Hon Chairperson, Deputy Minister Gert Oosthuizen, members of the National Council of Provinces, permanent delegates to the NCOP, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, sportsmen and women, fellow South Africans, it is an honour and pleasure for me to present to the NCOP our first budget policy statement of Sport and Recreation SA, immediately after we had the singular honour of presenting our Budget Vote No 20 to the National Assembly on 30 April 2011. We did so in the presence of sport administrators, coaches and the crown jewels of our country, the players themselves.
Chairperson, allow me to pay tribute to the late Director-General of Sport and Recreation, Mr Vernie Petersen, whose untimely death robbed us of a dedicated, committed and experienced civil servant. Hon members, as we said in our budget speech in the National Assembly:
Our task is to make a movement, a big movement, above all the unity of our people. We must tear down walls that stand against change, and move mountains in pursuit of our common and shared vision.
Chairperson, allow us to table the policy statement of the Department of Sport and Recreation SA after the successful hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup. We pay tribute to the astonishing determination, willpower, resilience and unity of purpose that was demonstrated by our people, united by the common desire to be the best. The phenomenal success of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, hosted amidst the vibrancy of Africa and the colour and diversity of South Africa, gives credence to sport as a tool with the power to inspire and unite people and create happiness.
South Africans from all walks of life joined in the celebration of our hosting of the largest event in the world. As we celebrate the successes of the World Cup, we are saddened by the untimely passing of Wendy Ramokgadi, the creator of the famous and renowned South African Diski Dance. We send our heartfelt condolences to his wife and family. May his soul rest in peace.
In June this year we will be marking the one-year anniversary of hosting the most successful World Cup on African soil by staging a monumental match between Africa Eleven and the 2010 Fifa World Cup champions, Spain. This week we will be engaging with Fifa in Zurich to finalise the modalities of this integrated event, which will also include arts and culture.
Hon members, after the successful hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, there has been increasing interest in the potential of sport for inward investment and economic regeneration in communities, cities and regions. This is an element of the sports economy which we are refining as we scientifically analyse the real contribution of sport to our gross domestic product, GDP. As part of our conceptual thesis of a sports economy, sport is seen not just as games, but more as an economic imperative which contributes to economic growth, industry development and sustainable livelihoods. It has proven abilities to, among other things, bind us together as a nation, increase our sports tourism and contribute to peace and development, increase social and economic values as well as enhance healthy and fulfilling lives.
Hon members, on Friday last week in Atteridgeville, Tshwane, we reactivated our Magnificent Fridays with an exhibition game between the SA national netball team and popular personalities from sport and entertainment as part of the preparations for the World Championship in Singapore.
Ladies and gentlemen, 1 June 2011 marks 100 days to the magnificent 2011 International Rugby Board, IRB, World Cup in New Zealand. We are the defending champions, and we will remain as such, come the end of the Rugby World Cup spectacle.
Let us continue to fly the SA flag high. Let us rally behind all our national teams and wear our favourite jerseys. We did it for the Proteas, let us do it for the netball team and the Springboks as they go out to conquer the world. As an active and winning nation, South Africa should celebrate our athletes and sports luminaries who excel in the field of play in South Africa and abroad.
I would like to take this opportunity to salute and congratulate top runner Farwa Mentoor of Mitchells Plain, who became the first woman in the history of the Comrades Marathon to win her tenth gold medal, on Sunday, 29 May 2011. [Applause.] By the same token, we want to honour and respect Fanie Matshipa for finishing second in the Comrades Marathon. Let's also pay homage to the continued success of Caster Semenya for winning the 800m in the Dakar Grand Prix on Saturday, 28 May 2011. We wish her all the best at the London Diamond League as part of the preparation to defend her world championship title.
Let us also salute Sibusiso Sithole of the magnificent Rugby Sevens for scoring the match-winning try against Australia during the World IRB Sevens World Series Cup final rugby match at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Sunday 29 May 2011. We warmly acknowledge the success of our surfing team at the junior surfing championship in Peru, South America. South Africa came second out of 27 countries, losing only to the host. These are the best results ever, beating arch rivals Australia by 200 points. South Africa got two individual silver medals for the under-18 girls and under-16 boys and a bronze for the under-18 boys.
We would also like to wish Bafana Bafana victory in their clash with Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on Sunday, 5 June 2011. We know that you will make us proud. Ladies and gentlemen, we equally celebrate the strides made by our legends in the field of golf, particularly the youthful Charl Schwartzel for winning the US Masters, Louis Oosthuizen for winning the Open Championship at the oldest golf course at St Andrews in Scotland, and Ernie Els for being inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
We wish further to send our condolences to the Wilson family and friends on the passing on of Paul Wilson, the former South African test cricketer who died in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Chairperson, let us welcome back one of our own, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, who is scheduled to return to his motherland at the end of this week. We dare not doubt that Tsotsobe has what it takes to be the best cricketer and has the skills to succeed. We know for a fact that he is not the first son of our soil to face challenges and difficulties on foreign soil. Other South African bowlers, like Corrie van Zyl, Fanie de Villiers and Dale Steyn, also struggled with their first experience of county cricket.
The impressively strong crowd that came out to support our athletes in the Diamond League in Rome last week must be commended. Thank you, Louis van Zyl, for your continued fine start to the season with a second series victory in the 400m hurdles, leading from start to finish and winning in 47,91 seconds. We would also like to raise our flags to Mbulaeni Mulaudzi for finishing second in the same May-to-September Diamond League series in the 800m race. Congratulations! And well done to Sunette Viljoen who bagged sixth position in the javelin with a throw of 60,61 metres.
Ladies and gentlemen, on 18 May 2011 the overwhelming victory of our people reaffirmed their mandate to the ANC by voting for this glorious movement to continue to administer the vast majority of municipalities in our country. Simply put, they have also reaffirmed their resolve that the ANC-led government should continue its programme to provide sport and recreational facilities where our people live and further create child-and family- friendly parks in local municipalities which will provide safe spaces for children and their families to engage in sporting activities and generational recreation.
In 1995 the Commonwealth Heads of Government Working Group in Harare made the following observation with regard to the influence of sport on society:
It is time that the integral role which sport plays in the process of nation-building is fully recognised. Sport is an investment. It is firstly an investment in the health, vitality and productivity of one's people. It is secondly an investment in their future.
In order for the Department of Sport and Recreation to deliver on its mandate of sport development and attain its vision for an active and winning nation, sport support systems must be aligned to deliver within an integrated sport development continuum. This begins at school level, where the foundation for participation and competition has to be developed, strengthened and sustained. This will help in the identification and nurturing of talent at an early stage, and in its further development to an elite level, using scientific methods.
In the same vein, we will be launching the school sports programme before the end of June 2011 after officially signing the memorandum of understanding with the Department of Basic Education. Our fervent goal is to ensure that there is sport in each and every school in South Africa, which will culminate in a national olympics championship of school sport every year. In this pursuit, all strategic stakeholders are on board, including the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee, Sascoc, universities and trade unions.
We continue with our resolve to stabilise boxing in South Africa. We will be appointing a new board soon. Equally, we have already appointed Moffat Qithi as the new chief executive officer, CEO, of Boxing SA. We do not have two CEOs in Boxing SA; there is only one. His first brief is to convene a national boxing indaba to chart a way forward for an integrated vision of boxing in our country. We wish Mr Qithi well in his endeavours.
As part of our journey to transform sport and recreation in our country, the envisaged National Sport and Recreation Indaba will pave the way for a National Sport and Recreation Plan. This excellence reflects the values and virtues of our renewed vision of sport and recreation. This fundamental shift in paradigm is anchored in our overarching strategy, our new road map for optimal performance. The road map seeks to reposition our functional efficiencies, accelerate service delivery, enhance organisational excellence and inject new performance energy. This road map is propelled by the zeal of the department for common purpose, its zing for optimal excellence and our zip for unity of purpose, which pushes everyone forward and energises the whole organisation to wake up every day to do more for a better life for all our people.
As you would have noticed, contrary to the usual trend, what we presented in the National Assembly a few weeks ago and what we present to this House today is a budget policy statement characterised by a shrinkage from R1,2 billion in 2009-10 to R802 million in the 2011-12 financial year. Aggregated in 2007-08 financial year, it stood at R5 billion, and to date it stands at R802 million, an annualised decrease of about 40%. This downward spiral of our financial capacity will undermine the maintenance and sustainability of our legacy left by 2010. Hence we are working at approaching the National Treasury with a view to increasing our budget baseline and other expenditure programmes.
A bird's view of our budget structure will still reflect absolute resonance with our strategic priorities, as already articulated in our strategic planning document and as presented in March 2011 to the National Assembly and to the Select Committee on Education and Recreation on 25 May 2011. The national and provincial departments are acutely alive to the imperative of transformation for sports unity, social cohesion and sustenance, and the wellbeing of communities. At the same time, we call upon Parliament and the people of South Africa to join hands with us in our campaign to provide a fresh perspective on and impetus to transformation; a perspective that posits equality, unity, access and excellence at the centre of our national discourse.
