SA celebrates host nation status

A sporting exhibition of a different kind was created by curator, Pippa Freer, to celebrate South Africa’s sporting achievements as a host nation of various sporting codes since the dawn of democracy.

Aptly named From Freedom to Fanfare, the exhibition depicts some of the heroes of the country’s sportsmen and women since the country was re-admitted to the world of sport after the fall of the apartheid policy of racial segregation.

Sponsored by Lotto, the exhibition will remain open to the public for the next five months at the iconic FNB Stadium just outside Soweto and incorporates 13 sporting codes and 29 events.

First conceived by the late Alexandra football icon, Dr Leepile Taunyane, the exhibition is a culmination of many years of planning and sharing of ideas, but was modified from Leepile’s initial dream of establishing a museum of South African football.

Sadly, Leepile died in 2013 and the project was put on hold until his son, also Leepile Taunyane, took it upon himself to resuscitate the project and joined forces with project custodian, Pippa Freer, ex-Orlando Pirates marketing manager. Freer then decided to include many sporting codes and, together with Leepile junior, worked with a number of government departments to create this exhibition.

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It was almost impossible to include all sporting codes and the curator then decided to highlight those events and codes which have a big impact within all communities of South Africa.

Speaking at the launch of the exhibition at the stadium, Pop Singh, chief director at the National Department of Sport and Recreation, bemoaned the lack of a sports culture in South Africa. “A sports culture does not [only] refer to sport you play or participate in, but it is inclusive of dance, music, poetry and literature – all the elements that form a culture and revolve around the main theme which is sports.”

South African Football Association (Safa) technical director and former Bafana Bafana winning class of ’96, Neil Tovey said it was sad that football only achieved greatness in 1996 and nothing ever since. “My job now as technical director of Safa is to ensure that we bring back those glory days of the late 1990s,” said Tovey, who also decried the fact that apartheid almost robbed him of the opportunity to represent his country.

“I only managed to represent my country at the age of 30 and, fortunately, we managed to bring pride to the nation by winning the 1996 African Cup of Nations.”