Secunda, 14 September 2002
Programme Director
Mpumalanga Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture
MEC Siphosezwe Masango
His worship the Mayor of Govan Mbeki Municipality
Mayor Mdibanisi Tsheke
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Let me from the outset thank MEC Masango and his staff for having made it possible for us to meet and rub shoulders with our Province's sports ambassadors, distinguished sports people and lovers of sports.
Today we are launching the Mpumalanga team that will compete for national honours at the South African Games in Pretoria from the 25th of September to the 30th of September.
The organisers of both events tell me that they are sure that this project will go a long way in contributing to the development and transformation of sport in our country.
They realised that since achieving unity and non-racialism in all our sporting codes, our main challenge has been to make our national and provincial teams more representative while at the same time being potent world-beaters.
But then they also realised that in order to achieve these it was, and still is, vital to broaden the base of participation and increase the pool of talent from which national teams can be selected.
We come from a past where a section of the community had everything they needed regarding sports development.
On the other hand a section of the community had nothing.
As organisers with vision and the best interest of the country at heart, they chose to unite in putting behind us a painful past - a past of unequal opportunities.
Ladies and gentlemen, therefore the challenges facing all of us are to ensure that all our sports people, regardless of race, have the potential to develop to the full.
We often refer to the potential of sport to build a nation.
If sport can in fact fulfil such a role, and I believe that it can, then this is one of the many examples we are able to point to today.
I look at you today not as black and white sports people, but as South Africans who will never again allow their diversity to be used to divide and tear them apart.
As young men and women you have, in your own way, contributed to the reconciliation processes so necessary in the building of a nation.
When we cheer Frans Venter in our cricket team we will be doing so not because he is white, but because he is from the province where the sun rises - Mpumalanga.
We say the same about Leo Mthombeni, Thuli Nhlapo and Alisha Pretorius in women's hockey; Mduduzi Lubisi and Jabu Maisa who will be representing the province in football for the disabled; Petrus Roets and Tumelo Thubane in swimming; Michael Sekgobela and Paul Schafer in rugby; Marike Swanepoel and Abinah Mokoena in netball; and all our athletes who will be representing us in all the sporting codes.
We are proud of you because you are residents of Mpumalanga and you are South Africans.
As I said earlier, sports more than anything has the power to unite people and diverse cultures, something that is quite critical in a period where we are building a nation.
When we cheer you at the SA Games next week, remember that we will be cheering a group of young men and women who will never again allow their diversity to be used to divide and tear them apart.
As young men and women you have, in your own way, contributed to the reconciliation processes so necessary in the building of a nation.
But remember: nation-building and reconciliation cannot be contained only in political speeches, song, dance, poetry and in the construction of monuments.
An integral element of this mammoth task is that as we celebrate our diversity we should feel the greater need, now more than before, to educate ourselves and the world about what amalgam of historical events has given birth to our collective human experience.
We must do so while freeing everyone from the last vestiges of oppression.
Freeing everyone from hunger, disease and want.
It is our task to make the most of our freedom, to entrench it in our new epoch as a fundamental and a permanent feature of our very existence.
The SA Games and this team carry my full support and I look forward to seeing the participation of more athletes from across the province.
This initiative represent a bright opportunities for all of us to join hands in a constructive effort to expand the opportunities available to our youth, under circumstances that are removed from the immediate challenges facing us.
We urge every citizen of Mpumalanga to support our team as a tangible proof of the people of this Province to the worthy cause of nation-building, and thereby to the development of our province and our country.
Ladies and gentlemen, we should never under-estimate the influence, importance and potential of sport development on the development of society.
That is why sport stars are increasingly becoming role model for our youth.
Games such as the SA Games are essential for the healthy and safe development of the leaders and citizen of tomorrow.
That is why I emphasise that sports, more than anything, have the power to unite people and diverse cultures, something that is quite critical in a period where we are building a nation.
All over South Africa and the Province unity is emerging through such organised activities.
These activities focus on specific themes that seek to enhance the achievement of government objectives of democracy, the attainment of peace, crime reduction and prevention, reconstruction and empowerment.
Finally, ladies and gentlemen, in partnership with all sectors of society, we must continue to give absolute priority to HIV/AIDS programmes.
We must continue to mobilise popular awareness of the seriousness of the epidemic.
All of us must realise that the epidemic is not only a health issue, but also an economic one.
It is an epidemic, which we ignore at our peril.
In conclusion: I am sure that all of you will join me in congratulating the sportsmen and women of this province who will most certainly do us proud in the SA Games.
We also salute those tireless warriors who give so much of their time and energy, sometimes without any reward, for their efforts at ensuring that sport and recreation is delivered from the lowest levels of participation to the pinnacle of international competition.
I am speaking, of course, about coaches, officials, technical assistants and volunteers.
Without your dedication, sport and recreation as we know it, will not be possible in Mpumalanga and in South Africa.
I salute you!
Our thanks are due to the organisers of these games.
All the staff in Mr Masango's office thank you.
And everyone else involved.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we thank you for your support and for your investment in the future of our province.
To the sports people I am sure you will remember that the main important thing in sports is to enjoy.
To enjoy what you are doing. Remember that as a people - black and white - we are united behind you.
As government, on whose behalf I speak here today, we will be present at the games to spur you on.
We came here today to spur you on.
We wish all of you all the success. But remember, even if you don't win, the essence of the games is to enjoy.
I know that you will go out there and enjoy.
Our motto for the games is "Introducing the Youth of Today and the Stars of tomorrow".
I thank you
Issued by Office of the Premier, Mpumalanga
14 September 2002