Action focused Sport Summit a new dawn for sport in NMB – NMBM

End the red tape, invest in willing athletes and promote gender equality in sport.

These were some of the burning issues that were discussed during Day 1 of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality 2022 Sport Summit where more than 100 guests attended the two-day event at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Thursday, August 4, 2022.

During the sessions various stakeholders within the City’s sport fraternity challenged all government spheres and businesses to do more in developing sport from grassroot level as sport has the power to develop the youth, boost the economy and put the City on the international map as a sporting destination of choice.

Addressing the guests NMBM Executive Mayor, Cllr Eugene Johnson said at local government level, NMBM was committed to earn the status of sport capital however it was important to prove and commit to the Summit and beyond, that the City is worthy of that recognition.

She said: “We strongly believe that the outcomes of this crucial two-day summit will place the sports community of the NMB in a much better position to make its distinctive contribution to sports development and commit to supporting the efforts of women in sports through the development of policies, structures and systems that will ensure practice and implementation.”

“So as a metropolitan city, we must invest in sports development and be the best in the business of hosting big sports events again. We must set new standards that will empower and drive the creation of opportunities in sports – be it on the field, the track, coaching, management, media, government etc. As the NMBM we will support you.”

The panellists included Dr Noluntu Dyubhele, President Netball EC, Michael Mbambani of EP Athletics, Shaun van Eck of Discover Mandela Bay, Alan Stapleton of SPAR Eastern Cape and Daine Klate, new Chippa United head coach among other remarkable speakers.

“We need government to end the red tape, by that we mean that they should open the doors to everyone not just support the people they know and only open the doors because it is Michael Mbambani knocking. We would love for all government spheres to play their part and account because as things stand, all the local sports facilities we have were built during the apartheid regime. Buying medals and t-shirts is not enough, where will those children play? But equally the businesses need to also support sport development and answer as to why are they now moving away from sponsoring the traditional sport and moving to the extreme sport which tends to be expensive and is obviously not accessible to everyone,” Mbambani said adding that government intervention was needed as some sport facilities in the City were excluding athletes if they do not have a Matric Certificate. 

Shaun van Eck said it was essential for NMBM to beef up the destination marketing office to look specifically at selling NMB as a sporting destination of choice, to work closely with other stakeholders to build a strong international brand that can attract national and international sporting events to benefit the City and its residents on a larger scale. Tackling the issue of vandalism of sport facilities, Donovan May, Vice President Cricket SA challenged the communities to take ownership of the facilities to assist the City as security comes at a huge cost. The City has committed to work with all stakeholders to also get funding from Treasury from the funds that are available for sport development. 

Day two of the Summit will see include a thought leadership talk on the future of sport. Residents are encouraged to join the conversation by following the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and MBDA Facebook pages where they can watch all the action and participate in the conversations.