The Northern Cape Province announced that they have signed a multi-million rand partnership agreement with mining giant Kumba Iron Ore as a presenting sponsor of the 2011 Maloof Money Cup world championships, which will be hosted in the province’s capital Kimberley later this year.
The three-day skateboarding extravaganza is billed as the richest skateboarding contest in the world and will be staged from 29 September to 2 October 2011. According to Northern Cape premier Hazel Jenkins, this public-private partnership will be instrumental in hosting an event of world-class standard. “The Maloof Money Cup is a long term legacy project covering all aspects of youth development and upliftment in local communities and was launched to promote skateboarding as a positive, active lifestyle for the youth of South Africa. From the start of this campaign, we have been striving to create strategic partnerships between local, provincial and national government departments and the private sector to ensure that this event is successfully presented to the national and international market. With the strong mining heritage of the Northern Cape, it is extremely appropriate that Kumba is coming on board as a presenting sponsor. This will undoubtedly aid our efforts to establish Kimberley and the Northern Cape as the extreme sports capital of the country,” stated Premier Jenkins at the announcement ceremony.
Kumba Iron Ore is a JSE-listed subsidiary of Anglo American plc and a leading value adding iron ore supplier to the global steel industry. Since relisting as a separate entity in 2006, the company has been committed to good corporate governance. According to Chief Executive Officer Chris Griffith,
Kumba’s approach to social investment is more than just compliance driven. “As a company we align all our social and community development initiatives not only to our business goals, but more importantly to the growth and development strategies of the areas that we operate in. Sustainability through capacity building and empowerment is the key focus of all Kumba’s identified social development initiatives. In being the presenting partner, Kumba is proud to assist the Northern Cape Government in hosting this prestigious event. We believe that through the successful hosting of this international event, we would be able to assist the Northern Cape in positioning this province as the most exiting extreme sport destination in Africa, thus building on and supporting the sustainability of this province.”
The Northern Cape Provincial Government has launched the Skateboarding for Hope outreach initiative as a run-up to the Maloof Money Cup in an attempt to galvanise the youth of the country and to create awareness the sport of skateboarding, which has become one of the fastest growing sporting disciplines in the world. The outreach programme is currently being rolled out across the country to identify skateboarding talent, develop skills and position skateboarding as a cost-effective and accessible lifestyle alternative.
Hundreds of international skateboarders and their supporters as well as a large global media contingent will be descending on South Africa’s largest province in the months leading up to the contest. John Block, MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, is of the opinion that the Maloof Money Cup will definitely turn the global media spotlight on the province. “By hosting this prestigious event outside the borders of the United States of America for the first time in its history, we will not only be building brand collateral under our Extreme Experiences brand pillar, but we will also be able to showcase the unique tourism offerings of our province. The Northern Cape is in essence a province of extremes – extreme adventure, extreme culture and extreme nature – and the Maloof Money Cup presents the perfect vehicle to carry this message to a global audience,” mentions Block.
