Chan gets R156m slice of pie
THE government has demonstrated its commitment to the 2014 African Nations Championship (Chan) with R156-million budgeted for the tournament to be hosted early next year.
The announcement was made by Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula during his budget vote speech in parliament yesterday.
Of the R156-million, R120million will go to the Chan host cities of Cape Town, Polokwane, Bloemfontein and Kimberley.
The local organising committee will receive R32-million to put together a show similar to the one presented during the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year.
Chan is played between the best national teams on the continent, but features only home-based players.
The R156-million budget for the tournament is part of a R1-billion allocation for sport, of which R815-million will be transferred to the provinces, municipalities and sports federations.
Mbalula also announced that they would be celebrating Nelson Mandela’s birthday in partnership with Safa and the SA Rugby Union.
“This year, as part of our programme to honour the work of our Struggle heroes, (we will) host the inaugural Nelson Mandela Sports Day, which will be launched in June, ” Mbalula said.
On Wednesday, Mbalula honoured Proteas coach Gary Kirsten and rising marathon star Lusapho April who hoisted the South African flag high in Germany three weeks ago, after clocking a career-best time of 2hrs:08min:32secs to win the Hannover Marathon.
“Gary has done well in cricket, Lusapho also made us proud by winning the marathon in Germany,” he said.
April said: “This is a great day for me, I have never thought I would set my foot in parliament.
“We have the best sports minister ever, he makes us feel important and appreciated. ”
Mbalula said they would channel more resources into school sport to produce quality players to do well for national teams in global competitions.
“As the national school sports league unfolds, the role of the sports club at each level will be to avail talent scouts to identify athletes and officials, as well as to mentor and support coaches, umpires and technical officials,” Mbalula said.