The department wants to achieve inclusivity and consensus on what each federation or club's contribution is or will be towards the realisation of the objective of the national goals and priorities. In order to ensure that our actions are focused and directed, the Ministry has started a process of drawing up a transformation charter which will apply to all sports organisations. The charter will be a product of extensive and wide-ranging consultation and robust debate. This engagement process has started at a microlevel in order to formulate a draft framework and scorecard, and will be extensively discussed at the provincial and national indaba, on which the Deputy Minister will further elaborate.
Chairperson, the glaring absence of sports and recreation facilities in our schools and our communities continues to be a matter of concern. We are working together with the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs to ensure that the municipal infrastructure grant, which resides with their department, is rightly repatriated back to our department to ensure the seamless co-ordination and unlocking of the real value for money of these grants.
Similarly, we have also met with the Ministry of Human Settlements to discuss the rationalisation and possible redirection of the urban settlement development grant to Sport and Recreation SA. Both departments were tasked with the responsibility of formulating a model that will enhance the provision of sports and recreation facilities in the eight metropolitan municipalities. In the short term it will see both departments co-operating in the administration of these funds with the ultimate aim - in the long run - of having this fund also repatriated back to our department.
We are escalating our campaign to mobilise more resources from the private sector and the international donor community to support our youth camps and talent development programmes. We are sourcing additional funding. It is true that the advancement of sport and recreation development in South Africa does not only rely on public funding, but also on various stakeholders, including nongovernmental entities. Inspired by this reality, Sport and Recreation SA continues to maintain and strengthen its relations with the European Union and the German government.
The department will continue to encourage entities to apply for Lotto funding for other developmental programmes in sport and recreation. We note with concern the manner in which funds are being allocated by the Lotto distribution agency. Through our engagement with the Ministry of Trade and Industry we will also ensure that Lotto funds are disbursed equitably and directed to the areas of need in order to make an immediate impact on sport and recreation. Furthermore, the transformation charter should be completed in order to roll out institutional mechanism projects. This would include facilities, academies, sport councils and coaching.
The 2011 Budget allocates an additional R205,7 million over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period. The bulk of our budget went to mass participation, which includes school sport and community sport. The mass participation conditional grant has increased at an annual rate of 30% between 2007-08 and 2010-11 due to the inclusion of school sport from 2006 to 2007, and 2010 legacy projects from 2007 to 2008. Of the R502 million allocated to mass participation, R471 million consists of the conditional grant that is allocated to the provinces to roll out a community mass participation programme and the school sport programme.
The provinces will attest that this grant has given many of them a lifeline and constitutes the greater percentage of their budgets. This programme has served to increase the number of participants in sport and recreation in the most disadvantaged and neglected communities by providing equipment and attire. This has also contributed to skills development and job creation and has been a catalyst for talent edification.
We are hopeful that with this new vigour we will be able to deal with the challenges facing sport and recreation in our country, as well as repositioning the department for optimal performance. The renewed zing and zest by all to work together signifies the zeal to dislodge all elements of countertransformation in every sphere of life, and in sport in particular, and replace them with paradigms and people who are imbued with the resurgent culture of service, civic duty and voluntarism.
Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby table the Sport and Recreation SA budget policy statement in this House. I thank you. [Applause.]
Deputy Chairperson, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers present, hon members and the public at large, let me join the Minister of Sport and Recreation and pay tribute to the late Director-General of Sport and Recreation, Mr Vernie Petersen, who passed on early this year. I got to know him when I was a member of the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services in the National Assembly, when the hon Dennis Bloem was chairperson of the committee before he decided nna morwa sesinyi [to go and spoil things]. I later worked with Mr Petersen in the Select Committee on Education and Recreation until his untimely death. May his soul rest in peace.
One of Africa's great statesmen, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, once said, "I had a dream of a united African country where sport would play a vital role in forging the youth into one nation." According to Dr Nkrumah, sporting success gave dignity and pride. In 1960, when Ghana's national football team made a tour of Europe, Dr Nkrumah instructed them to go and correct European prejudices about Africa. He saw sport as the first step in building a formidable team which could contribute to the emancipation of Africa.
Sport should never be undermined, as it improves health, fitness and education; creates business opportunities and employment; fosters nonviolence, fair competition, teamwork and respect; bridges cultural and ethnic divides; and contributes to cross-cultural dialogue, understanding, unity, tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
To make the dream of Dr Kwame Nkrumah a reality, sport should be totally transformed. Transformation in sport is a subject that has been debated at length ever since we became a democracy. Imposing quotas was seen as a way to speed up the process, but this is clearly not working. Change has to take place from the ground up, and that means it has to start at school level. To achieve transformation, we require breaking of the old in order to adopt a new form in response to a radical change in function.
We need to level the playing field to ensure that the previously disadvantaged get access to resources. We as the ANC must be biased towards previously disadvantaged communities, and when we do so we should not be apologetic. According to the department's strategic plan, a more focused approach will be given to transformation and funding will be made via the national federation for the development of clubs and facilities.
But how do we ensure that this happens? When we speak of clubs we are referring to the places where actual activities are taking place at the local level. In most cases the national federation does not reach them because there are no roads, no sports grounds and they are deep in the remote areas. We need to come up with a proper strategy and monitoring mechanism to ensure that we achieve our goals.
The expenditure of the Department of Sport and Recreation is projected to decrease at an average annual rate of 10% to reach R915,5 million. This is due to the completion of 2010 Fifa World Cup projects for 2010-11. However, we have seen additional allocation to the mass sport and recreation participation conditional grant, which is expected to increase from R452 million in 2011-12 to R507 million in 2013-14 and sport federations which are expected to increase expenditure in the Sport Support Services Programme by R104 million, including savings generated.
Regarding mass participation, when government introduced the National Mass Participation Programme, the intention was to get the nation to become active and to provide access to a relatively wide variety of activities to impoverished communities, identified as hubs. Against the backdrop of relatively low participation figures in a variety of sports, the focus of the programme was to unearth sporting talent and to use sport as a means to achieve social and human development goals.
Seeing that this programme continues to enjoy a big slice of the budget, we should ask ourselves the following: Are we achieving the goals we set ourselves? Do we have records that show the talent that was unearthed through this programme? What programmes do we have in order to reach out to the farming communities?
Resolution 88 of the ANC's Polokwane conference states: "Mass participation, physical activity and sports programmes must prioritise the involvement of girls, women and people with disabilities with a view to promoting equity."
Access to participating in sports activities remains restricted for black South Africans in ways that white South Africans do not experience. One reason for this state of affairs is the influence of the apartheid system and the lack of facilities in African townships, which in turn offered few opportunities for the development of the range of leisure activities enjoyed by wealthier communities. The lack of investment in sports facilities in our townships and rural areas has resulted in many young people not engaging in sports and leading them to antisocial activities, including crime.
At the same time, we should ask ourselves whether we have done enough to engage young people in sports meaningfully, especially those from poor areas. The unfortunate incident that claimed the lives of 10 youths in Mamusa Township near Schweizer-Reneke on 1 January 2011 was the direct result of a lack of infrastructure. The lack of sporting facilities in this small community leaves the youth with no option but to go to taverns. The other contributing factor is the high rate of unemployment. I appeal to the Minister, through you, Deputy Chairperson: Let something be done for this community to assist them in their healing process.
As we resolved at the 51st national conference of the ANC in Stellenbosch, the ANC and the government must also give leadership in the area of sport and recreation, especially with regard to community development and ensuring that young people engage in sport as part of our moral regeneration programmes. This includes school sports and the promotion of sport among all our young people and among people with disabilities.
School Sport works in close co-operation with the Department of Basic Education to ensure that sports programmes are offered to schoolchildren in an effort to encourage lifelong participation in sport. The programme will facilitate the establishment and operation of a national school sport governance and co-ordinating structure; contribute towards hosting national school sport competitions; build the capacity of school sport volunteers; support participation in international school sport competitions; and monitor and evaluate the delivery of school sport in South Africa.
I was moved one day, when I went to watch a cricket match between St Conrad's Primary, a private school, and Itereleng Primary, a public school, from Jouberton Township in Matlosana Municipality in Klerksdorp. The boys from the township school were playing with passion and were determined to win. When they lost I couldn't help but overhear one of the boys saying, "If we had equipment like these boys, we would have won, because we practise daily and our teacher is committed to helping us."
I became interested in their discussion because I wanted to know their plight. What hurts is that these boys only had two bats to practise with, and these were a donation from their teacher. Seeing these children so determined, without equipment or proper clothing, I really saw the cruelty of apartheid.
Resolution 87 of the ANC national conference of 2007 states: "Physical education must be offered as a compulsory subject for learners Grade in 0 - 12." Charles A Bucher defines physical education as "an integral part of the total education process, a field of endeavour which has as its aim the development of physically, mentally, emotionally and socially fit citizens through the medium of physical activities which have been selected with a view to realising these outcomes".
We all recognise the need to promote sport and physical education in schools. This would benefit learners by helping them develop healthy lifestyles and providing them with the opportunity to use their spare time productively.
