The Northern Cape MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture Ms Desery Fienies handed over sporting equipment to 11 Schools in the Northern Cape. The schools that received the equipment thus are S A Van Wyk and Steinkopf High School in Namakwa , Carlton Van Heerden and Paballelo High School in Upington , Ikekeletso High School , Rekgaratile High School and Wrenchville High School In Kuruman , Tetlanyo High School in Kimberley and Barkley West High School in Barkley West. The only schools who must still receive their equipment is UMSO high School in Colesburg and Monwabisi High School in De Aar. The MEC for Education Mr Zolile Monakele accompanied the MEC for Sport , Arts and Culture Ms Desery Fienies to the handover equipment and utilized the platform to engage and interact with matriculants of the various schools on the importance of the upcoming National Senior Certificate Examinations and the benefits thereof of planning and preparing yourself for the examinations. One key message conveyed by the MEC for Education is that Education is the key to success.

This forms part of a Ministerial Outreach Programme in various municipalities throughout the province to enhance the capacity of school sport by providing sport equipment and attire to the schools.

School sport is an integral part of sport development and personal growth as it provides young people with different pathways for personal growth during and after school-going period. This can only be achieved by reviving and bringing back life into school sport.

The programme is also part of our drive to ensure that schools have the necessary equipment and resources in order to grant equal opportunities to our communities. As a department, it remains our objective to unlock all the barriers that are affecting our schools.

The government mandate is very clear as we need to ensure that by 2030 majority of South Africans are physically active. We further need to ensure that we minimize the current stigma of non-communicable diseases and there is no better place to start than the youth. Our #Ichoose2BActive campaign is that instrument that we use to ensure that all South Africans get physically active. We also need to encourage outdoor play on our youth so that we are able to rid our youth off obesity.

Lastly, we need to ensure that we also produce athletes that will play a role in ensuring that there is transformation in sport and the best way to do that is to encourage and nature talent and further support our youth who are currently involved in various sporting codes.

Source: Government of South Africa