Sport and Recreation Minister, Fikile Mbalula and Sascoc President Mr Gideon Sam jointly held a media briefing at the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) Olympic House in Johannesburg recently.
The aim was to provide the media with an update regarding the outcome of the meeting between the ministry of sport and recreation and Sascoc leadership previously held in Pretoria. SASCOC President, Mr Gideon Sam used the platform to outline the next step forward for South African sport with the Olympics Games in London next year.
“Now, more than ever we need to present a unified front from South African sport, our sport needs all the assistance we can get and it’s really exciting to have Minister Mbalula and his department right behind us in this regard,’ he said. “The Minister really wants to take a hands-on approach in this regard and I think we should join hands and show a unified front as we head for 2012 and beyond.
It makes sense for all concerned to be in alignment with the route we’re taking,” continued Mr Sam. In his update Sam said there will be an increased focus on Sascoc’s Operation Excellence programme ahead of the Olympics. This programme provides for unprecedented financial and coaching support for the country’s Olympic hopefuls. “We don’t want to leave anything to chance when it comes to team selection, come November this year and we will know who has qualified, in line with most of the world qualification events taking place this year. Some events will still take place early next year so some athletes will still be eligible to qualify,” said Sam.
Minister Mbalula highlighted that as the department, they do not want to interfere with federations matters but that the federation should do their work and the department will support them. One important question posed to the minister by a Reuters journalist, was whether the minister would meet with three former Cricket SA board members with regards to certain comment they had made to the media recently. And in response to that, Minister Mbalula said if people have something to say they should do so freely through proper channels and their concerns will be addressed, instead of them running to the media.
Minister also emphasised that Cricket SA has not fallen; that Cricket SA board should explain how they reached the decision they took. “We are going to be meeting with the board of CSA on February 12 and we will examine the issues and engage fully with all the concerns, we are dealing with people of integrity and integrity is very important in everything we do,” said Minister Mbalula. For the full SASCOC statement please visit the SASCOC website.