Physical education was reintroduced to schools, with a minimum period of 45 minutes per week for each learner. As members of this Council we also need to be involved in encouraging our educators and learners to take physical education seriously. This is the right thing to do. The ANC supports this Budget Vote. I thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon members, I am glad to start this debate by congratulating Thulani Serero, who scooped multiple Premier Soccer League awards. I further congratulate Orlando Pirates, the 2010-11 PSL champions and Nedbank Cup winners. I just hope and pray that the Phefeni Glamour Boys are next on the list.
Chairperson, sport and recreation's intrinsic worth is common cause and is critical to the health and wellbeing of people. Sport is a catalyst for nation-building and social cohesion. In fact, it sits at the pinnacle of human transformation and gives every sportsman and woman a full understanding of the world in which they live. Therefore it is important not only that sports facilities and services are of good quality, but also that the public resources used to finance them are spent wisely and efficiently.
We are an unhealthy nation - the greater proportion of our population is classified as obese, and mortality rates are high. In a survey commissioned by GlaxoSmithKline last year, 61% of respondents were found to be morbidly obese. In another study done by the University of the Western Cape, 25% of learners surveyed were obese and 80% did not participate in sport.
Therefore, Cope supports the Community Mass Participation Programme and urges the department to act decisively against all provinces that are underspending. Underspending impacts negatively on service delivery. It undermines the realisation of objectives and, at the extreme, the performance of the department becomes questionable. A major problem with the mass participation programme is that there is no clear impact or footprints on the ground while the programme consumes a large chunk of the budget. I know the hon Minister will definitely agree with me that there is no clear and meaningful value for the money being spent on the mass participation programme.
Cope still embraces the Minister's proclamation of reviving school sport in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education. We would like to know whether the bottlenecks to the following are being dealt with decisively: the school sport regulatory framework, an annual programme of school sport events, a schools mass mobilisation programme, facilitation and co- ordination of school sports championships in accordance with the memorandum of understanding with the Department of Basic Education, and the facilitation of the development of a national school sport structure.
Has the Minister introduced a programme to identify areas in dire need of sports facilities, as he promised? How many multipurpose sports centres were built countrywide using the E10 million in foreign funds, as he promised?
The South African Institute for Drug-free Sport does not seem to be adhering to the requirements. It is failing to promote anti-doping in South African sports. In a recent survey it was reported that schoolboy rugby players were using steroids, and 60% of participants in the survey tested positive.
The Congress of the People supports the budget. We also hope that this budget will reach every school and every learner in the deep rural areas of our country. Thank you. [Time expired.]
Order! Hon members, please let there be order. People are debating.
Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon members, MECs for sport, may I first welcome the energy and vibrancy that the national Minister has brought to this portfolio. The role of sports in our communities is vital in building social cohesion and bringing our nation closer together.
I am happy to see, Minister, that you are well and fit again after the recent incident, and may God bless you as you recover because we need you in sport. Under your guidance the national department's renewed focus on youth development will hopefully build talent and ensure that today's youth become tomorrow's superstars, without any need for quotas. Under the right system of development and talent identification, today's youth will be able to shine on their own merits.
I want to welcome all sportspeople present today in the gallery, especially Valentina da Rocha, Hilton Langenhoven and Vanessa Lingeveldt. I also welcome the three PSL teams, namely Vasco Da Gama, Santos and Ajax Cape Town. I also welcome the principal of the Western Cape Sport School, who is present today in this House.
Minister, your drive to promote Magnificent Friday has already received support from all the MECs at the Minmec and it encourages all South Africans to get behind our cricket, rugby and netball teams, as is fitting for a nation of sport lovers who showed their passion in 2010 when we turned our country green and gold for Bafana Bafana every Friday.
On this note, may I congratulate the SA netball team on winning the test match against Trinidad and Tobago a few weeks ago at the Western Cape Sport School. I look forward to the success of our national netball team at the World Championships in Singapore this July. The Springboks, our national rugby team, will surely benefit from a nation's pride put on display with such vigour.
School sport, which you mentioned several times during your budget speech, has become one of the primary focuses of my department here in the Western Cape. Over the last year we introduced more than 100 mass opportunity for development, MOD, centres in our province's most vulnerable school communities. This is to ensure that schools without proper financial assistance experience the efficient running of a healthy sports programme.
The mass opportunity for development centres serve three purposes. Firstly, they provide a platform whereby children can engage in sporting facilities and activities and live a healthy lifestyle. Secondly, they offer our learners talent-identification opportunities, which will see them take advantage of the opportunities offered to them by our Western Cape Sport School and the various federations and leagues. Thirdly, and very importantly, these mass opportunity for development sport centres at our public schools contribute towards preventing antisocial behaviour in our communities.
We know that between 14:00 and 18:00 most children leave school and are unsupervised at home, while their parents are at work, earning a living in order to put food on the dinner table. These children's idle hands get them involved in mischief. By being active after school we are effectively preventing a culture of antisocial behaviour from setting in.
We have strategically placed many of our MOD centres in areas identified as high-risk areas for gangsterism and drugs. With a choice of 21 sporting codes, divided between winter and summer programmes, there is something for everyone. Lastly, and again very importantly, part of this programme is that our children must have fun.
In your budget speech, hon Minister, you called for immediate action on reviving school sport, particularly in rural and urban areas as well as in townships. I have recently visited Langa, Lavender Hill, Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain, where I witnessed our MOD centres in action, as well as the activities of sports organisations such as Sporting Chance, with their street cricket and street soccer programmes. They share the same beliefs we do, namely that sport development is fundamental for the healthy growth of our learners and that a child in sport is a child out of court. Many hands make light work, and working with these organisations lightens the burden on this government.
We have already seen numerous successes from these MOD centres and I would like to invite you, hon Minister, to the next opening of one of these MOD centres. There is a much-needed impetus to open more of these centres in our rural areas, and I will soon be opening one in the southern Cape with my colleague, the Minister of Agriculture, Minister Gerrit Van Rensburg.
The Western Cape Sport School is also a fundamental part of our sport development programme and they have also had a wealth of successes against other Western Cape schools and sporting leagues.
In your budget speech, hon Minister, you mentioned that our country is still witnessing a sporting environment where there is a skewed picture of sporting facilities. My department has recently developed an interactive CD where one can view all the sporting facilities in the Western Cape via satellite imagery. Anybody complaining about such facilities can now sit in their office and view online the status of these facilities. I would like to hand over a copy of this CD to you. It was developed between my department and the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research and it belongs to all the people of South Africa.
I welcome the national Minister's commitment to engage the national Department of Human Settlements and of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs to redirect the municipal infrastructure grant funding to the national Department of Sport and Recreation for the roll-out of facilities in our schools and communities. To me this is a major breakthrough, because I have personally studied many of the annual reports of some municipalities and seen that many of these municipalities had budgeted for sports facilities. But when I looked at how much money they actually have spent on sports facilities, it was quite shocking.
I have noted your determination to improve governance in South African boxing. I want to ask the Minister to support our campaign to support the world boxing champion, Mr Mzonke Fana, in defending his title at home.
To ensure that funds are efficiently spent by our federations my department recently visited these federations so that we could personally hand over cheques to the different federations waiting for funding. Hon Minister, it is already May, as we speak here. It is important that these federations receive the money at the beginning of the financial year, so that we promote good governance, as one of the building blocks of good governance is predictability. I would like to encourage the national Minister to ensure that sports federations around the country receive their budget allocations early in the year so that they can make appropriate plans and get started on their programmes sooner rather than later.
I am looking forward to working with you, Minister, towards a nation where one's race is not a factor that determines a place in our national teams and one's skills and ability are the only measures of success. We have reached a point in our history where players across all sporting codes have proved that race no longer needs to be a deciding factor. They have the skills, experience, will, ability and guts to win. Let us now equip the next generation with these abilities so that we can enjoy their success just as we are currently enjoying the successes of our national teams.
My thanks goes to all the sportsmen and sportswomen, all the sports administrators, coaches, referees and sports managers for their support in building social cohesion - also to all the sportspeople in the gallery here today. Hon member Bloem, I noted your support of your team, but Ajax Cape Town will be back next year. [Laughter.]
Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister and chairperson of the portfolio committee, on a much more serious note, I am in agreement with you that the sudden passing away of the former director-general of your department is a great loss to your department and also to South Africa. I want to thank his family for his time and commitment to serving the sporting community but also for his career in the South African civil service. [Time expired.]
Deputy Chairperson, the Minister has just said that I must make the announcement that he is a supporter of Witbank Black Aces and they are out of the league. [Laughter.] That is what the Minister said.
Order! Hon Bloem, sit down please. [Laughter.]
Chairperson of the NCOP, Minister Fikile Mbalula, Deputy Minister Gert Oosthuizen, members of the National Assembly, MECs from various provinces, who happen to be my colleagues, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to address this august Council as we debate the Sport and Recreation budget and policy statement. We will briefly outline the achievements we have made as the Free State department of sport, arts, culture and recreation in our quest to ensure the sustainable delivery of services to our communities.
The department in the Free State remains firmly committed to the overall vision of promoting and ensuring an active, creative and informed Free State community by providing effective service delivery to the people of the province. In aligning the range of services that the department provides, some critical factors have to be outlined and achieved in order to truly fulfil the mandate of the department.
