Scholarship Awarded to Babalwa Ndleleni-Ramatlapo

DATE: 8 April 2006

Babalwa Ndleleni- Ramatlapo
Gugulethu
Cape Town

Acknowledgement of Commonwealth Games Achievement

The Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport acknowledge with great pride your outstanding sporting accomplishment at the recent Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne, Australia.

The bronze medal that you achieved in weight lifting, thereby becoming the first African women ever to win a Commonwealth medal in this sport makes this even more special. Through this achievement you brought much pride to the people of Gugulethu, Nyanga, Crossroads, Langa, the Cape Flats, the Western Cape, South Africa and the rest of Africa.

Your achievement is even more special given the fact that you did not have access to the best facilities and resources available to prepare you for this great achievement.

To ensure that you will be even better prepared and able to achieve even more medals at the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing it gives me great pleasure to inform you that the Department through the Western Cape Sports Academy will offer you an individual scholarship programme for a year.

This programme will entail:

• A scientist Mr. Nceba Hene will make an assessment and advise the Academy of a recommended program.
• The program will consists of the following sports science and medical services depending on the final recommendations:
• medical assessment
• musco-skeletal assessment
• nutritional assessment
• scientific exercise program
• access to training facilities (conducive to your needs)
• physiotherapy services (when needed)
• access to high performance coaching
• any other support required based on the needs assessment

I hope that this intervention will make a contribution to your further development and that you will be able to bring back a gold medal from the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Everything of the best for the future.

Yours truly,

W Jacobs
MEC