The Northern Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism, Department of Sports Arts & Culture together with the Kgalagadi Municipality celebrated the official opening of the Kgalagadi Bush Horse Race event in Kuruman on Saturday 29th July 2017. The Kgalagadi Bush Race Event took place on the 29th-30th July hosted at the Seoding Race course graced by the presence of participants coming from as far as Johannesburg, Askam, Brei, Free State, Vansuilsrus, and Upington.

The event took off with a cutting of the ribbon ceremony where the Head of the Department, Mr Darius Babuseng and Kgosi (King) Setlhodi officially opened the event. “We as the Economic Development and Tourism take pride in supporting such events, they help support SMMEs and build social cohesion. These are the type of events that contribute immensely to the tourism industry and development. We are grateful of the efforts put in by the leadership in bringing together such an event and bringing life to such a rural as this kind of sport only take place in urban areas. We are also happy to see stalls selling their products as it promote SMME development, one of our key performance areas” Mr Babuseng said, as he wished every horse racer the best of luck.

“ Basha ke nako ya lona e, bokamoso jo ke jwa lona, bo shomareleng” ( The youth take advantage of this opportunity as it is beneficial to your future and hold on to it). said Kgosi Setlhodi.

 The Department of Arts and Culture as one of the stakeholders would contribute by assisting to fully develop this sporting code to be as prominent as their other sporting codes and will continue to support this event”

Kgosi Setlhodi showed a lot of appreciation to stakeholders, “We want to thank the government departments for supporting our event, we are happy that as horse owners we have always wanted to breed our horses with the intention of competing in racers, so we are really happy to be gaining such support and looking forward to the future success of the event”. 

SMMEs play a very important economic and social role, both through their prominence in the economy and in job creation, a role which is greatly appreciated in these times of crisis and rising unemployment rates. Local SMMes grabbed the opportunity to showcase and sell their products with both hands as they sold delicious food and drinks to event goers.

DEDAT Communication 2017