It is our considered view that sport and recreation serve a pivotal role in our quest to develop our communities. For far too long, sport and recreation in our communities have been underestimated as a means of developing and defining the psyche of our nation. It is important to realise that sport is an integral part of the life of a nation.
Sport, in conjunction with recreation, can serve as a catalyst for economic development in our communities. It is important that we collectively identify the problem areas in our communities that impact negatively on the development of sport and recreational activities and that we put in place strategies to resuscitate them in all areas of our society.
As government, we are prepared to engage in programmes that ensure and create conditions in which our youth can excel in sport. This means providing sports fields, training equipment, facilities and sports equipment. We have huge social problems in our communities, including drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, HIV/Aids and a lack of discipline among our youth. Sport is an indispensable means of improving the social fabric of our society and can make a very real contribution to ensure that our children and the youth lead meaningful lives.
We are all aware that our country hosted one of the best Fifa Soccer World Cup tournaments ever. Through the co-operation of the provincial government and the Mangaung Municipality, our province was able to host all of its designated games successfully. As a build-up to the World Cup, the department held the 32 Schools Mini World Cup, which involved schools from across the province.
Through our partnership with Bolton Wanderers, a tournament is currently running in our province whereby five of the best-performing athletes in this particular tournament will eventually be taken to Wembley to play in their programme. The best participants will be roped into the academy of this London team. All this is through our association and partnership with them and at their cost. This enables aspiring young soccer players to hone their skills while also showcasing the excellent talent and athleticism we have in our schools.
In the national Minister's road map, one of the priorities is to enhance optimal performance and excellence in sport. In this road map school sport is indicated as the bedrock for mass participation, social cohesion and, crucially, measures against juvenile delinquency.
It is of the utmost importance that the Free State re-engineers its school sport delivery system to support the road map. We are left with the task of ensuring that the face of sport and recreation changes quite fundamentally as a result of the impact of the World Cup. Through our various sport and recreation programmes we will ensure that this happens.
Following the success of the 2010 Fifa World Cup tournament, the ANC centenary celebration will be the next major event in our province. There are a number of stadia in the province that will be upgraded as part of the centenary legacy project. An amount of R45,6 million has been set aside for these upgradings.
In the next financial year we will realise the goals we have set for ourselves. These include buying the naming rights for the Vodacom Stadium for an amount of R5 million per year for the next three years. This is a worthy and essential step as the long-term benefits of the province owning the naming rights of the stadium are beyond doubt. Every time there is a national and international match played at this stadium and that match is broadcast globally, we stand a good chance marketing the province and attracting tourists.
In our quest to promote social cohesion, nation-building and sport tourism in the province, we will annually host a soccer, rugby and golf reconciliation challenge. This challenge will involve a Free State soccer outfit playing against another Premier Soccer League, PSL, soccer team, as well as the provincial rugby team against another franchise team. This year the challenge will take place from 16 to 18 December, and it will also be linked to the centenary build-up programme.
The provincial government has also undertaken to donate R1 million per team for Bloemfontein Celtic, Free State Stars, Cheetahs and Griffons. This is also a necessary and important investment for the province. These are the teams representing the province at national level. They carry the name and pride of the people of the province. Their matches in the province also contribute a huge capital injection through sport tourism.
Last year the department launched the Free State Sport Federation in an effort to advance sport development in the province. We believe that this federation will ensure that sport in the Free State is managed and controlled efficiently, effectively as well as professionally. We also successfully launched the Free State local talent development centres to ensure that we are able to identify, develop and retain raw young talent that will ultimately represent our province and country in various sporting codes.
On the 4th, hon Mbalula is scheduled to open another centre in the Fezile Dabi district. This centre will also make sport science and injury rehabilitation services more accessible to the broader sport communities of the Free State. On 28 April 2010 we launched the Free State School Sport Organisation, which is the controlling body for school sport in the province. As the hon Minister Mbalula pointed out, school sport is going to become the bedrock of sport in the country. We have no doubt that the Free State School Sport Organisation will assist us in realising this vision. The structure covers 16 school sports codes: athletics, aquatics, baton twirling, baseball, basketball, chess, cricket, cross-country, football, hockey, netball, rugby, table tennis, tennis, volleyball and gymnastics.
The structure has been established from code committees that represent the above-mentioned sports codes as well as regional and district committees constituted by various schools in the province. The process for the establishment of this structure involved a collaborative effort between the Free State department of education and the department of sport, arts, culture and recreation.
As part of the new road map of the national Minister in this financial year we have set ourselves the task of establishing and sustaining school sport committees to run sport within schools. This programme will be run with both the provincial and national federations. In line with the Minister's road map, we will also establish and sustain structured leagues in all schools in the province.
One of the programmes that we will be implementing this financial year is the establishment of vegetable gardens as a pilot project in five schools, as part of the school sport sustainability programme. We will install water boreholes as well as sprinklers to assist in the irrigation of these gardens. This project will enable schools to raise funds and sustain their sports activities.
We are confident that through our community sports initiatives we will continue to ensure that mass participation in sport penetrates every nook and cranny of our communities. We will build on the positive outcomes realised in the last financial year which include, among others, the following milestones: a new strategy which we introduced for sport and recreation activities in all 82 towns of the province, as opposed to operating in only 33 hubs. The fourth O R Tambo Games were successfully staged in Matjhabeng from 3 to 5 December 2010. Six recreational sport leagues were established in all towns of the province from town level, municipal level and district level, culminating in the provincial O R Tambo tournament. These are football, netball, volleyball, rugby, table tennis and basketball recreational leagues. Playing equipment and attire for volleyball, netball, football, table tennis, rugby and basketball were distributed to all 82 towns in September and November 2010.
As part of our efforts to ensure access to sports facilities for our communities, we have erected five Munman multipurpose courts in Van Stadensrus, Petrus Steyn, Heilbron, Luckhoff and Vredefort. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Before I call the next person, may I make an announcement. I have asked the hon Mazosiwe to relieve me, and that is in terms of Rule 11 of the Council. So, may I be given a chance to vacate the seat, and Mr Mazosiwe will step in.
Hon Chair, Ministers, members and guests, exactly 365 days ago we were busy counting down the last 10 days before the opening of the largest sport event the world had ever seen, the Fifa World Cup 2010. Who can ever forget the tension and excitement in this beautiful country of ours the week before this prestigious event? Only the prophets of doom, with their talk of plan B and plan C. The rainbow nation of South Africa showed the world that, as one nation, we can stand together and make it happen.
Who can forget the thousands of Dutch football supporters in their orange outfits? We also saw thousands of England supporters before their various encounters and many more nations supporting their teams in this beautiful country of ours.
The 2010 Fifa World Cup did not just bring South Africans together, as the 1995 Rugby World Cup did, but it helped us at a time when other world economies were having the toughest economic times in years. The World Cup event could not have come to us at a better time, as it gave us a good economic injection during 2009 and 2010.
All in all, the 2010 Fifa World Cup was a great success. Millions of rands were given to provinces to get infrastructure ready and in place for this great event. Provinces must still submit audit reports on their spending, for example on base camps, to the national Department of Sport and Recreation.
The year 2010-11 was a good one for South African sport as a whole. Bafana Bafana made us all proud during the Word Cup, as did some other South African sports teams. Unfortunately our national cricket team did not win the World Cup in India, as we had all hoped, but as we know, even the favourites don't always win.
Individual sporting achievements by South Africans were also the order of the day, with Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel both winning golf majors and Lee-Anne Pace achieving various victories on the European golf tour. There are many more South African sports stars who achieved great heights and we are proud of each and every one of them.
Ons het ook in die laaste jaar ons geliefde direkteur-generaal, wyle mnr Vernon Petersen, aan die dood afgestaan. Vernon was 'n leier van formaat en dit was gou duidelik dat hy nie gras onder sy voete sou laat groei het om dinge in die departement wat verkeerd geloop het, reg te ruk nie. Sy skoene sal werklik moeilik deur 'n opvolger volgestaan word.
Intussen het ons ook 'n nuwe Minister van Sport gekry, Minister Mbalula. Na die DA se oorwinnings in verskeie munisipaliteite en voormalige ANC- beheerde wyke het die Minister se gesondheid klaarblyklik 'n knou gekry. Ek vertrou dat sy gesondheid na wense sal verbeter. Minister, dit sal hoog op prys gestel word indien u meer by ons gekose komitee vergaderings kan uitkom, soos Adjunkminister Gert Oosthuizen.
Dit is vir my wel 'n bron van kommer dat u departement nog nie vir ons werklik 'n volledige finansile jaarverslag voorgel het nie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[We also experienced the passing of our beloved director-general, the late Mr Vernon Petersen. Vernon was a leader of stature, and it soon became apparent that he would waste no time in straightening out things in the department that had gone wrong. His successor will truly find it difficult to fill his shoes.
Meanwhile we have also received a new Minister of Sport, Minister Mbalula. After the DA's victories in several municipalities and wards previously controlled by the ANC, the Minister's health evidently experienced a setback. I trust that his health will improve satisfactorily. Minister, it would be greatly appreciated if you could attend our select committee meetings more often, as Deputy Minister Gert Oosthuizen does.
It is indeed a matter of concern to me that your department has not yet submitted to us a complete annual financial report.]
