Send-Off Remarks of the Minister of Sport and Recreation South Africa (srsa), Honourable Mr Fikile April Mbalula (MP), on the occasion of the Paralympic Team South Africa official send off to the 2012 London Paralympic Games
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Send-Off Remarks of the Minister of Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA), Honourable Mr Fikile April Mbalula (MP), on the occasion of the Paralympic Team South Africa official send off to the 2012 London Paralympic Games. 20 August 2012 Programme Director; Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation South Africa, Hon. Gert Oosthuizen; MEC of Sport and Recreation in Gauteng Province, Mr Lebohang Maile; President of the South African Confederation and Olympic Committee, Mr Gideon Sam; and all the Board Members; Member of the International Olympic Committee, Mr Sam Ramsamy; Director-General of SRSA, Mr Alec Moemi; The CEO of SASCOC, Mr Tubby Reddy; Chef de Mission, Mr Pieter Budernhost; All our athletes and Paralympians; Family members and friends of our athletes who are present this evening to grace this extra-ordinary gathering; Honourable and Distinguished Guests; The Media who is here to grace this event; Fellow South Africans; Ladies and Gentlemen. When Cameron van der Burgh emerged from the London waters during the 2012 London Olympics, he raised both his hands in a posture to show our country and the world that ‘Ke Nako’ – This is the Time. He raised both his hands to show us that this is an African century. When Chad Le Clos outmastered Michael Phelps in the swimming competition, he said ‘This is Our Time’ through his tears of joy when he won the gold medal. When our men’s lightweight rowing team reached the line to collect gold, they collectively said ‘Eli lixesha lethu madoda’. And when Brigdette Hartley won her single women kayak returning home with the bronze, she said ‘Dit is ons beurt’. When Caster Simenya was brushing her shoulders after her triumph, bringing back home a silver medal, was reminding our nation to brush off all our disappointments that we’ve endured in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and focus on the 2012 London Games and beyond. This zest and spirit as displayed by the 2012 Battalions in the London Olympics should be infused in the hearts of our 2012 Cadets towards the 2012 London Paralympic Games. The relay baton from our 2012 Olympians should be passed seamlessly to the 2012 Paralympians with tenacity and agility. We must do so inspired by the words of the late comrade Steve Tshwete, the former Minister of Sport when he said: “You must attack with the agility of a cat and the ferocity of a cornered bull”. Going to London we must exactly emulate what comrade Steve Tshwete wished us to do; we must do so inspired by our incremental success since the 1992 Barcelona Paralympic Games when we brought back home eight (8) medals. Since then, we have shown the world that we are able. We were able to bag 28 medals in the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games. We further displayed our ability by grabbing 38 medals in the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games and lampooned 35 medals during the Athens Paralympics in 2004 in the posture of ableness and ability, going home with 15 Gold and 13 Silver. You have not disappointed South Africa when you represented our nation with pride in the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. You came back home with 31 medals, scoring 21 Golds and 3 Silver. We have proven the world wrong that ‘disability’ does not, in any way, equals ‘inability’. This year is your year, we want Gold nothing else. We know you have the ability and capability to do it. You can do it, and yes you can. Ke Nako! This is your time! What we need to do is to pump more resources to support all our athletes with disabilities. They deserve it. They have shown South Africa and the world that they can do it. We can’t then continue to provide less support to people who are bringing more medals to South Africa. It is unfair. Our Paralympians they brought back home not less than 15 medals each Paralympic Games they’ve participated in after 1992. This is not a child’s play especially for a country that was isolated in sport and recreation for more that 3 decades. The disability sport has grown tremendously over the years and become a strategic part of human life and public consciousness. The whole country must begin to give our athletes with disabilities the honour and integrity. We should give them the respect they deserve through structured support and in kind. Our government has shown our seriousness about disability sport. We are serious in wanting to help our athletes with disabilities to enjoy life like any other body. Through government support our disabled South Africans get a shot at being able to achieve greatness in their own way. We have made laws ‘to provide access to all persons with a disability in South Africa to sports and recreation and enabling the people with disabilities to achieve their potential’. We have partnered with the private sector to support the South African Paralympic Teams’ efforts and the sport of people with disabilities, but I believe that this is not enough. Many of our disabled athletes get support from their families and friends whilst as country we are spectators. Against all odds these athletes have continuously put a smile in the faces of millions of South Africans. They earned the rank of 6th place overall from a total number of 147 competing nations all over the world. We must be proud of them. Therefore, the ‘cross-over’ mentality or ‘double opportunity’ syndrome that other people are fighting against, where athletes with disability cross-over to participate in non-disabled sport, should not be the only route for the athletes with disabilities to receive recognition and be celebrated by the world. We need to build a strong movement and a strong case for athletes with disabilities to be treated the same way as non-disabled athletes. Funding of their activities is critical on this matter. We must stop buying faces; we need to give equal support and equal treatment especially when people are doing wonders in the field of sport against all odds. These athletes are going to represent us in London we are sure that they will come back home with medals. We are not guessing or speculating; we are sure. We know for the fact that we are not going to get less than 15 gold medals, we are sure. It has been proven by history that we do not get less that 15 medals, we are sure. So why are we treating this category of our athletes differently whereas they bring pride to our nation. We are aware that athletes with disabilities did compete in the Olympic Games prior to the advent of the Paralympics. We are also aware that the first athlete to do so was American gymnast George Eyser in 1904. However, the Cape Town native girl, Natalie du Toit could be singled out as the outstanding disabled swimmer who hit both the Olympics and Paralympic platforms by surprise especially when she competed at both Athens and Beijing bagging 10 Gold medals and a Silver. She, on 16 August 2008 placed here prosthetic limb by the shores of Shunyi Lake in Beijing and dived in to contest the Olympic 10km Open Water swimming race. Natalie became the first female amputee in the world to compete in an Olympic event – then she stayed on in Beijing for the Paralympics, claiming a haul of five gold medals. Oscar Leonard Pistorius is another living example of the power of sport in the triumphs of human spirit. Known in the world as the Blade Runner because of his carbon-fibre prosthetics. We are equally aware that Oscar is not the first athlete with disabilities to participate in a non-disabled sport at an Olympic or Professional level; but his case is unique in its own right. Oscar broke a record in challenging the rules of the IAAF and countered their research findings. