Sports Award Nominations are a Testament to our hard work - Qondisa Ngwenya

By Charles Baloyi
10th August 2025

Cycling South Africa (CSA) president Qondisa Ngwenya says the federation’s three nominations for the upcoming SA Sports Awards serve as proof of the dedication and effort invested over recent years.

CSA will battle for the National Federation of the Year title against Golf South Africa and the SA Rugby Union in a fiercely contested category.

Olympic bronze medallist Alan Hatherly is in the running for Sportsman of the Year alongside Akani Simbine and Pieter-Stephanus Du Toit.

Multi-Paralympic medallist Pieter du Preez is shortlisted for Sportsman of the Year with a Disability, competing with Mpumelelo Mhlongo and Jean-Paul Veaudry. Ngwenya says being counted among South Africa’s elite sporting bodies is already a proud milestone for the federation.

"I think it is a massive achievement.

"We have worked very hard in the last few years, not only from an administrative point of view, whilst practicing good governance, but our performances on the bike as well, especially on the mountain biking side," said Ngwenya gleefully.

READ: Kesa Molotsane excited by ASA several SA Sports Awards nominations

The veteran cycling administrator, who took over from Austin du Plessis as CSA president three years ago, told SABC Sport that his lifelong dream has been to position cycling among the top five sporting codes in the country — and these nominations mark a meaningful step towards that goal.

Ngwenya, an International Sports Business Executive, had high hopes for Alan Hatherly, who made history at the Paris Olympics last year by clinching bronze in the men’s cross-country mountain bike event — South Africa’s first-ever Olympic medal in the discipline.

"For Alan and for Piet, this is huge. We have never truly had an olympic medal in cycling, the last medal was in the Apartheid era, back in the 1950's.

"Since readmission, it was the first Olympic medal that we have won as a country, and then Alan went on to win the World Championships in Andorra, so I think its a proper recognition," said the CSA President.

Ngwenya also applauded seasoned Paralympic cyclist Pieter du Preez, hailing both his nomination and his lasting impact on the sport, adding that his recognition is richly deserved.