In our last select committee meeting held with the Department of Sport and Recreation, the budget of R802,7 million for 2011 was discussed. The first thing that comes to my mind after the 2010 Soccer World Cup is: Who is going to maintain our beautiful stadiums as they need to be maintained? As this was not discussed with our committee at our last meeting, perhaps the Minister can give clarity on this issue and whether it is addressed in his budget.
A great awareness of soccer as a code has been created in South Africa and the department should use this opportunity to extend its reach to all schools and communities.
LoveLife gets more and more funds each year without any report-back on their programmes, which are usually unorganised and chaotic, to say the least. It is time for loveLife to give a report-back on money spent, and how these funds are being incorporated with school sport. The department should be able to play an oversight role on these funds as they come from Treasury and are mostly taxpayers' money.
School sport is the basis from which top athletes, sportsmen and sportswomen start their careers. It is a shame that a lot of rural schools just don't get the facilities and coaches to be able to help create our future sporting stars. This remains a concern to us.
The mass participation programme receives R502,1 million, the largest part of the budget. It shocks me that only R27,3 million goes toward school sport, while loveLife receives R30,4 million! Sport federations' budgets were increased from R27,8 million to R54,3 million, which should be welcomed by all.
It is also a concern to me that some of our top sportsmen and sportswomen who represent South Africa don't get enough money to survive, and for that reason leave South Africa in search of greener pastures. Our national netball and hockey teams train just as hard as our rugby, soccer and cricket teams, but get paid only a fraction of what the latter get. I therefore ask the Minister to help secure sponsorships so that these other sports codes can also get paid better, as they also make us proud of their international achievements.
However, sponsors will only invest money in sport if sport administration is clean. It doesn't do our country any good when you read about maladministration in cricket, athletics or rugby, to name but a few. We have to take strong action against corrupt officials who damage South Africa's image.
In conclusion, the Rugby World Cup takes place in New Zealand in September. The Parliamentary Rugby World Cup takes place at the same time and venue. We wish them all well with preparations and hope to see both World Cups back in South Africa. I thank you.
Thank you, hon Chairperson. Hon Minister of Sport and Recreation, Minister of Labour, MECs, hon members, our guests in the gallery and some of our heroes and heroines who are gold medallists in many events, ladies and gentlemen, before I start with my prepared notes, I would like to point out to a very active member of the committee, the hon Faber, that he should please not come here and accuse the department of not having shared information with you. We have done so. It may just be that you were absent at that point in time but we are a transparent department.
The Minister of Sport and Recreation...
Order, hon Deputy Minister. Hon Faber?
Hon Chairperson, the hon Deputy Minister is misleading the House as there was ... [Interjections.]
Hon Faber! Continue with your speech, Deputy Minister.
Thank you, Chairperson. We do acknowledge that we are coming out of a campaign where people were misled, so we accept that we are a bit off track here.
The Minister alluded to the fact that this was the first Budget Vote from our department after successfully hosting the 2010 Fifa World Cup. I have no doubt that our successful hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup changed the thinking of many South Africans regarding the normal social and economic values for sport in our country.
There is no doubt that the World Cup has changed South Africa's international profile, affirmed its potential and manifested our capacity to host world-class events. In terms of nation-building, social cohesion and leaving a legacy, no other event has ever or could come close to this one. The event has proven once again that sport is big business, making substantial contributions to the national GDP.
Our department fulfilled its mandate by monitoring the construction of stadia to ensure that they complied with Fifa standards and ensuring that the deadlines were met. Further, we facilitated the training of volunteers and mobilised South Africans and African support. Another key area of responsibility of the department was to oversee the delivery of the 17 guarantees signed by government departments with Fifa. This was done successfully, and all 24 projects emanating from the guarantees are now part of our proud legacy. In fact, we claim that the ANC government did deliver timeously for our people.
The challenge now is to take the 2010 Fifa World Cup experience forward, to invest in this experience for the future of the children of our country. The tournament has ended but the legacy must live on and inspire us, and it must inspire the way we work. After the 2010 Fifa World Cup there has been increasing interest in the potential contribution of sport to inward investment in the economic regeneration in communities in our cities and our regions.
Globally, more and more policy-makers realise that sport and recreation are more than fun and games. World leaders increasingly acknowledge that sport and recreation touch on virtually every aspect of a nation's ethos. If the department in the country does not embrace the potential benefits of sport and recreation for the entire nation, we will do an injustice to every South African.
To fully benefit from the social and economic opportunities of sport, it is essential to have an integrated sports system in place that is effectively co-ordinated, aligned, functional and performance oriented. Our department's publication, A Case for Sport, our recently updated White Paper, the Road Map to Optimal Performance and Functional Excellence, our five-year strategic plan and the envisaged National Sport and Recreation Plan will pave the way for such a sports system.
The department successfully completed the development of our strategic plan and road map. As the next step, we have started the process of developing a National Sport and Recreation Plan - the first ever in the history of our country. This plan will be developed in wide consultation with all relevant role-players. In order to have a national impact, it is important that all sporting entities in the country align their strategic planning with a national framework. The success of sports development in South Africa is dependent on the smooth operation of the system, with clear definition of authority, responsibility and accountability, combined with seamless progression. There must be one driver in one direction, which must be consistent with government policy.
Underpinned by the White Paper and the road map, the National Sport and Recreation Plan will address the key strategic issues that can take South African sport to the next level. The Draft National Sport and Recreation Plan will be discussed at nine provincial izindaba, scheduled for 16 July 2011. We envisage having feedback from the provincial izindaba on our website, which we will evaluate and use to update the National Sport and Recreation Plan accordingly.
One of the key components of the National Sport and Recreation Plan will be the finalisation of a transformation charter and a scorecard. After 17 years, sport's efforts to transform have been largely unsuccessful. In its attempts to transform and reinvent itself, the concept of transformation and the motivations for and against the need for transformation, have been oversimplified, were often emotional, not clear and sometimes totally misunderstood.
This has led to confusion and, at times, confrontational situations between different stakeholder groupings, which spilled over into the public domain, with damaging consequences to sport's image and our reputation. A greater sense of urgency and proactive and co-ordinated engagement with the problem is long overdue. The transformation charter and the scorecard have been developed and will be finalised against the policy framework of government with regard to transformation. Without a level playing field such as access, opportunity and support, transformation cannot be realised.
I am sorry that the MEC of the Western Cape has left us now, because he was boasting about a CD here. It is not about what we have, it is about the need in the areas and communities where we don't have. [Applause.] That is what we want to see. We do not want people coming here to tell us what we have. We know what we have. We can access that with Google; we do not need a CD. We all have computers, and we can even do that through cellphones these days. [Applause.] What we want to see here is where they don't have it in the poor communities that are deprived. That is what we want to see. [Applause.]
At the heart of the transformation charter is the prerequisite to ensure that the playing field is level. As a department, we are committed to correcting this and to ensuring that our national teams are representative of the total South African population. To have a real and lasting impact on our nation, we cannot compete with the exclusion of certain parts of our population. With true transformation, as a country, South Africa could become an even greater force in the world of sport, as more people will have an opportunity to compete and to excel.
To implement, manage and monitor sports transformation, a multidimensional transformation performance scorecard will be used. The scorecard will enable the sports system to measure where it is in its transformation journey and whether it is improving. It is intended to reflect a balanced and timely view of sports performance in implementing transformation strategies in each of the proposed dimensions. It will also guide us as to where we must use our budget to intervene and to interfere, if we have to, to ensure that we have a catch-up strategy to bring our children to the same starting line.
At our strategic workshop earlier this year the department resolved to finalise a transformation audit in order to get a clear picture of transformation progress, and this includes facilities; drafting a transformation charter with clear deliverables; developing a transformation perspective, informed by the transformation charter, that will incorporate transformation action plans, progress and service level agreements; and reconfiguring the institutional budgetary mechanisms to achieve transformation priorities.
The first drafts of the National Sport and Recreation Plan, our transformation charter and scorecard are completed. We will now embark, in partnership with our provinces, on an extensive and inclusive consultation process. We are on track to finalise a National Sport Plan as well as a transformation charter at the National Sport and Recreation Indaba towards the end of this year. We are planning to have this in the last part of August this year. If we cannot make that, hopefully it will then be in the first week of September. The envisaged theme of this indaba is "From policy to practice" and the tagline we are popularising is "More than just playing".
Without a co-ordinated, integrated and aligned sports system within which all component parts are focused towards a common set of goals and objectives, the potential value of sport to the South African society cannot be fully realised. All sectors must buy in and commit to the strategic direction that will emerge from the widely consultative sports plan emerging from the sport indaba. To this end, the responsibilities of all role-players in this process are substantial. It is therefore clear that success will never be adequately realised without formidable partnerships in place.
Furthermore, it is important to recognise that sport on its own cannot fulfil all the sport development needs in this country. The aim is to establish strategic alliances, ensuring the appropriate co-ordination and alignment of programmes, structures, strategies and, more importantly, of our funding. To this end, our department will liaise with other government departments and sectors, corporate and private, to ensure that we have optimal performance from optimal use of every rand spent in sport.
