Programme Director
Ministers of the Republic of South Africa
Deputy Ministers
Members of Executive Councils (MECs) present here tonight
Directors-General and HODs of government
Members of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures
Councilors
International guests who have graced our shores with their presence
All the Generous Sponsors who have made it possible for this event to take place this evening
Sports men and women who honoured this evening
Representatives of Private Sector and State Owned Enterprises
Ladies and gentlemen of the media
Fellow South Africans
We are gathered here, this evening, to pay homage to one of the stalwart of the South African struggle for freedom and peace. We are assembled here, today, to bestow the highest accolade to the man of honour; a man of integrity and a man of stature in the corridors superstructure; comrade Honourable Andrew Mlangeni.
We bestow to you comrade Andrew Mlangeni, a Legendary Green Golf Jacket, because we are inspired by your selfless dedication, before and after Robben Island, to sport and recreation in our country. We do this electrified by your unwavering commitment you displayed in the revolutionary struggle for social justice and equality. We are rejuvenated by your displayed dedication to the war for peace and human sacrifice.We are exuberant by your exuberance in the battle trenches for peace and human solidarity. We are invigorated by your vigor to struggle for freedom and total emancipation of women, youth and people with disabilities.
Ladies and gentlemen, this evening, the Ministry of Sport and Recreation South Africa and the people of the republic bestow this accolade to the stalwart of the struggle against apartheid colonialism.
We are doing this because of your enormous contributions in the history of Sport and Recreation in South Africa and we believe that your selfless contribution should be recorded and be shared with many generations to come.
Son of the soil!Leader and stalwart of the African National Congress and the ANC Youth League! You have made your mark, you have made us proud, but, as a reservoir of knowledge we look forward to be with you in the field of sport and to drink from your fountain knowledge and experience because our struggle is about memory and against forgetting.
Tat’uMlangeni, normally people say good things about you when you are no more, but, we felt it befitting to honour you whilst you are still alive and we say your tremendous contribution have not gone unnoticed.
As Karl Marx once said on the 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte: “Men make their own history, but, they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but, under circumstances directly encountered; given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.”
Ladies and gentlemen, in this tribute of one of our own, our luminaries Andrew Mlangeni, allow me to recite at the outset a befitting truism of Michael Lowy, an author of a book titled the “Marxism of Che Guevara” which epitomises the values and virtues of someone who qualifies to receive this honour that is named after the hero of our struggle, the Andrew Mlangeni Legendary Golf Green Jacket.
Michael Lowy writes: “Che was not only a heroic fighter, but a revolutionary thinker, with a political and moral project and a system of ideas and values for which he fought for and gave his life for. The philosophy which gave his political and ideological choices their coherence, colour, and taste was a deep revolutionary humanism. For Che, the true Communist, the true Revolutionary was one who felt that the great problems of all humanity were his or her personal problems, one who was capable of feeling anguish whenever someone was assassinated, no matter where it was in the world, and of feeling exultation whenever a new banner of liberty was raised somewhere else.”
Like Che, Andrew Mlangeni, like his comrade Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela, a prison-mate and a co-Rivonia Trialist was born in struggle, and was baptised in the revolutionary flames of the African National Congress (ANC) and the entire congress movement in South Africa, which blaze continue to rage to this day in promotion of global peace, non-racialism, non-sexism, human dignity and prosperity for all.
All these values are an embodiment of all the men and women who will receive this award today. We also take this opportunity to call on all sport men and women in South Africa to adopt these values, to practice these values and to live these values. At the same time, we would like all the beneficiaries of the Andrew Mlangeni Golf Green Legendary Jacket to be ambassadors of Mlangeni Foundation to promote these values and the work done by MamaMlangeni and TataMlangeni.
Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we will honour the 2010 FIFA World Cup supporters who sacrificed their time, money and happiness to make our stadiums colourful; made our tournament bright; and made our country proud!
Each will receive R10 000 into the form of Unit Trusts from Old Mutual, for them to invest into their future, the future of the children and their families. This is a good and great package; however, the Old Mutual Agent is present here to meet all the beneficiaries’ in order to explain to them the pros and cons of the package, congratulations.
In the same token, we would like to honour men and women of the Republic of South Africa who have excelled in the field of sport, here at home and abroad.
We are aware that in this team, our country and people have true heroes and heroines of our time whose story will continue to reverberate in the minds of many generations to follow through stories to be told for many years to come.
History will forever remember that when a question bellowed, ‘who shall Mzantsi send to defend her pride in a foreign land?’ you rose to the occasion and stood up fearlessly out to be counted.
We are inspired that, like true warriors of our African soil, you put your act where most needed; and walked the talk to earn the right to national regalia of sport battle. You are truly the best of the best for yours was never a walk in the moon-light but a journey punctuated by baptismal through fierce fires of competition to be selected as best of the best!
On behalf of the government of the Republic of South Africa and the entire sport loving community of our country, allow me to call:
- Mr Brian Mitchelle
- Mr Aaron Mokoena
- Mr Baby Jake Matlala
- Mr Makhaya Ntini
- Ms Penny Heyns
- Mr Lucas Radebe
- Mr Josiah Tugwane
- Dr Steve Mokone
- Mr Jacques Kallis
Ladies and gentlemen may you rest assured of South Africa’s rhythm and ululation each time you take part in any sport adventure in that aqueous terrain of battle for an active and winning nation.
Our message to you is simple…, go out there, enjoy yourselves, prove your worth and conquer the world, for you are sons and daughters of warriors. Sons and daughters born of the soil that raised the big world Icons like Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Oliver Reginald Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Lilian Ngoyi, Joe Slovo, Chris Hani, Albertina Sisulu, Steve Tshwete, Ruth First,and many more who made this day possible for all of us this evening.
Thank you very much.
Source: Sport and Recreation South Africa
