Programme Director
Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation South Africa, Honourable Gert Oosthuizen
IOC Member, Dr Sam Ramsamy
SASCOC President, Mr Gideon Sam
Director General of SRSA, Alec Moemi
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Milan Kundera one of the most recognised and fine contemporary writers in Ludvik, in the Czech Republic once wrote that:
“The struggle of people against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting”.
As we emerged from the successful hosting of the South African Sports Awards (SA Awards) on the 4th November 2012 to recognise achievement and excellence among sport people in South Africa; during the Sports Awards we again reminded South Africans about the value of our sports people in South Africa.
We wanted the whole world to know about the achievements and the immense sacrifices made by our sports persons in this country and the world over in order to make South Africa a winning nation. We wanted them to know that these individuals have put our country high on the international agenda. We reminded all our people that our recognition of our sportsmen and women is a token of appreciation of their colossal contribution in the life of sport and recreation in the Republic and elsewhere in the world.
Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) does so to communicate a single message to the country and the world that our struggle is a struggle of telling our stories, is a struggle to preserve our history and heritage. Ours is a fight against forgetting. We communicate such a message because we believe that every nation’s memories are its national literature and heritage. Thus our collective memory is our collective diary that we carry about with us.
To us this is the diary that makes all of us not to mistake our imaginations for our memories. We believe in this fight in order to preserve memories even if the existence of forgetting has never been proven in human history. In the end we prudently communicate this message to our people for them to understand that forgetting is a deliberate suppression of memory.
Ladies and Gentlemen, at some point in life, certain individuals in society are chosen as outstanding because of their immense contribution in the life of that society. Certain individuals and personalities are afforded with accolades by their nations and communities as a gesture of appreciation for their colossal contribution towards the betterment of that community and society.
Societies and communities do this to appreciate the selfless and heroic contributions by individuals and groups towards the wellbeing and advancement of such communities and societies.
Hence our department is today officially launching the little green book project. The little green book is our little contribution to recognise for now atleast 100 prominent sportspeople in our country. It is the first of its kind in the Republic where SRSA takes an initiative to recognise and register those sportsmen and women who have contributed immensely in profiling sport inside and outside South Africa. It will have names and categories of those South African sportspersons who are recognised by millions of South African people as persons of honour in our society who are active in different aspects of sport activism in South Africa and globally.
It is our collective insistence that, “we should never forget those who have lived their lives to make us happy. We should not forget those who have made it possible for us to be who we are today, to be South Africans. We must resist erasing in our minds and thoughts those who, against all odds, managed to put a smile in our faces even in days of misery, discomfort and even despair. We must refuse to bury the images of those who raise the flag higher and those who sing our national anthem with dignity and passion; especially our sportsmen and women”.
Distinguished Guests, it is against this background that the Ministry of Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) has consciously decided to compile a booklet with the profiles and contact details of the top 100 celebrated sports people in South Africa who have rendered valuable services to sport and the people of the Republic of South Africa.
Therefore, the Little Green Book is the initiative of SRSA to recognise and acknowledge the contribution made by thousands of sportsmen and women in the life of sport and recreation in the Republic of South Africa. It is aimed at selecting the cream of outstanding personalities in sport and recreation who for the past year have contributed immensely in the sport and recreation discourse in South Africa and abroad.
The Little Green Book will for the first time in the history of our country reveal and list the most influential sportspersons of South African origin who have made some tremendous strides in sport and recreation in a number of areas. It will feature the most 100 influential people with a ‘wit’ in sport and recreation especially during the period of January to December 2011. Of note, these 100 most influential people will be selected from athletes, sports legends, sports presenters, sports business people, sports administrators, coaches and the academia.
SRSA have chosen to follow a strict criterion for selection in this regard which include individuals who have a proven track record of achievement in sport and recreation, people of note in sport and recreation as well as role models in all our communities. This exercise will also include people who are living with disability and those who have a proven track record in gender struggles including an ability to break barriers as well as people with influence on both the national and international platforms.
In conclusion, an international expert in Philosophy, Lloyd Dobens a writer and narrator, once said about the value of recognition and reward:
“The lifelong, reliable motivations are those that come from within, and one of the strongest of those is the joy and pride that grow from knowing that you’ve just done something as well as you can do it.”
Thank you.
