Pretoria - Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula will lead the 'I Play Fair' cycling team of celebrities in the Cape Argus Cycle Tour in Cape Town to spread the message of ethics, fair-play and anti-doping in sport.
The Cape Argus Cycle Tour will take place on 10 March next year.
The South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport, in collaboration with Sport and Recreation Department, the Western Cape Premier and Cycling South Africa, will use the cycle tour as a platform to launch the 'I Play Fair - Say NO! to Doping' campaign to the cycling fraternity in the country.
The team of 25 riders is made up of various public figures and celebrities from sport and other professions, including Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, former Springbok rugby player Chester Williams, former Proteas cricketer Makhaya Ntini, eight-time Ironman Triathlon champion Paula Newby-Fraser, Chief Director in the Sport Department Professor Paul Singh, and TV sport personality Owen Hannie.
Mbalula endorsed the I Play Fair initiative when it was launched earlier this year and officially declared 18 June as I Play Fair day.
He said his department fully supported the Institute for Drug-Free Sport's aim to aggressively tackle doping in sport and spread the message of ethics, fair-play and anti-doping in sport.
Commenting on his participation in the team, Mbalula said he was committed to the I Play fair initiative and through this campaign, the expectation was that natural sport ability always "reigned supreme".
"I encourage everyone not to use performance enhancing substances and through competitions like Cape Argus, we believe that messages of good sports ethics and the campaign can penetrate throughout the sporting fraternity to ensure a culture of anti-doping in South Africa."
With regard to the department's stand on ethics in sport in South Africa, Mbalula said: "We believe in a no tolerance attitude and we want athletes to use their God-given natural abilities through hard work and commitment and not to be unethical and use performance enhancing substances."
