Magashule, on the occasion of the opening ceremony of the OR Tambo Games, in
Welkom
26 October 2007
Programme Director
Members of the Executive Council present
Executive Mayor of the hosting district, Comrade Sebenzile Ngangalizwe
Executive Mayors, Mayors and Councillors present
Presidents of sport federations
Chairpersons of Arts and Culture Statutory Bodies
Representatives of Business Sector
Representatives of non-governmental organisations
Managers and officials in Government
Athletes from the five districts of our province
Honoured guests
Comrades
Ladies and gentlemen:
Tonight we are gathered in this manner to mark the official opening of the
2007 OR Tambo Games. As the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, we want to
thank you from gracing this occasion. Your presence at this ceremony is indeed
gratifying. As the custodians of the OR Tambo Games, we are quite mindful of
the expectations that you as our stakeholders and the Free State communities in
general have regarding the staging of these kinds of events. We are therefore
committed to satisfying your expectations.
Staring from tonight until the end of these games on Sunday, we intend to
host a tournament which is befitting to the historical and political name after
which they are named. Honoured guest, comrades, ladies and gentlemen, the name
of OR Tambo is without doubt a historical name. Comrade OR Tambo is a
historical giant upon whose shoulders we need to stand if we want to see well
into the future of this country and the world. An astute politician, diplomat,
global leader, activist and indeed a martyr who was prepared to lay down his
life for his people. Comrade OR must be honoured in many and various ways.
As the Free State provincial government we are proud to be staging these
games in the honour of this stalwart of our liberation struggle. This is a
contribution that we are making as part of our mandate to, amongst other
things, build social cohesion, preserve the memory of our nation, promote
nation building, preserving our cultural heritage and enhancing sport and
recreation.
Honoured guests, this year we are particularly happy as we stage this 3rd
edition of the OR Tambo Games at the time when this stalwart would be
celebrating his 90th birthday. This edition of the OR Tambo Games is thus of
particular historical and political significance. We have adopted the theme of
these games as "Celebrating the Spirit of OR Tambo through Sport, Arts and
Culture". Yes indeed we have to celebrate the spirit of this giant of our
liberation struggle. The young people who are part of these games and those
across the length and breadth of our province and country must get to know and
never forget historical giants such as OR who have brought our country to where
it is. As the rest of the country will be remembering this historical giant we
as the Free State are doing it in a very intense way during this weekend,
starting from tonight until Sunday.
Tomorrow we will be hosting a cultural evening, which will be a gala event,
as part of this year's OR Tambo Games. Central to this cultural evening is a
memorial lecture that will be conducted about the life of comrade OR The
cultural evening is in that sense therefore meant to be an educational platform
upon which the historical anecdotes about the life of comrade OR will be
delivered. The cultural evening will also be characterised by a musical
extravaganza which will communicate and manifest the life and spirit of comrade
Tambo.
Through various sporting activities at various sporting fields within
Matjhabeng, our athletes will sweat it out driven by nothing but this spirit of
OR As these young people of our province engage in their sporting activities
between tomorrow and Sunday as well as during the rest of their sporting
careers, they must know that there are those of their forebears such as comrade
OR who sacrificed their youth, their family life and their own life for us to
be where we are. These young people must persevere to do their best in the
sporting arena to reach the highest levels of sport participation and
competitions in honour of people like OR
Ladies and gentlemen, comrades on Sunday, after all the games have been
played we will engage in a closing ceremony which will in the main be a medal
awarding ceremony. Since we have taken a resolute stand that we will mix sport
with arts and culture the closing ceremony will also be characterised by
cultural activities. Being Sunday we will receive gospel musical rendition from
the gifted artists like Teboho and Friends; William Mthethwa and Paul
Lechalaba. I hope we will all then leave this year's OR Tambo games spiritually
healed!
Programme director let me take this opportunity to join the millions of the
masses of our people to congratulate the Springboks for the resounding success
in the Rugby World Cup. Undoubtedly our spirits have been lifted by this
victory. The impact that this victory has had in our quest to build social
cohesion and nation building in our country is enormous.
I must also congratulate Bafana Bafana for their victory in the Council for
Southern African Football Associations (Co) cup. This victory by our national
soccer team is also an important milestone in our path towards what is arguably
the greatest sport tournament of them all, the 2010 Federation for
International Football Association World Cup. We hope that our boys will
sustain the momentum until the final whistle of the 2010 tournament. As the
Free State, we are also particularly delighted by the performance of our
provincial teams in Rugby and Soccer. Tomorrow the Cheaters will be doing us
proud as they battle it out in the final of the Curry Cup. We wish them all the
best. Last night Bloemfontein Celtics recorded an important victory which has
taken them to the semi-finals of the Telkom Cup. We wish them well in this
important tournament.
Honoured guest, ladies and gentlemen, comrades, I now take this opportunity
to present to you the honourable Premier of our beloved province, comrade
Beatrice Marshoff. Of course comrade Marshoff does not need any introduction.
Her work as a member of our provincial and national government is well known.
Her history as a political activist committed to the fight against the
apartheid regime is well known. All that I need to say about her tonight is
that she is the greatest supporter of our effort to promote sport, arts and
culture in this province, which is what we are doing over this weekend.
Ladies and gentlemen, may we all put our hands together for Premier Marshoff
who will deliver a keynote address and officially declare the games opened.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, Free State Provincial
Government
26 October 2007
Source: Free State Provincial Government (http://www.fs.gov.za/)