Finally, I am happy to report that in cognisance of the audit findings of our 2009-10 annual report, we have tightened our internal control systems to ensure optimum and impeccable accountability, underpinned by our commitment to good corporate governance.
Now, it is quite fair for hon members to engage here in private discussion. However, if an hon member, like the hon Faber, accuses us of not having shared with them the financial statements of the department, and accuses me wrongly of misleading this august Council, then, when I quote to him that we had a good audit report, he should listen, not engage with his partner.
We shall not rest until we can present to you a report that is not only unqualified, but completely clean. As we present this Budget Vote we are proud to intimate that this year we will be reporting expenditure in excess of 99% of our allocated budget. It is therefore clear that as a department, under the leadership of Mr Fikile Mbalula, we are on the march to maximise the potential of sport and recreation in South Africa. My invitation to you - not only to members of this august House and our MECs in the provinces but also to the guests in the gallery - is to come with us. We are on the road to unlocking and unearthing all the potential of sport in this great country. I thank you. [Applause.]
Thank you, Deputy Minister. Before I call the next speaker, I would like to acknowledge the presence of sports administrators, sportsmen and sportswomen and others who have the interests of sport at heart in the gallery today. Indeed, you make us and this country proud. We really appreciate your presence today. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
UMntwana M M M ZULU: Mphathisihlalo, mhlonishwa uNgqongqoshe Wezemidlalo kuleli lizwe lakithi nePhini lakho, uNgqongqoshe Wezemisebenzi Yomphakathi, ezemidlalo lapha eNingizimu Afrika kuyindlela eyodwa yokwakha isizwe noma ngabe kuthiwa sehlukene kanjani ngemibono, nemicabango kodwa ezemidlalo ziyasihlanganisa. Akukho nokukodwa lapha okungenza ukuthi abantu bangakwazi ukuhlanganyela bonke emidlalweni, noma ngabe ibhola lezinyawo, elomboxo noma-ke elomnqakiswano; bonke abantu baye bahlangane ndawonye badlale ngokuhlanganyela.
Akukho nokukodwa ukukungabaza ukuthi - njengomuntu ozalelwe kuyo le ngabade yakithi eNingizimu Afrika - lokhu okhuluma ngako ezikoleni zethu ... sengathi ungenza umshado wangempela nabahlonishwa abangozakwenu nazi ukuthi umehluko yiphupho eliphushwayo libonwe ngamehlo. Akufuneki sibe nephupho nje elingeze lafezeka.
Njengensizwa esencane Ngqongqoshe, ngiyakwethemba ukuthi uyokwazi ukubhekelela inhlalakanhle yentsha, izingane, namagugu ethu ukwazi ukubheka ukuthi izimali zethu njengomphakathi zisetshenziswa kahle yini.
Ngikholwa ngokupheleleyo ukuthi lezi zimali ezishona laphaya emikhandlwini yasekhaya, omasipala, kufanele ngempela uzishanele zize eMnyangweni wakho ukuze kubonakale imiphumela ngoba uma ubuka kukhulunywa ngelumbo kuthiwa kunezinkundla ezakhiwe laphaya komasipala balaphaya kohulumeni basekhaya, uye ubabaze kakhulu. Kuzo zonke izinhlangothi zezwekazi lakithi, ikakhulukazi laphaya ezindaweni zasemakhaya.
Angisho-ke phela ukuthi ubheke izindawo ezisemakhaya - ngoba nakhu phela umuntu uhlala 'ezilalini' basho njalo laphaya eKoloni, thina le kwelakithi sithi kusemakhaya. Nakhona kufanele ukubhekelele ngoba kunezinkundla zemidlalo okuthiwa zakhiwe kodwa uthi uma u zibheka, azikho, kodwa imali kahulumeni ibe ihambile. Akubona ozakwethu abangamakhansela abazi kangcono ngalezo zimali, kodwa yibo abaphathi bethu abazi kangcono ukuthi kusuke kwenzekeni lapho. Nokuthi nawo-ke amakhansela abe esehluleka ukubheka ukuthi lezo nkece zisetshenziswe ngendlela okuyiyo yini.
Ukukwethemba kwami Ngqongqoshe, kumi kanje, umuntu uyokubuza ngonyaka ozayo uma usuphinda futhi wethula isabiwomali sakho kule Ndlu, ukuthi usukuphi nalokhu okuthembisile. Phela njengoba umuntu athunywa ngabantu ukuba eze lapha azobamela sizobe sesicubungula ngasemakhaya ukuthi sezifezekile yini lezo zinto ezazithenjiswe nguNgqongqoshe. Ngikufisela inhlanhla ukuthi leli Voti leSabiwomali olethule kule Ndlu kubhekeke kahle ukuthi nabantu bakithi benelisiwe. [Kwaphela isikhathi.] (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[Prince M M M ZULU: Chairperson, our hon Minister of Sport and Recreation and your Deputy, and the Minister of Public Works, sport is the only way of building our nation and, irrespective of the differences in vision and ideas, it does unite us. There is no single thing here that can make people not come together in sports such as soccer, rugby or even netball - everybody comes to play together.
There is no doubt at all that I, as somebody who was born and bred here in our South Africa - what you are talking about in our schools - can succeed in working together with my hon colleagues in making a difference by realising my dream. It is not wise to have a dream that can never be fulfilled.
And as a young man, hon Minister, I trust that you will be considerate of the needs of the youth, children and our heritage and that you will also be able to see whether public funds are utilised appropriately.
I want to strongly urge that these funds that are directed to the local governments - the municipal councils- must really be redirected to your department so that there are visible outcomes because as you know, false statements are being made to the effect that there are stadiums that were built by the local municipalities but you become very surprised when you get there to find that there are none. This happens in all the corners of our country, especially in rural areas.
I am not saying that you should cater for rural areas just because I am living in rural areas - ezilalini, as they are referred to in the Eastern Cape. We refer to them as emakhaya [at home]. You must also consider them because it is said that stadiums are being built, but when you look for them you cannot find them, and in the meantime the government's funds are gone. It is not our councillor colleagues, but our municipal managers who know what happened to those funds. You must also ensure that the councillors, too, are able to state whether the funds were utilised appropriately.
My trust in you, hon Minister, depends on the following: If somebody asks you next year when you will be presenting your Budget Vote in this House again, and how far you are with delivering on your promises - as you know that being here one is sent by the public to represent them - and also as to whether you had fulfilled the promises you made in respect of the rural areas. I wish you good luck so that this Budget Vote that you have presented in this House ensures service delivery to our people.
I support the Budget Vote. I thank you. [Time expired.]] [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon chair of the committee, hon members of this august House, ladies and gentlemen, 1955 was the watershed year in our struggle for liberation as multitudes of ordinary people converged on Kliptown to craft the Freedom Charter, which signified the vision of a democratic society. As we journey into the 17th year of our democracy, we are reminded of one of the tenets of the Charter, and I quote: "The doors of learning and culture shall be opened."
The democratic dispensation has seen monumental strides being taken to make South Africa a sporting nation. We have seen how sport can be a catalyst of social cohesion and a nation-builder par excellence, especially during the 2010 Fifa World Cup. It was during that period that we recognised sport as a primary machine for the realisation of a national democratic revolution and a tool for igniting African nationalism.
Sport is our vehicle to heal the scars of a society torn apart by decades of the apartheid regime. All of us have been witness to the contribution of sport to this nation-building, as South Africans from all races rejoiced, grieved together and gave full support to our sports stars.
I would like to bring this House a quotation by the executive board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, Unesco, which recognised that sport occupied such a large space in our society that it alone may constitute a powerful gauge of success or failure, in both material and political terms.
Now fully recognised as a social phenomenon, sport is one of the major social and individual expressions of our time. It is a factor in social cohesion, integration and in identification for groups and nations. This is why, as the Eastern Cape province, we have identified our strategic focus areas as follows: funding for sport; institutional development and support; education, training and development; and infrastructure and facility development.
We recognised, as the Minister was always harping on this, that school sport is very important. In fact it is the bedrock for sports development. The foundational level of sport is where we have to break many entrance barriers if we are to succeed, and we need to succeed on a sustained basis. As a province, we need to produce champions. This, the foundational level, is where talent must be identified and nurtured at a very early stage. Having done this, we have to take these young people through development programmes to make professional athletes out of them. It is at these two levels of sport participation that many of our young people from disadvantaged backgrounds stand better chances of breaking out of the poverty mode, provided that government levels the playing field to ensure equality of opportunity and access.
Without neglecting elite sport, it is the foundational and developmental level of sport that we really want to focus on in the Eastern Cape. We believe that if we focus at that level, the benefits are going to be wider.
In order to address funding-related barriers we are going to do the following. We want to establish a sport development fund, because everybody is looking for funds, and our budget is minimal. We want to establish a fund that is going to include the private sector and other corporate institutions, because as government we cannot go it alone.
We also want to set norms and standards for sport funding because, as I have already indicated, everybody is looking for funding for whatever they are doing in the province. We want to lobby for a percentage threshold for sports facilities in the municipal infrastructure grant. This is something that we have been trying to do for some time now. We have been trying to ensure that municipalities build at least one sports facility per financial year. Whenever people are in need of sports facilities, they do not go to municipalities, but they come to the department, because that is our mandate. I think that it is important for us to ensure that, as the Minister said earlier, "mazibuye iinkomo zethu" [bring back our cattle].
