LETTER: Sport minister is all talk and no action
The government doesn’t have the will or a proper plan to help black sportspeople
Sport, arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa told us what we could all see for ourselves in Tokyo that the SA Olympics team was not representative of the country’s demographic. The truth is the government doesn’t have the will or a proper plan to ensure representativeness happens. If it did it would have put a plan in place in 1994.
The reality of the matter is that every minister that gets the job is there for their own benefit. The portfolio is not taken seriously by the authorities. How is it possible that 24 years after Penny Heyns’ heroics at Atlanta, we still can’t send a black swimmer to the games? Is it that blacks can’t swim?
If Tatiana Schoenmaker can conquer the world at 24, what has the government done to ensure the same opportunity and development are provided to a girl of similar age from a previously disadvantage background?
At the current rate we will be in the same situation three years from now after the Paris Olympics, and in seven years in Los Angeles. The minister will be making the same noise with no plan to show.
It’s disheartening to be told what you can see and know for yourself by people who are expected to lead the transformation, yet all they do is talk and no action.
Kiekie Mboweni, Nkowankowa
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