When it comes to the title of ‘Minister of Putting Foot in Mouth’ there is stiff competition in this country. I do believe there is one man who might be the front-runner, though. Ladies and gents, I give you Fikile Mbalula.

In the midst of all the excitement leading up the Cricket World Cup (Protea Fire, anyone?) we gave our boys a wonderful send-off in Joburg on Wednesday. The Minister of Sport took some time out from blowing his own trumpet on Twitter (seriously, see his account) to offer some words of inspiration. Quotes from his speech below:

We don’t want you in the World Cup to add numbers and just become a bunch of losers. You are not going to be playing with robots, you are playing with people.

You are the special ones. You are the chosen ones. It does not mean you are irreplaceable but all of you are capable of doing the duty for us.

…you are not playing against cows. You are not playing against donkeys. Don’t undermine any of them. Go and win it for us. Winning is a statement of courage.

I think someone could do with watching Al Pacino’s speech from ‘Any Given Sunday’. The aim is to inspire, Fikile, not heap pressure on a team already dealing with the tag of ‘chokers’.

I think the Sydney Morning Herald summed it up best when they said ‘no pressure, Proteas’.

[source:smh]