Province's best sportspeople honoured at Western Cape Sport Awards

On Saturday, 14 September 2019, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS) honoured the Western Cape’s top achieving sportspeople at the annual Provincial Sport Awards at Old Mutual in Pinelands.

These awards are the culmination of a process of regional awards ceremonies, where winners in the categories from all six regions went through to compete for top honours as the province’s best.

Master of Ceremonies Liezel van der Westhuizen ensured the evening ran smoothly while the PJ Twins, who featured in season 3 of the television show The Voice South Africa, entertained guests with their variety of songs.

DCAS HOD Brent Walters delivered the welcoming address, and emphasized the importance of sport in bringing unity to South Africa as it currently struggles under various types of violence. “We need to teach the values of teamwork, sharing, tolerance, integrity, honesty and respect for oneself and other people to our youth. Let us understand that there are ways to win and ways to lose. I encourage the nominees tonight to take their awards and teach those around them about these values. Our greatest win will be a nation at peace and at harmony with itself and with others.” he said.

Minister Anroux Marais also spoke about the scourge of gender-based violence in the country and how sport could be used to address the cycle of violence. “Sport can equip the future and present generations with the ability to empathize. It gives youth the opportunity to join ‘good gangs’. Together we are all in the business of rebuilding a broken nation.” she said. Minister Marais also congratulated all the nominees and expressed her gratitude for the roles they play in their communities. She ended her speech with a quote from the late Chester Williams, reminding the audience of the importance of hard work and determination.

Some of the winners of the evening included West Coast Netball (Federation of the Year), Charlize Murphy (Newcomer of the Year), Desiree Ellis (Coach of the Year), Anneke Snyman (Sportswoman of the Year) and Chad le Clos (Sportsman of the Year). Ministerial Commendations were awarded to Jeff Coetzee, Wietsche van der Westhuizen, Tony Abrahamson, Desiree Ellis and Herschel Jantjies. The full list of winners and information on all the nominees are available online.

The provincial winners will now go through to compete at the National Sport Awards later this year.