Exhibition on role of sport in the Struggle

UNDER the theme, “Honouring the Forgotten Heroes”, an exhibition highlighting sport during the Struggle is currently on offer at the Sol Plaatje University (SPU) following its official unveiling last week.

The exhibition, a joint initiative between the Northern Cape Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, the McGregor Museum, the Department of Sports and Recreation and SPU, details how the majority of black sportsmen and women were denied access to sporting opportunities by the apartheid-era government.

Spokesperson for the provincial Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, Conrad Fortune, explained that the travelling exhibition displays prominent figures and events that reflect the role of sport in the anti-apartheid Struggle leading up to democracy in South Africa.

“While racial discrimination in sport has been a phenomenon almost since Europeans first settled in the Cape, this denying the right to play sport regardless of one’s race became more pronounced with the formalising of sport competitions and organisations during the second half of the nineteenth century,” Fortune elaborated.

“These conditions became regulated under the National Party government in the 1950s. Sporting events where South Africans of different races competed against each other were outlawed, facilities were segregated for players and spectators and transgressors were intimidated and forced to comply.

“Countless people of colour suffered under this repressive system and were denied the opportunity to compete at the highest level in sport.”

The exhibition was first held in 2013 at the Apartheid Museum and has been travelling across South Africa since. It was also displayed at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and has proven to be very popular, reaching thousands of visitors.

Appointments to visit the exhibit can be made by calling 053 4910 101 or by e-mail at

cobus.rademeyer@spu.ac.za.