When looking at institutional development and support, we focus on how we could make our academies work well. As the Eastern Cape, I think we are at the initial stages of ensuring that we take a decision on how the academies should operate. However, we are cognisant of the fact that such academies should not only be at a provincial level, but at district level as well. This is one of the areas we are going to look at this year.
We want to urge the federation to finalise the issue of demarcation because it is causing problems for us. If the demarcations are not harmonised with the way the government is operating, then it is a problem for us as the department.
We want to set up a provincial non-statutory sport advisory board to bring together government, private sector and sports federations, so that we can look at all our activities with an eye from other people as well, not evaluating ourselves. As the Deputy Minister said, we also want to develop a provincial transformation charter, based on the federations' specific charters, in alignment with the national charter.
When we look at education, training and development, we as the department want to ensure that training is taking place. We would like to see training of the provincial sport councils, district sport councils, up to the local sport council level. We believe that if the administration is not good, then sport will suffer. This is our belief. When we talk about education and training, we mean that we need to have training sessions for all the federations and the councils in our province.
We would like to also upscale existing programmes that we have in our province, such as the Chris Hani Football Tournament, the Peter Mkhatha Rugby Tournament and the Zimkhitha Lesoro Netball Tournament. All these are presently focusing on the previously disadvantaged schools. We want to include previously advantaged schools now, so that we can create the social cohesion that government is talking about, where all our children of every race will play together.
We want to continue with current programmes such as annual athletics competitions and all school winter games. I am saddened to inform this House that there was a bus accident between Lusikisiki and Port St Johns. In conclusion ... [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Mohl Modulasetulo, mohl Tona ya rena, mohl Motlat?atona, Maloko a Palamente ao a hlomphegago kamoka ka mo Ntlong. Thobela. Molaotheo wa naga ye ya Afrika Borwa mmu?ong wa temokrasi o file Kgoro ye ya Dipapadi le Boitapolo?o maatla gore e netefat?e gore set?o, tlhlompho ya setho, tekatekano le tokologo di ?irelet?we gape di tii?et?we.
Mengwageng ya bogologolo, mola maswika a sa le boleta le t?ie e sa kolwa ka lesaka, lefase le ile la aroganywa go ya ka merafe le dit?haba t?e fapafapanego. Bangwe le bangwe ba be ba bopa taba go t?welet?a bohlale bja bona bja nakong yeo. Gore re phologe lehono, re nyaka gore ditaba t?e di akaret?we go ya ka setho lefaseng ka bophara. Ditaba t?e di ka akaret?wa fela ge dipapadi di ka tii?et?wa gore di be gona magareng ga dit?haba t?a gaborena.
Kgoro ye ya Dipapadi le Boitapolo?o e filwe gape maatla a gore e bule dibaka t?a gore batho ba Afrika Borwa ba kgone go fihlelela ditiragalo t?a dipapadi, kudu dit?habeng t?e di ilego t?a tingwa dibaka t?a go ba kgauswi le dipapadi. Maikarabelo kamoka a magetleng a kgoro go bona gore se se a phethagala.
Le tla gopola gore dipapadi lefaseng ka bophara di kgonne go tli?a khut?o le segwera gore batho ba lefase le it?ego ba kgone go tsebana le ba lefase le it?ego. Efela dipapadi di le no?i di ka se kgone go fihlelela maikemi?et?o ge di diri?wa t?a maleba di se gona. Kgoro e ile ya laet?a gore ga le na seswant?ho sa naga, Tona. Taba ye e ile ya ntshwenya kudu - gore didiri?wa di gona dit?habeng goba aowa. Go molaleng gore mahlakoreng a mangwe a naga, dit?haba di ile t?a tingwa monyetla le kholego ya didiri?wa t?eo. Kgoro e swanet?e go mena maiteko a yona gabedi goba go feta gore e kgone go dira gore dit?haba ka bont?i di fihlelele ditaba t?a dipapadi. Ge seo se ka diragala, gona re ka kgona go fokot?a baswa ba rena mafelong a madila.
Taba ya hlokego ya mo?omo ke hlobaboroko nageng ya gaborena ka bophara, kudu go baswa bao ba fedit?ego dithuto t?a bona dikolong. Efela Mopresidente o rile ge a bolela le set?haba maloba a tlama mmu?o gore o tla hlola dibaka t?a me?omo ye mekaone. Tlamo ye e akaret?a le Kgoro ye ya Dipapadi le Boitapolo?o gore le yona e bule dibaka t?a me?omo. Re ka thaba ge kgoro ye e ka phethagat?a taba ya gore baithaopi ba thwalwe sa ruri gore ba thu?e ka taba ya dipapadi dikolong. Ge ke bolela ka taba ya hlokego ya me?omo, ke bolela gore "t?ie e fofa ka mo?wangna", le gore "tsotsi e pamapa e kgot?he". [Legofsi.]
Tona, go ya ka pego ya Molekodipharephare wa dipukubuka, o lekot?e dipukubuka t?a kgoro gomme a fa kgoro kgopolo ya gore e ?omile gabotse. Efela o t?weledit?e dintlha t?eo di sa mo kgotsofat?ego. Se se hlalosit?e gore kgoro ga ya fiwa pegokgopolo ye e felet?ego ya go hlweka. Ge kgoro e sa ?omi?e matlotlo gabotse, mohl Tona, re tlo fihlelela bjang dilo t?e di latelago: Go utolla bokgoni dit?habeng t?a gaborena kua tlase; go bula dibaka t?a me?omo; go netefat?a gore dipapadi di a t?hirelet?wa gape di a tii?et?wa dikolong; le gore dipapadi t?a segologolo di a tso?olo?wa?.
Ba re "tlogatloga e tloga kgale, modi?a wa kgomo o t?wa nao ?akeng". Ge ke bolela ka dipapadi t?a segologolo gore di tso?olo?we, ke bolela ka kgati, tsheretshere, diketo le moruba. Dibekeng t?e pedi t?a go feta, kgoro e ile ya kgona go kopana le komiti gomme ya bega gore go na le t?welopele ye kgolo kudu t?homi?ong ya matlotlo. Re le komiti re ile ra leboga kgoro bakeng sa go t?ea magato ao e sego a tlwaelo go bona gore t?homi?o ya matlotlo e ba ye e hlwekilego. Re phaphatha kgoro magetla ka taba ye.
Empa Molekodipharephare wa dipukubuka a boile a utolla gape gore go na le diprofense t?e senyane t?eo e lego gore ga di a kgona go bu?et?a matlotlo ao di ?itilwego go a ?omi?wa go Ramatlotlopharephare. O laedit?e gape gore go na le diprofense t?e tharo t?e di ?itilwego ke go fana ka pego ya kotara ya t?homi?o ya ma?eleng kgorong. T?e ke ditaba t?e e lego gore ga di a re swara gabotse. Fela kgoro e be e ?et?e e bont?hit?e gore e kgonne go gatela kgato t?e pedi ko pele go bont?ha gore e ?omi?a matlotlo gabotse. Re re taba ye ya diprofense le e hlokomele.
Ke t?wa go mmasepala wa dinagamagae. Re na le lepatlelo leo le lego motse ngsetoropong fela. Go tloga motsengsetoropong go ya dinagaengmagaeng ga go na selo. Bjale re re re thekga taba ye e bolet?ego ke Tona ya gore o nyaka go bona sekolo se sengwe le se sengwe mo Afrika-Borwa se eba le dipapadi let?at?i ka let?at?i. Re ka thaba kudu ge taba ye e ka diragala. Re a tshepa gore kgoro e tla tsitsinkela dintlha ka moka t?e re di t?weledit?ego polelong ya lehono. Talente e let?e kua dinagamagaeng.
Taba ya mafelelo ye ke nyakago go e t?welet?a go Tona ke ya gore na re kaonafat?a bjang maphelo a dibapadi t?eo di rot?ego mediro? Na re ba thekga bjang gore ge ba hlokofala ba se ke ba hlokofala ba se na selo?
Mokgatlo wa ge?o wa ANC o thekga ditekanyet? o t?e o sa tekateke. "Maruru maebana, ngwana wa mo?alela ka fase bommagwe ba a loya." [T?hwahlelo.] [Nako e fedile.] (Translation of Sepedi speech follows.)
[Mr T A MASHAMAITE: Greetings to the hon Chairperson, the hon Minister, the hon Deputy Minister and the hon Members of Parliament. The Constitution of the democratic government of South Africa gives the Department of Sport and Recreation the power to make sure that culture, respect for human dignity, equality and freedom are protected and emphasised.
A long time ago, people were divided according to racial groups and different communities. Each and every group would come up with issues to prove their intelligence. All we have to do is to deal with these issues the right way, and this can be realised by emphasising sport in our communities.
The Department of Sport and Recreation has the power to ensure that South Africans have access to sports activities, especially the communities that were denied such opportunities in the past. The department has the responsibility to make sure that this becomes real.
