The civil rights organisation AfriForum on 10 August 2021 launched a medal fund for Olympic and Paralympic medallists. This follows media reports that the South African Sport Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) has very little to no funds to reward medallists for their accomplishments. AfriForum this week furthermore decided to take hands with the Atterbury Trust that also established a fund to support these athletes. Ronald Peters, Manager of AfriForum Sport, mentions that several funds were established in support of these athletes and that this type of reaction by the private sector gives him a lot of hope for the future of South African sport.
The singer Adam Tas suggested the medal fund on Twitter, and it will be managed by AfriForum. This organisation has already made the first donation of R50 000 to the fund and encourages the public, businesses, organisations and companies to support the fund. Donations are currently closing in on R100 000.
“The purpose of this campaign is to support and compensate the athletes that performed excellent on one of the biggest stages in sport for their hard work and not to highlight any organisation or institution in any way through this initiative. The fact that so many individuals, organisations and companies are prepared to take a stance gives me hope that South Africans really care about the development and the future of sport in South Africa. We hope that this is the beginning of a bigger initiative where people start to become involved with projects where individuals and institutions are taking responsibility themselves for the promotion of sport in South Africa,” says Peters.
“We are thankful that AfriForum joined hands with us on this project and we would like to call on other organisations to support this crowd funding project. The Atterbury Trust has for over 20 years been part of educational, cultural and community projects and donors can rest assured that the funds will be used responsibly,” says Zahn Hulme, Executive Trustee at the Atterbury Trust.
The goal is to collect sufficient funds by Friday 20 August 2021 to thank these athletes for the hope that they brought to thousands of young athletes as a result of their hard work and excellent performance. People that want to contribute to the fund can deposit funds into AfriForum’s account with “Medalje” as reference, or it can be deposited directly into the Atterbury Trust’s account by following this link: https://atterburytrust.org/shop/spansaam/. AfriForum will also deposit the funds that were paid into its account into the trust’s account by Friday 20 August 2021 so that the payment to the athletes can be done collectively.
Companies and organisations that want to become involved with this fund can send an email to sport@antiek.afriforum.co.za.
Bank: First National Bank
Account holder: AfriForum NPC
Branch code: 261550
Account number: 62349898398
SWIFT code: FIRNZAJJ
Reference: Medalje