you immensely fir the contribution you will make during
this indaba. Let us generate hope for our upcoming soccer players
who have no sense of confidence that they too, can be part of
professional soccer. May your deliberations embrace and enrich our
communities.
This indaba will remain as a testament to us all to continue to
contribute to our development. This event should be one of the most
inspiring contributions to the efforts of establishing a soccer
team in our province.
We are convinced as the provincial government that the situation
can and must be corrected.
This indaba will seek to find solutions to some of these key
issues. Our intervention should be at all levels of soccer
development. We need to ensure that we play an active role in
shaping our future and that of future generations.
We have to guarantee that our strategies serve the cause of
redress, capacity building and empowerment in both our rural and
urban communities. Therefore delegates in this indaba should
respond positively to the social challenges facing our young
people.
Therefore the strategic plan you will arrive at during your
deliberations, must be for all intent and purposes bear clear
strategies and seek to steer this province towards a developmental
path. I believe that there are men and women who can take bold
initiatives to make a difference. Our optimism also stems from the
fact that the political will to turn the situation around for the
better exists, and a lot has happened already to demonstrate
this.
Ladies and gentlemen, to make a real difference in addressing this
mammoth task, we require your support and commitment. Your
participation will contribute to the development of our
province.
I further applaud all of you especially the organizers of this
event, who have taken this challenge to heart and those of you who
are part of the solution.
I wish you well in the course of your deliberations and call upon
you to continue with the commitment and enthusiasm displayed by
your presence by working harder than ever before to make our
response effective and efficient.
In conclusion, I hope what I have shared with you will serve as a
board for more ideas.
It is also within this context that I would like to invite
potential sponsors to join government by also investing in sport at
the entry level of participation.
I thank you.
Ke a leboga.
Ndiyabulela.
Baie dankie. Issued by: Office of the Premier, Northern Cape
Provincial Government
10 June 2005
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