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Sport, arts and culture minister Gayton McKenzie has pledged to search rural areas for potential winners for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
McKenzie welcomed home members of Team SA at OR Tambo International Airport as they returned from the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.
He acknowledged the disadvantages faced by many aspiring athletes, especially in rural communities, and vowed not only to identify those individuals but also help them financially.
Talented athletes and sports people from rural areas often do not get spotted and give up sport when they need to turn their attention to earning a living.
“We must seek and identify possible medal winners for the 2028 Olympics. Those we identify should be helped financially, given a salary, and provided with coaching to ensure they are prepared for the Olympics,” McKenzie said.
“We should go find them in rural and distant places. We start now.
“I promise that come 2028 athletes will receive [financial] assistance. This is a huge opportunity for our country to showcase the best of our athletes. The road to Los Angeles starts now, with school sports and community sports.”
“The continuous economic marginalisation of black people, and Africans in particular, means most South Africans are excluded from sports that require expensive training and equipment. The exclusion is not just a reflection of economic inequalities but also a deliberate perpetuation of racial exclusion in sports.”
EFF spokesperson Leigh-Ann Mathys was not impressed by McKenzie's promises.
“We can’t bank on him delivering. Let’s hope minister Gayton has the same energy to transform sports to reflect our racial demographics as he does for reacting to and instigating social media hype. He must add learning by researching so he can be equipped to take informed positions, decisions and utterances,” Mathys told TimesLIVE.
The minister has also promised to reimburse the parents of Olympic javelin medallist Jo-Ane van Dyk. Van Dyk had to rely on her parents' financial support in the build-up to the Olympics.
Her Games silver effort was one of three South African medals not funded through the operation excellence programme run by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee.
