Menzi Magubane
When former sports minister Fikile Mbalula lambasted Bafana Bafana and called them a “bunch of losers” for crashing out of the Africa Cup of Nations in 2014, he was widely criticised.
But in my book, he had every right to voice his disappointment at Bafana after faltering at the very first hurdle of the tournament, which they themselves were hosting.
The reason I recall this infamous Mbalula quote is because, like Mbalula, I’m bitterly disappointed by the South African Sports Confederation, as well as the Olympic Committee (Sascoc) and our current Sports Minister, Nathi Mthethwa.
What disappoints me about Sascoc is that they say they don’t have the money to reward our athletes, who did all they could to return home with medals from the Tokyo Olympic Games.
That is a low-point for them to come up with such a poor excuse. Yes, our Olympic Team did not flourish in these games as expected, but to withhold bonuses is outrageous.
Three medals is not something to be proud of as a nation but Sascoc should reward their athletes for their efforts.
Mr Fixit, as Mbalula is also known, rewarded our 2016 medal winners with performance bonuses. Wayde van Niekerk, for example, got a R550,000 handshake for not only bringing home a gold, but for breaking the world record.
Silver medallists got R200,000, while R80,000 was given to bronze medallists. Even their coaches got something.
Tatjana Schoenmaker and Bianca Buitendag surely deserve something for their performances in these games.
Schoenmaker was exceptional after getting us a gold and a silver, together with both an Olympic and a world record.
You would expect Mthethwa to lead by example and stand up for these two athletes’ heroics and demand Sascoc reward them.
Instead, he mentioned something irrelevant about the demographics of our Olympic Team.
Seriously minister, is that the best you can come up with?
Mthethwa and Sascoc; don’t be a bunch of losers, give credit where credit is due.
Picture source:@trschoenmaker
