The discovery of the new Covid variant, Omicron and the announcements associated therewith, have caused major havoc to sporting events in the last 24 hours, leading to a number of international events in the country being cancelled.
The hysteria that has followed these announcements, is something we can ill afford in our industry, particularly as it looks like our country and industry is being punished for the good work of South African scientists.
We have been working hard with other partners in the sector towards reopening of stadiums to allow fans to return to watching sporting events live. Central to all this work has been our drive towards vaccination of all our people.
“We, the sport people, were the first to make it mandatory for fans to be fully vaccinated to be allowed to attend sporting events or return into the stadiums. This is a measure we need to keep for our ailing industry to survive,” said Barry Hendricks, President of SASCOC.
“We are already implementing this and would like to call on cabinet to make vaccination mandatory for anyone wishing to attend public events and in particular sporting events. Reducing the number of participants in public events is not the most effective and sustainable measure to deal with Covid in our sector. It is killing sport as we know it. Mandatory vaccinations and frequent testing, together with the other standard protocols is the only sustainable way forward.”
South Africa now has sufficient vaccines available, it’s crucial that these be rolled out with speed and more vigour, and we want to encourage South Africans more than ever to vaccinate. It’s the surest way to get protection and to keep our country going and thus sporting activity going.