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Republic of South Africa, at the Paralympics Farewell Banquet for team, Johannesburg
28 august 2008

Programme director
Honourable Minister in the Presidency, Dr. Essop Pahad
Honourable Minister of Sport and Recreation, Rev. Makhenkesi Stofile
President of South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), Mr Moss Mashishi
His Excellency the Chinese Ambassador, Mr Zhong Jianhua
Team South Africa
Members of the Business Community and Sponsors
Honoured guests, friends
Ladies and gentlemen:

It gives me immense pleasure to be invited to this Farewell Banquet for Team South Africa as it leaves for the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. Former President Nelson Mandela has said before, and I quote him: "Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does."

I wish to communicate this message to the stars of Team South Africa: you are going to Beijing bearing on your shoulders and arms, your legs and hearts the hope of the entire nation of proud South Africans and we know you will do well because you have impressed the whole world before with your determination and strength.

In your spirit you carry the gene that makes South Africans a winning and pioneering nation. Even when we fall we plan to rise.

As we reflect on the lessons learned from the Beijing Olympics, we, with sadness, move forward to the Paralympics determined to recover our pride and rebuild the confidence which made us a winning nation, as we were at Athens 2004 when we (Paralympics) brought back thirty-five gold medals in total and fifteen of these gold medals.

Team South Africa, I say to you, the people and the government of South Africa is firmly united behind you because you represent something bigger than your successes on the sporting field. You are our guiding stars and role models to young and old.

Follow the path we set for ourselves when we conquered the 2000 Sydney and Athens Paralympics, we acknowledge that it is not going to be easy, you go to Beijing to compete against more than four-thousand-and-two-hundred (4 200) athletes from 148 countries and regions. The competition is now bigger and better, but so are you. We know the stuff you are made of.

Your country chose you to compete at international events for the simple reason that you are the best in your fields and you are capable of bringing back glory to South Africa and Africa.

It is a fact that we are engulfed with pessimism right now. But I want our 2008 Beijing Olympians to know we appreciate every effort they made. However, equally true is the fact that we need you and depend on you to lift our spirits now. You are carrying not only the South African flag, but also the hopes of the entire nation, and the desire to regain our stature. The country has never needed you so much, and all of us will have our collective breath held every time you go out there to participate in an event.

You are the elites and the best and this is why the silver medallist of the 10km swimming marathon, Keri-Anne Payne said of Natalie Du Toit, "The respect I have for her is phenomenal. I find it hard swimming this event and I am able-bodied. She is incredibly strong and she is an amazing role model".

We urge and encourage you to follow the shining sporting example of Paralympics stars like Zanele Situ, Fanie Lombard, Oscar Pistorius, and Ernst van Dyk. These and other stars have managed to "achieve sporting excellence and inspired and excited the world" and in the process have been an example to millions of youngsters around the world by displaying a determination to fulfil one's dreams and even overcoming adversity.

To Mr Ernest van Dyk in particular, as a five-time participant to the games, my prayers are with you that you win the gold! When you are competing out there in your chosen fields, remember these words from a wise man: "The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal, the tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It is not disgrace to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars. Not failure, but low aim, is a sin. The tragedy of life lies in having no goal to reach."

To you athletes, as a sixty South Africa strong contingent representing the best that our country has to offer to the world, remember that the entire South African public is firmly behind you all the way. In the eyes of your mothers and fathers, your sisters and brothers, and to the South African government, you are already winners!

This is why the business community has decided to place its resources where its mouth is. I express a big thank you to the business community of South Africa; by your investment to Team South Africa, you have demonstrated why you are Proudly South African. Thank you once again.

In conclusion, I urge you Team South Africa not to lose momentum when the going gets tough, because you are going to be tested to the limits of your abilities. However, I am convinced; as the rest of South Africa is that you will turn the negative of the Olympics into a positive for the Paralympics.

There is a message for us as a nation in need of comfort, that it is not the physical ability that determines our quality of contribution. But the quality of our whole being, excellence, irrespective of our physical ability is excellence. You will save this nation. This I believe is the moment to embrace greatness in its purest form.

Carpe diem! Seize the day at Beijing and make South Africa proud once again.

Thank you.

Niyabasaba na?!

Issued by: The Presidency
28 August 2008
Source: SAPA