Enough jaw-jaw: We want concrete action
SOUTH Africa would become a hypochondriac nation if it were to go a year without hosting something.
A Knitting World Cup is being planned by the gogos at the oldage home adjacent to my abode. The grannies in Kakamas are tying themselves in knots in excitement and are raring to give it a go as soon as the IKA, aka International Knickers (oops Knitters) Association, approves a hosting city.
Knitters in the Kokeshau city of Kazakhstan are crossing their fingers that IKA would announce them as hosts since the glorious nation of Kazakhstan only have Borat to thank for putting it on the world map.
The decision will be made as soon as the ethics committee satisfies itself that none of the bidders pulled wool over the eyes of the selectors.
Because Kakamas sounds like it would be a kamikaze home away from home. Well, another event is coming to Host Nation — that’s the hypocoristic nickname those who love to see South Africa stage events would give our country. This time we’re rolling the green carpet for the International Sports Exchange Conference. How to explain it? The theme is advancing development and business through sport.
In the past we’ve seen people jet in, speak big English like “in my view” and “as far as I’m concerned” drink tea like Kermit the frog, have a putta bite with members of the oldest profession, repeat for three days and buzz off to wherever they came from. The speakers are usually administrators who can’t distinguish the heads or tails of the specialised field of expertise they pronounce on.
But the November 15 to 19 conference will be no talk shop, Alec Moemi, director-general of the department of sports and recreation, told the gathered media at the Titans Cricket Club where sports minister Fikile Mbalula launched the South African Sports Week.
The conference will be anchored on five streams: sport medicine, science and technology; sport governance and transformation; the business of sport and recreation, the future of amateur sport and the national sports exhibition.
The first two piqued my interest.