Team SA rakes in R6.5m

Team SA's Paralympic medallists arrived at OR Tambo yesterday morning to a heroes' welcome from fans, cash rewards of nearly R6.5-million and the usual Mbalulaisms.

The sport minister threw a party in the arrivals hall, telling everyone in hearing distance of the public address system: "There is only one Father Christmas in sport and that is Fikile Mbalula and [deputy minister] Gert Oosthuizen."

Sprinter Charl du Toit, the double-gold medallist, pocketed more than R1-million from the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee and Mbalula's department. Sascoc paid him R800000 - R400000 for each of his two gold medals - and Mbalula R250000, R150000 for his 100m world record and R100000 for his 400m gold.

The Sascoc reward for Paralympic medallists was the same for the Olympic heroes who returned from Rio with 10 gongs last month.

The Paralympians came home with 17 medals, the country's lowest haul since Barcelona 1992.

Mbalula trumpeted that, since London 2012, Olympians and Paralympians had received equal prize money, but his own department paid the individual Paralympic silver and bronze medallists from Rio less than their Olympic counterparts. Olympians received R70000 for silver and R50000 for bronze, compared with a blanket R30000 for the Paralympic silver and bronze medallists.

Mbalula's total pot for Paralympians was larger at just more than R1-million, compared with R770000 for the Olympians.

"This is not about the money, it's about hard work coming together," said Du Toit, who competes in spite of cerebral palsy. "If I could take one of these medals, or both, and break it into small little pieces I'd give them away to so many people who contributed to my career."

Amputee Ntando Mahlangu, the 14-year-old Grade 7 pupil who won a silver in the 200m, knows exactly what he will do with his R230000: "I'm going to put it into a trust and, once I'm 18, I'm going to use it."

Fellow pupils from his Constantia Park junior school in Pretoria were particularly vocal at the airport.

Mahlangu plans to campaign to get the 400m and 800m in his class added to the next Paralympic athletics programme at Tokyo 2020.

Dreaming of becoming a civil engineer, he's looking forward to returning to school: "I'm going to make them [my marks] go up again."

Sascoc rewarded coaches with R100000 for gold, R50000 for silver and R20000 for bronze - and Du Toit's Suzanne Ferreira, who mentored five medallists, earned R490000. Her other charges are Dyan Buis (one gold, one bronze), Ilse Hayes (two silvers), Anrune Liebenberg (one silver) and Fanie van der Merwe (one bronze).