The athletic teams representing Gauteng and Western Cape provinces have been announced as the top winners  during an award ceremony for the 2023 South African School Athletics. In the mainstream category, Gauteng scored 1288 points, followed by the Western Cape Province with 992 points. While in the LSEN category, Gauteng  Province led by 992 points and the second place winner was Western Cape with a total of 766 points.

The event took place at the Germiston Stadium, in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng Province from 02-05 April 2022. The 2023    Athletics saw learners between the ages of 13-19 participating in several track and field athletic disciplines including javelin; shotput; discus; walking; and long jump. Runners engaged in distances between 100m-3000m, Relays and hurdles. The event was underpinned by the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the Department of Sport Arts and Culture (DSAC) and the Department of Basic Education (DBE). The partnership  was forged to explore and develop sporting talents in public schools. The two Departments have partnered in spearheading the National School Sports Championships (NSSC) since its inception in 2012. The NSSC, which is the bedrock of sport development, remains the premier event in the South African school sport sector. Both Ministers entered into an agreement endorsing that schools were the incubators for sport development and talent  identification.

Minister of Sport, Art and Culture, Mr Zizi Kodwa, said that the National School Sport Championships remained the  natural stimulant of the rollout of the school sport league programme where children were provided with access to participate in an organized sport programme. “The NSSC is a programme that has a product born out of the institutional and legislative frameworks as endorsed at the 2011 Sports Indaba. The primary aim of the school sport programme is to ensure that each and every one of South Africa’s schools, primary and high schools, are afforded an opportunity to participate in at least one sporting code. The programme therefore seeks to address all the barriers to entry that currently inhibit broad based participation in school sport through the provision of the requisite support material, personnel and competition opportunities,” added Minister Kodwa.