Keynote Address of the Minister of Sport and Recreation South
Africa (SRSA), Honourable Mr. Fikile Mbalula (MP), on the
occasion of the Ministerial Dinner of the World Conference of
the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on 12 November 2013,
at Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, Republic of
South Africa.
Programme Director;
Former Minister of Sport and Recreation South Africa, Dr Rev
Makhenkesi Arnold Stofile;
Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation in the Republic of
South Africa, Honourable Mr. Gert Oosthuizen (MP);
Ministers and Deputy Ministers from the Republic of South Africa
and all our guest Ministers and Deputy Ministers from around
the world;
President of the International Olympic Committee and the
entire board of the IOC;
President of the World Anti-Doping Agency and the entire
contingent of the leaders of WADA present here this evening;
All International Federations represented in this Conference;
Leaders of the Sport and Anti-Doping Movement;
Sportsmen and women present here to grace this important
function and gathering;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
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On behalf of the national government of the Republic of South
Africa I would like to join the chorus from the Executive Mayor
of Johannesburg, Councillor Mr Parks Tau, and the Premier of
the Gauteng Province, Honourable Ms Nomvula Monkonyane,
as well the address from the new President of the IOC, Mr
Thomas Bach and WADA President, Mr John Fahey in
welcoming all our local and international guests to this august
gathering of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in the
history of South Africa.
In the same vein, I would like to extent best wishes from the
sport movement in South Africa who wished the conference a
success and expressed their warm words of welcome to all the
delegates who have arrived in the shores of the Republic.
As you have already seen from your flight windows when
descending at OR Tambo and Cape Town International
Airports; South Africa is a warm and beautiful country. It is a
country where magnificent sceneries waft into outlying
horizons, where the sun liquefies its beautiful clouds and rains
out into warm seas. It is a country where mountains rise high in
an impressive manner, a place where you can distinguish the
beginning of time and life.
Our country is full of vibrancy and
robustness; its people are robust and vibrant too in their
conduct. They express their vibrancy and robustness in many
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creative ways including in politics and economics.
It is a
country where you will find sport, recreation, art and culture
bourgeoning with explosion and exuberance. Its wild life is a
perfect reflection of such exuberance with its roaring lions
moving freely in our nature reserves and whispering grasslands.
It is also a country where you will enjoy so much more with its
peaceful and warm people. As you have witnessed from the
warm smiles of its inhabitants from the airports, the border
gates; and hotel receptions; our people are full of uBuntu and
they are proud to call this country their home.
They are
welcoming and affectionately call South Africa; uMzantsi. They
have so much to offer. Watch the space!
Ladies and Gentlemen, when South Africa submitted its bid to
organize and host the international conference of this
magnitude, we did so as part of our noble display of our
capacity and commitment to join hands with the world in the
war against doping in sport. For us as a democratic country
and open society, hosting this conference would not only help
intensify the fight against doping, but would also help our
country in particular and Africa in general to mobilize our
people towards fair play in sport and in other avenues of life.
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As the President of WADA, The Honourable John Fahey, A.C.
has put it in the 2008 WADA Publication:
“The anti-doping movement’s foundations are firm and
the
network
is
well-established.
Now,
with
the
stakeholders committed to bolstering their efforts and with
a strengthened CODE to marshal that commitment,
collectively we are on the right path.”
Indeed, we are on the right track, we must do so not only to
declare that we ‘play true’, but, to actually ‘play true’ by
saying ‘no to doping’ and all other matters related thereto.
The South African government is ready to support all the efforts
of the world anti-doping movement to reach all governments
to put in place instruments especially those adopted by WADA
to fight doping in sport in their own countries. We must build
closer and stronger partnership at regional levels to engage
governments and national federations to adhere to the World
Anti-Doping Code and strengthen our collective efforts in the
war against doping.
We pledge our unwavering support because we now, know
that those who promote and practice doping in sport have in
recent history devised new technology to encourage doping in
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sport and developed highly complicated technologies to
advance their cause. Ours at this conference is to develop,
adopt and enforce aggressive and stronger instruments to
prevent doping in sport and arrest the perpetrators. We need
to continue to use the power of education to teach our
athletes more about the dangers of doping and cheating in
sport. We must teach them that this small group of individuals
across the world wants to claim authority on sport which is not
based on the will of the majority of sports people in the world.
In order to put the above matters into effect, as government of
the Republic of South Africa, we have not been passive
spectators in the war against doping in sport.
Our record
speaks for itself. We joined governments across the globe by
putting in place various legislative frameworks to fight doping in
sport and promote fair play.
For an example, the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport
Act number 14 of 1997 is the living example of this commitment.
The Safety at Sports and Recreational Events Act number 2 of
2010 and sections of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt
Activities Act number 12 of 2004 are also evidence of our
unwavering commitment to ideals of ‘strengthening the global
fight against doping in sport’.
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This is because; it is our firm view that sport represents a
microcosm of society.
And thus, one would expect the
problems facing sport to be representative of similar problems
in society at large. Social problems, such as racism, violence,
drug abuse, corruption and maladministration, hooliganism,
favoritism, match-fixing, doping, cheating, biased judgments,
and laser beaming at soccer matches, and etc are a reflection
of a society that we live in.
The humiliation suffered by players of Orlando Pirates of South
Africa last Sunday in a match against the Al Ahly of Egypt is a
case in point. The experience by the players of Orlando Pirates
during that match leaves much to be desired. The arrogant
use of ‘laser beams’ at the stadium by the fans of the Al Ahly
against the players of Orlando Pirates is one of the challenges
we face in the struggle to promote fairness in the playing field.
Hence, it is our firm belief that, by addressing these matters in
sport, we are equally shaping societies by instilling a culture
and values of ‘fair play’ and ‘play true’. We must do so to instill
in the minds of our athletes and administrators as well as sport
law practitioners that a certain conduct in sport is not
acceptable. It will therefore take each of us to stand tall and
be counted among those who fly the ‘play fair and play true’
flag high amongst the community of nations.
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The struggle against doping in sport is therefore an integral part
of the struggle to promote fairness in sport. It is a protracted
struggle against cheating and unfair practices in the field of
play and in the conduct of sport.
Therefore, this conference will, among others, have to deal with
the above realities whilst at the same time it would be
expected to deal with all the other issues related to
strengthening and adopting of the revised code against
doping in sport.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our sister
departments of education, health, social development and
police in their efforts to combat substance abuse including
drug trafficking in our communities especially in schools to
reinforce our efforts towards a drug free sport and society.
In conclusion we are humbled by the confidence expressed by
the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in our ability and
capability to host this prestigious event in South Africa which
brings together leaders from various sectors of society united by
a single mission to rid our sport of cheating and doping.
Today, on matters of anti-doping in sport, an African country, at
the tip end of Africa, is mentioned in the same sentence with
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countries like Switzerland, Denmark and Spain who were
previous hosts of this historic conference.
This confidence
displayed to South Africa by the sport movement of the world is
a vote of confidence to Africa. We thank you for that.
In closing, with these few words I would like, again, to welcome
you into the Republic of South Africa. Please participate fully in
the deliberations for the next few days in order to enhance the
quality of the code. Don’t forget to network and make more
friends in the fight against cheating and doping in sport. Yes,
we need more friends to win this noble war! Please enjoy your
dinner!!
Thank you.
END!
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