The DA condemns in the strongest terms, the complete collapse of planning by the Limpopo Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and the blatant misrepresentation of facts by the Limpopo Premier Phophi Ramathuba regarding this year’s National SA School Athletics Championships in Cape Town.
Yesterday, in the Limpopo Legislature, I delivered a member statement wherein I warned the MEC for Sport and the MEC for Education to ensure that last year’s disgraceful failures at the national championships are not repeated.
However, instead of a response by the two MEC’s, the Premier stood in the House and confidently assured Members of the Legislature that all athletes had received their attire and that transport arrangements were in place.
However, within just a few hours, this statement was proven false, with numerous reports and complaints from furious parents in Cape Town confirming that the buses transporting athletes arrived late, leaving some members of the team stranded and absent from the official opening ceremony and team photo events.
When the opening ceremony started, many of our young athletes were embarrassed to participate therein due to the fact that they had not been provided with their official attire. Even worse, many athletes did not receive their official attire at all and those who did were handed incorrect sizes, forcing children to run around trying to swap clothing amongst themselves just to be able to compete.
This is not incompetence—it is outright negligence. It is unacceptable that the Premier would make such confident assurances in the Legislature that were so quickly and so easily contradicted by reality on the ground.
This incident raises serious questions about whether the Premier was misled by the officials, or whether the Legislature was deliberately misled by the Premier.
The DA demands an urgent, full account from the Premier and a personal apology to each of our young athletes who were failed, yet again, by the ANC led government. The Premier should be ashamed of herself to allow this for two consecutive years under her leadership.
These are young athletes who have trained for months, who carry the hopes of their communities, and who deserve to compete with dignity, not be subjected to chaos, embarrassment, and government failure.