Last week saw us in parliament to listen to the maiden budget vote speech of Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, a speech that was well received by all.
All the parties in parliament supported him in accepting the budget. The main thing that struck me about the speech is the consistency of the Minister in his positions on issues that are close to both his heart and to ours.
The matter of funding for sport was central to his speech. Administrators of sport were not spared by the minister who believes that as administrators we too much of our time is spent on infighting and the expense of the athletes that we must develop.
I attended a most fulfilling moment in the Eastern Cape last week. A community near Queenstown, Ilinge to be precise, requested boxing equipment for their new centre.┬áWe at SASCOC managed to get a sponsor to assist us with providing this club with a boxing ring and other equipment.┬áIt was a happy community in a packed hall that received the equipment.┬áI’m pleased to say that other communities in Queenstown will before the end of this year also receive boxing equipment.
Then on the international front, in London we attended the Sport Accord gathering which caters for over 1700 delegates across the world. It is a fantastic place to network and promote your organisation and to meet people who matter in the world of sport. Many deals are struck and cooperation agreements made. I must add that SASCOC is sought  out in these gatherings because of the likelihood that we will bid for the Olympics of 2020.
Last weekend’s Council meeting in East London was well attended by our federations.┬áThanks to the MEC, Ms Xoliswa Tom and her team and the Eastern Cape Sports Council, a good time was had by all.┬áThe inputs were all good and we can proudly say that we have moved far down the road from the date we took over the running of SASCOC. The number of programmes run by the office with the assistance of federations and outsiders are turning our structure into a respectable organisation.
Moving on and in July we will host the IOC Session in Durban. This is a first for the continent of Africa and at this stage the President of the country has put together a team of cabinet ministers to work with the NOC to make this session a very successful one. Regular meetings are taking place and the planning processes have progressed far.
For me this is another opportunity to show world leaders in sport just what we can put together in this country.  With our intention to one day bid for the Olympics this session will give us another opportunity to put our best forward to impress the world leaders in sport.