President Cyril Ramaphosa says the annual Golf Day that he participates in, a day after the State of the Nation Address, goes a long way to contributing towards education and entrepreneurship.
The President said this shortly after teeing off at the Presidential Golf Challenge at the Atlantis Golf Estate, outside of Cape Town, on Friday morning.
“The benefits of this event go to the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation. As you know, every President in the past has chosen a charity to which the contributions of the day will go to.
“So we have golfers here today, about 120, as well as sponsors who have sponsored the event. And we will have a wonderful evening and give prizes but whatever proceeds that go beyond the expenses, will then go to the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation, which focusses on education and also focusses on business development,” he said.
The President said this after delivering a State of the Nation Address that announced a basket of economic reforms aimed at getting South Africa to work, on Thursday evening.
A much more relaxed President Ramaphosa arrived in his golf outfit, accompanied by fellow golfers and sponsors, to play golf under a hot Cape sun, with all proceeds from the event dedicated to charity.
Speaking of his foundation, the President said: “So it has three arms, it gives bursaries to young people, and it also focusses on adopting schools.
“And we have got a number of schools that we have adopted over the 15 year period and which also focusses on small businesses through the Black Umbrella entity. So the proceeds here funds those programmes and it is a wonderful charity that we support which I have been associated with for many years.
“I am rather glad to participate in this today as this is a charitable day.”
Responding to a question about the recent burning of Parliament, the President said he was glad that some public landmarks were protected from such unacceptable crimes.
“I am happy that our public institutions are kept intact, they are not burnt. It is unfortunate that there are people who are bent on destroying public infrastructure and we still need to fathom why they are doing things like that so I am happy that we had a wonderful State of the Nation Address yesterday and we look forward to the debate. And I will see you all on Tuesday when I will be talking to all of you. So get ready with your questions and I have questions for you as well.” – SAnews.gov.za
