Cape Town - Tributes have poured in for the former president of the South African Council on Sport (Sacos), Frank van der Horst.
The former leader of the anti-apartheid sports organisation who fought for non-racial sport among the oppressed and marginalised in apartheid South Africa died at the age of 86 on Monday.
Good friend and president of the Sacos Legends, Jerry Seale, said Van der Horst was outspoken and a fearless sports activist.
He said Van der Horst worked with trade unions and residents in civic, youth and community organisations.
“He was the one who called sports organisations in Sacos to re-dedicate and redirect Sacos to become a stronger supporter in the liberation Struggle against racist apartheid to build a stronger principled united front of organised sports persons under Sacos,” said Seale.
“He was a leader to take challengers to task and for that, he, and all the presidents of Sacos, was detained in apartheid.”
Between 1982 and 1988, Van der Horst presided over Sacos amid one of the darkest political eras in the nation's history.
Van der Horst also helped organise the Olympics of the Oppressed, also known as the Sacos Games or Sacos Festival in 1982 and 1988, respectively.
Seale said Van der Horst was believed to be the frontrunner of the 1988 Olympic Sports Festival of the Poor People, the most successful festival ever in the country.
“He also started the first festival in 1982. Frank was also the president of SA Hockey in Sacos and was arrested for the Truth in Apartheid,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the Board of the District Six Museum, Judge Siraj Desai described Van der Horst as a stalwart, friend and comrade.
“He played a significant role in different spheres of struggle in the apartheid era, and afterwards, always alert to the machinations of the ruling class and Imperialism,” said Judge Desai
“We specifically recall his steadfast role in the continuing struggle for land restitution, of which District Six was of great significance.”
In 2022, Sacos in the Western Cape launched the Frank van der Horst Exhibition at the National Library of South Africa in the Company’s Garden.
President of Safa CT, Bennett Bailey, said Van der Horst was steadfast in promoting non-racialism in sport and society.
“His sharp mind mentored many individuals, ensuring there’s a next generation of leaders. I will always remember him as one of the best orators who could speak for hours, without a piece of paper in front of him,” he said.
Author of the non-racial athletics book, Other side of the Clement du Plessis, said in February this year, Van der Horst urged and encouraged unity in taking sport forward in South Africa against the backdrop of the failure in community sport throughout the country.
“Van der Horst spoke for those who could not, those too afraid, and to those who needed to be educated about the sports environment in apartheid South Africa. The operative words, in the 1980s, were 'the conscientising of the masses for massed-based sport in South Africa',” said Du Plessis.
byron.lukas@inl.co.za
Cape Argus