All MMC’s President of the Gauteng Sports Council, Mr Barry Hendricks; Members of the Gauteng Sports Awards Adjudication Panel; Auditors; Representatives of Sports Federations and Sport Stakeholders; Nominees of the 2019 Gauteng Sport Awards Sponsors; Head of Department of the Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture, and Recreation, Ms Monica Newton, and Senior Managers present; Executive Managers and officials from Local Government; and Ladies and Gentlemen

“Sports have the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sports can create hope, where there was once only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination. Sports is the game of lovers” by Nelson Mandela

The freedom fighter and struggle icon former President Mandela had a great understand of the value of sport in our society. I can affirm that indeed, sport has a potential to change the world. It is through sport were race, gender and ethnic is obliterated and human being from different diversity unity for social change. Indeed, it is important to use sport as a vehicle for social change in our society and source hope for those who have despair including to combat social ills which confronted our country. The Sport fraternity must use their potential and social status to call out against the gender base violence. It is troubling that exactly 24 years into democracy women in our country bear the brunt of violence against their bodies.

While all of us have been profoundly humiliated by the ongoing violence inflicted on the foreign nationals within the borders of our country, we must remember that although the images might have filled our television screen, it was in fact a very small minority of South Africans, who participated in these attacks. In Johannesburg Central, for instance, these attacks are confined to a small section of the city.

It is one of the key responsibilities of government to ensure that all South Africans feel they belong – that the exclusions, proscriptions and prohibitions that signalled to the majority of our citizens that they had no place in society, are now in the past.

We are charged with the responsibility of engendering a sense of unity, a feeling that we are all one nation, diverse though we may be in terms of race, colour, creed, class, gender or social standing.

However, today we are on the 2 July 2019, we launched the 8th Annual Gauteng Sports Awards at the Joburg Stadium, at the Gauteng Sport House. We want to take this opportunity to announce that the date on which the 2019 Gauteng Sports Awards will be held is Sunday, 29th September 2019 at Sandton Convention Centre.

The Provincial Sports Awards are now configured to a build up to National Sports Awards to be hosted by the National Department of Sports later in the year. Therefore, the winners in the categories aligned with the National Sport Awards will be entered automatically.

This year we will ensure that prize money is paid within thirty working days after the announcement of winners.

We remain steadfast in our belief that Sport contributes to radical social and economic transformation of our province. It worth acknowledging that sport plays a critical role in generating revenue for our country and supporting our economy.

Furthermore, you cannot isolate sport from tourism, it is through the mega sporting events such as Commonwealth Games, and World Cup that attract a large number of spectators.

Sport has been significant component of tourism industry for Gauteng, hence, is important for us to make it more competitive to draw the global citizens to Gauteng.

Whilst, we have seen that women in sport they do not enjoy moral and financial support as their counterpart. It is important for our society to support women in sport, because seem as Banyana Banyana and Spar Proteas Netball are our comparative advantage insofar as sport in concerned for our country.

It is important to note that, we do not just view Sport as mere Recreation. Our province continues to attract the best Sports men and women from our country and internationally.

We boast world class Sporting facilities; hence we are seen as the Province of opportunities! As the Gauteng Provincial Government, we are therefore better positioned to leverage on the Business of Sport.

Programme Director,

We value the partnerships with all our stakeholders and value your contribution to not only the Sport Awards, but also to all the programmes that are implemented in the province.

As Gauteng we are determined to remain a home and destination for talent identification across Sport, Arts & Culture.

We will therefore use the Sports Awards, to profile our Province as a destination for all Sportsmen and women from across the Country and across the Continent of Africa to come and excel and be recognized for their talent.

The categories have already been mentioned, and we will strive to ensure that the voting process for the SMS LINE, which consists of the following categories:

Sport Personality of the Year,
Sport Programme of the Year Sport Fan of the Year. What is most exciting is to see the raw talent that always comes out of our communities particularly downtrodden. We’ve got coaches that literally coach these young people out of their pockets. There are such exciting success stories that we want to honour as the Gauteng province. We want to honour and give recognition and to say, ‘keep up the good work’ until we get our young people off the streets.” This year’s finalists were shortlisted by a panel of independent adjudicators, represented by individuals from the media, academic and sporting fraternity. Futshane Consulting Pty (Ltd) has been appointed as the auditors to monitor this process. Launched under the theme ‘Celebrating Excellence, Inspiring the Youth’,; 25 years of democracy; Growing Gauteng together.

The prize money is as follows:
-R10,000 per finalist (up from R2500 last year)
- R15,000 for the winner per category
- Sport Personality Award winner will receive R50,000

- The Life Time Achiever award recipient will receive R50,000
The following partners have been consolidated:
• Vodacom has been secured for the SMS Line
• Supersport for the delayed broadcast
And now I would like to announce the FINALISTS for this year’s Awards
I thank you.

AV Plays

MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Ms. Nomazwe Ntlokwana - Director: Media Liaison
Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture & Recreation
Cell: 083 507 8068 | Tel: 011 355 2578
Email: Nomazwe.ntlokwana@gauteng.gov.za