Minister of Sport Zizi Kodwa embraces CAF Schools tournament

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the CAF Schools tournament that started in Durban on Wednesday and will run until the eighth of this month, Kodwa says CAF President Patrice Motsepe’s idea of introducing schools’ football on the continent needs to be supported. 

He says through this tournament and other programmes, positive change can be brought to the continent.

"This is a revolution of sport in the African continent. It's a legacy of President Motsepe which must be embraced not only by the federations. It must be taken a step up to include governments. Governments must not see sports as an extra activity at school, it must be part of a curriculum. Sport plays an important role as an activity of building bridges of peace in the African continent," Kodwa said.

The tournament is contested by seven boys and six girls schools from around the continent, all zonal winners. 

South Africa is represented by Clapham High School from Gauteng (boys) and Edendale High School from KwaZulu-Natal (girls). 

With a lot of conflicts amongst different countries in the African continent, Kodwa sees sports, and football in particular, as a way to help bring peace and stability. 

He says this can go a long way to bring development and peace to the continent.

"We've had a lot of conflict in the African continent, let's use sport. These kids who meet here, come from different countries. If you were to tell them one day that they have to fight another country, they will remember that there's a player I met in that country. They will refuse to participate. Let's use sports to build bridges of peace, and social cohesion, nation building, to build African Renaissance. Sport has a role to play," he concluded.