T-Systems SA and Wayde van Niekerk set to take '43:03, the Wayde van Niekerk Story' to international film festivals

Issued by Evolution PR for T-Systems
Johannesburg, 01 Jun 2018

Dineo Molefe, MD at T-Systems South Africa, Wayde van Niekerk and Mpumi Nhlapo, Head of Marketing and Partner Management at T-Systems South Africa.

* The documentary presents the story of Van Niekerk's rise from humble beginning to global athletics star.
* The inspirational documentary features in-depth accounts of Van Niekerk's life and features past and present global sporting icons.
* T-Systems supports local production company to film the documentary in multiple countries across three continents, and will submit it to international film festivals for consideration.
* The premiere was held 31 May in Johannesburg and included fans who were invited to the exclusive premiere event.

T-Systems South Africa, the multinational ICT Solutions specialist and technology partner to Olympic Gold Medallist and 400m World Record holder, Wayde van Niekerk, premiered a documentary on the sprinter's life on 29 May in Cape Town and 31 May in Johannesburg.

Titled: "43:03, the Wayde van Niekerk Story", the documentary was named after the world record time set by Van Niekerk at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games and will give South Africans a glimpse into Van Niekerk's life and his rise to become an international athletics icon.

Said Dineo Molefe, MD at T-Systems South Africa: "We are incredibly proud of Wayde and the relationship that we have shared over the past two years. We continue to connect with his value system that is centred on family, physical well-being, spiritual balance, commitment to giving back and his passion for South Africa. These values are exemplified by the manner in which he represents our country on a global stage. We made a decision at the outset of our partnership that we wanted to share Wayde's story with South Africa and the rest of the world as a means to inspire, provide hope and to tell a true African global success story. It is this and our commitment to a truly remarkable South African example of dedication and passion that motivated us to sponsor the production of the documentary."

Van Niekerk added: "My journey has been an incredible one and achieving my goals of winning the World Championships, Olympic Gold and setting world records has allowed me to live out my dreams. T-Systems has supported me beyond the athletics track by getting involved in assisting to set up the Wayde Dreamer Foundation. It is therefore an honour for me to be able to share my story with South Africa and with the rest of the world and I hope it can inspire others to pursue their dreams."

T-Systems sponsored the production of the documentary, which was created by Harambee Communications. Said Mpumi Nhlapo, Head of Marketing and Partner Management at T-Systems South Africa, who is also an executive producer on the film: "We are proud to have partnered with and supported a local production company to create this documentary. Together, we will present the documentary to a number of international film festivals for their consideration. This will enable us to expand on the exposure of Wayde's life story and his commitment to philanthropic goals through the Wayde Dreamer Foundation. We believe that the story will have just as great an impact internationally as it will locally."

The initial premiere of the documentary was attended by Van Niekerk's family, friends, sponsors and special guests from the sporting world. A number of Johannesburg fans also joined him for the exclusive premiere in Montecasino, Johannesburg.

Deutsche Telekom

Deutsche Telekom is one of the world's leading integrated telecommunications companies with around 151 million mobile customers, 30 million fixed-network lines and more than 17 million broadband lines (as of 31 December 2014). The group provides fixed network, mobile communications, Internet and IPTV products and services for consumers and ICT solutions for business customers and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in more than 50 countries and has approximately 228 000 employees worldwide. The group generated revenues of EUR 62.7 billion in the 2014 financial year - more than 60% of it outside Germany.

T-Systems

Deutsche Telekom considers the European business customer segment a strategic growth area. Deutsche Telekom offers small, medium-sized and multinational companies ICT solutions for an increasingly complex digital world. In addition to services from the cloud, the range of services is centred on M2M and security solutions, complementary mobile communications and fixed network products, and solutions for virtual collaboration and IT platforms, all of which forms the basis for its customers' digital business models.

With approximately 47 800 employees worldwide, T-Systems generated revenue of around EUR 8.6 billion in the 2014 financial year.

Since the inception of T-Systems in South Africa in 1997, the company has cemented its position as one of the most successful T-Systems companies outside of Europe. A leading ICT outsourcing service provider locally, T-Systems offers end-to-end ICT solutions in both the ICT operations and systems integration markets. Its extensive portfolio of services covers the vertical, horizontal, IT and TC space. T-Systems South Africa's head office is located in Midrand with another major office in Cape Town, and 20 further representative offices in locations throughout southern Africa.

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