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) agreed with his evidence suggesting that he had ‘no net advantage’ over his non-disabled compatriots. This alone opened the doors for many athletes with disabilities who want to participate in the World Athletics Championships and Olympic Games and he became the face of disability sport in the recent London Olympics and became one of the feature personalities in the 2012 Olympics. I am singling out these two South African compatriots because there is no doubt in my mind that their performances have put disability sport in particular and the position of athletes with disabilities at a higher level. They are a source of inspiration to the current generation of athletes with disabilities. They are counted amongst the 11 world famous athletes with disabilities. They bring hope to the disability movement world wide. They together with all other South African athletes with disabilities have shown the world that disability does not mean inability. They have put the ability of people with disability into a new era. They have shown the world that resilience is the heart of human triumphs and athletic accomplishment. Ladies and Gentlemen, the performances and success of both Oscar and Natalie should not be seen as diminishing the achievements of other Paralympians in the eyes of the general public; but; as a fire power for success by other athletes with disability. This should show the world to know that there is an inherent ability in people with disabilities. This should be the celebration of diversity of excellent performance. It is equally so with the performance of our South African wheelchair racing athlete, Ernst van Dyk who won the Laureus Sportsperson of the Year Award for an athlete with a disability at a gala function in Barcelona in 2006. He won this title ahead of five other nominees chosen by 42 sporting greats who make up the Laureus World Sport Academy. We know his triumphs especially when he made our country proud with he won the Boston Marathon wheelchair race for an unprecedented fifth year in succession, as well as the New York, Paris, Seoul and Oita Marathons. He also showed himself to be versatile by winning the 400 and 800 metres in Atlanta’s meet in the Heat. He joined the league of other South African greats, like Mike Horn was named Laureus World Alternative Sportsperson of the Year in 2001 and Gary Player who was presented with the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. This ability to bridge the gap between able-bodied and disabled athletes should be encouraged and supported. In the same vein we can not forget the contributions and successes of our great sportpersons with a disability like Kgothatso Monjane, our South African wheelchair who was unbeaten at the 2011 ITF Wheelchair Team World Cup here in Pretoria. She occupies 13th place in the world rankings; and many more athletes with disabilities including all of you the 2012 Paralympians. As President Nelson Mandela once said: “I urge everyone to look at individuals with … disabilities in a different light. If given a chance, these individuals can make a mark in whatever discipline they are guided through. If guided well, they will excel in whatever they attempt to do (even in sport)”. We are therefore gathered here this evening to give you, the 2012 generation of Paralympians, the marching orders going forward to the 2012 London Paralympic Games. We addressed you on 20 June 2012; when we addressed you we said: “Participation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games is the ultimate dream of any athlete of any country. You have done all in your power to qualify and now you are on your journey putting in your final weeks of preparation. Stay focussed, polish your practice, and take care of your health. If you are beginning to become excited and anxious perhaps, it is understandable, and all part of your build up”. Therefore you are the Gladiators that will represent the Republic of South Africa at the 2012 London Paralympics Games during this month and at the beginning of September 2012. You represent the hopes and aspirations of the 49 million South Africans on the sporting fields of London whilst at the same time will be our ambassadors to the billions of viewers and spectators across the globe. I would like to take this opportunity to convey my message to the Chef de Mission, Mr Pieter Badenhorst going to the London Paralympic Games in the same manner and spirit as I did so during the send off of the 2012 London Olympians. I would like to equally give the same oomph to these Paralympians in their road to London. You must know going forward that: “Victory belongs to the side that scores most in the temple calculations before battle. Defeat belongs to the side that scores least in the temple calculations before battle”. And that “Victory belongs to the man (and woman) who can master the stratagem of the crooked and the straight … This is the Art of War”. You must therefore go to London with a consciousness of team work and togetherness. We want you as from today to adopt a renewed attitude which is resembled in a notion that says: “It is not about me”. “We will achieve this together”. This is not about me and it is equally not about you, but, about the people of the Republic of South Africa. We must as from today strive for unity especially marching towards the 2012 London Paralympic Games in few days to come”. I am raising these pertinent issues because in our Road to the London Paralympics we need maximum unity. Maximum Unity will be a powerful investment we can make to our success in the campaign during the 2012 Paralympic Games and beyond. Remember to bring back more than 40 medals, Gold. Your great achievements in this year’s Paralympic Games might strengthen your case to host the 2015 Special Olympics World Games. Your performance in London will provide all of us with necessary ammunition to bit the United States in the bid to host these games and bring them home. If we win the bid to host the 2015 Special Olympics World Games in South Africa, be sure to ‘buy a camera’ as the games will be a special extravaganza in an African soil. Go to London and enjoy yourselves. Do not Dope. Represent us well. I love you. Thank you very much!! END! 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