You all remember that sport has brought different nations together, and it also established peace and friendship among them. We still need proper sports equipment because without that it is impossible to achieve the intended goals. The department has indicated that you do not have full information about availability of sports equipment in the country, hon Minister. I am not happy about this - the lack of information on availability and non-availability of sports equipment in different communities. It is obvious that the communities in certain parts of the country never had access to sports equipment. The department has to double its efforts or even do more to ensure that the communities have access to sports activities. This can also help to reduce the number of young people in places that sell alcohol.
Lack of employment is a serious issue in our country, especially for young people who have completed their studies. The government is committed to creating better job opportunities, as the President mentioned in his state of the nation address. The same is expected from the Department of Sport and Recreation. We would also appreciate it if the department can employ volunteers on a permanent basis so that they help in school sports. Employees perform better when they experience job satisfaction. [Applause.]
Hon Minister, the Auditor-General's report gave the department the impression that they did well, but he also indicated some of the things that he was not satisfied with. This implies that the department did not receive a clean audit. Hon Minister, if the department does not use the funds appropriately then how are we going to achieve the following: to unleash the potential in our communities; to create job opportunities; to ensure that sport is protected and emphasised in schools; and to revive indigenous games?
It is good to start learning at a young age rather than later in life. By indigenous games I mean skipping rope, hopscotch, five-stone game and a game similar to draughts. The department met with the committee in the past two weeks and reported great improvement in the management of funds. The committee appreciated the effort by the department to ensure that the funds are used appropriately.
The Auditor-General revealed that there are nine provinces which did not return unused funds to the National Treasury. He also indicated that there are three provinces which did not submit the quarterly financial reports. We are not happy about that. The department has already indicated that it has improved with regard to the management of funds. The issue of provinces needs attention.
I am from the rural areas. We only have a stadium in the city and nothing in the rural areas. We support the hon Minister on the statement that all South African schools should have sports practice every day. We would be happy to see that happening in schools. We believe that the department will give attention to all the points that have been raised during the debate today. There is a lot of talent in the rural areas.
In conclusion, I would like to bring the issue of retired sportsmen and women to the attention of the hon Minister. How can we help in improving their lives? How can we support them and make sure that they do not die poor?
The ANC supports the Budget Vote. Let us work together and support each other. [Interjections.] [Time expired.]]
Hon Chair, hon Ministers in the House, all members, people in the gallery and all protocol observed, South Africa has one of the highest rates of inequality in the world. Last year there was much excitement and hope around the future of sport in this country, after the final whistle blow that ended the 2010 Soccer World Cup. The real challenge at the time seemed to be translating the billions spent on the World Cup into something tangible and sustainable for our people. The important question now is: Did we succeed in doing so? The answer is no.
We would like to state that we are in complete support of and encourage transformation in our sports sector. Like most other South Africans, we would like to see fully representative teams in all disciplines taking on the best in the country and the world, and emerging victorious.
For transformation to be successful and sustainable, it has to start with our children and in the poorest of our communities. It is therefore extremely disheartening, when travelling in rural areas, to find a complete lack of sporting facilities. We do, however, acknowledge the huge challenges facing the department in bridging the gap of inequality. The budget cut of almost R300 million will undoubtedly place a heavier burden on the transformation processes.
In urban areas it happens to be our poorest areas that are the worst affected. These are areas where our youngsters are forced to practise football and other sports on sand, as well as on unlevelled and inappropriate grounds, or next to busy highways. For many of our young people, sport is often the only hope they have in a society saturated with crime, drugs and neglect.
The challenge that one often witnesses in rural and underprivileged communities is astonishing. The bulk of our future champions are to be found in these remote areas, but it is up to government to bring them into the mainstream of our sporting sector. It is time for us to truly level the playing field. It is high time that previously disadvantaged communities are given the same privileges as those from higher-ranking economic classes.
Hon Minister, I like your attitude towards your department. You have a passion for sport in this country. But I would like to challenge you, as I challenged the Deputy Minister last year in the House, to go to the furthest rural places, to places like Mier in the Kalahari, where the school doesn't even have a sports ground. There are places where children are playing barefoot in the new South Africa; where schools don't even have money to transport the children to interschool athletics. It's a big, big problem and I know that it's a challenge. That's why we will support you in whatever endeavour you have to bring empowerment to our people; to uplift our people, because sport can do what other things can't do. We have seen it with the World Cup; sport united South Africa. We have seen the success of the World Cup. Let's use that success to tackle tangible issues and ensure sustainability. Thank you. [Applause.]
Thank you, Chair, Minister, Deputy Minister, MECs, hon members, leaders of various federations present here today, ladies and gentlemen, I think I should start by congratulating Jomo Cosmos on regaining the status of the Premier Soccer League, PSL. [Laughter.] I should also congratulate Moroka Swallows for avoiding relegation. These teams are all from Gauteng, the home of champions. I also congratulate Sundowns, SuperSport, Kaizer Chiefs, Wits and Orlando Pirates on qualifying for the Top Eight. Indeed, I must congratulate Orlando Pirates on retaining the championship in Gauteng. [Applause.]
I think it is also important to congratulate Minister Mbalula for having elevated our work in the sport and recreation sector. The presentation of the budget policy statement today is yet further testament to the seriousness with which we take the work that we do.
Hon Minister and Deputy Minister, I'm sure that all of us will agree that the challenges we face are indeed enormous. At the same time, we should all bear in mind that these challenges are not insurmountable. We've already started walking on the path to change for the better. We have the leadership and the passion to drive our vision.
Today's presentation takes place against the backdrop of preparations for the Gauteng sports indaba to be held this weekend. We've made good progress in consolidating our work as part of our movement forward. We've taken the view that part of how we are going to succeed in attaining our vision is to ensure that we establish a movement of agents for change in sport. Such a movement must be characterised by the constitution of sport structures that work on -and whose interest is nothing but - the development of sport.
Accordingly, we've now concluded the process of constituting the Gauteng Sports Council and this has been done at both regional and provincial levels. The regions have already convened their izindaba as part of preparing for both provincial and national izindaba.
In the course of the year we will pass a number of policy instruments as part of ensuring that we set targets and define roles for each of our stakeholders in regard to how we execute our plans.
The provincial sport indaba will receive the draft sport policy and plan, the draft strategy on school sports and the report on the outcomes from the regional izindaba. These will form the basis of a conversation that we will have and out of which we must emerge with concrete plans.
Part of the conversation will be focusing attention on the issue of sport infrastructure. We have already begun discussing approaches in the context of the roles of the different spheres of government in this regard. It is our firm belief that this will place us in better position in terms of ensuring easy access to facilities.
We have mooted the idea of establishing a sporting village that will focus on the totality of the development of athletes. This is in line with our decision to prioritise a minimum of seven priority codes in the province. This will enable us to focus and continue to produce champions and make good use of the scarce resources at our disposal.
Let me end by saying that through, the indaba, we are hopeful that we will also learn from international best practice from countries that will be present at our indaba. Chairperson, thank you for this opportunity. [Applause.]
Chairperson, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, MECs, delegates of this House, sportspeople, ladies and gentlemen, I am humbled by having this opportunity to take part in this debate on sport.
Sport is the most wonderful nation-building activity and has shown us what democracy is. It is true that sport can unite our nation. It has been extremely significant recently, during the Soccer World Cup. It was surprising to find that our people did not see skin colour during that time. Everybody was green and gold in colour. This created a very good vibe among South Africans, showing that we can live together in this country without any racial discrimination. Our churches could not achieve this in our country, but sport had a significant impact.
Sport brought about change in our people's lives. The ANC-led government took its democracy to people who never knew that they were also oppressed by the system of apartheid. This government is the only one that brought back dignity to marginalised African people. If it were not for the ANC and its vision of uniting this nation, we would never have achieved this goal. In the Freedom Charter of 1955 we clearly said that we wanted a nonracial society. We further said that South Africa belonged to all of us. The declaration of the Polokwane conference stated that we are also united around a common objective: the creation of a national democratic society.
In his January 8 Statement, his Excellency President Jacob Zuma said that the ANC was the most consistent entity for transformation in our country. The development programmes of this department should speak to that, because it is this department that brought our nation together in 2010. People on the ground, especially those who were formerly disadvantaged, must see the programmes of this department as being uniting. We can transform our youth, whether black or white or pink - because I have never seen people with a white skin colour, so I assume it is pink - to stay together and to accept each other as human beings, regardless of background. This department must compile a database of emerging and outgoing sportspeople. We must have a track record of each person. We must be able to know what is happening in the lives of our heroes and heroines, even if they have hung up their boots.
The sports academies in this country are known to only a few people and are not accessible to our rural school teachers and learners. They need to be marketed more effectively, so that they are well known. There must also be a clear policy to guide access to these academies. Rural areas are situated at the back of our provinces. The people there must know about these academies, so that they can make them their own, with clear guidelines regarding access.
We are indeed blessed in this department to have a Minister like hon Mbalula, with Deputy Minister Gert Oosthuizen, who brought a change in the running of the department. Working together shows the whole country that we can make it, irrespective of our skin colour. The commitment shown has made a particular individual, who thought the department was good for retirement, think twice.
In our rural areas, interest in sport has declined and needs to be revived by introducing games for every season. After all, we are now able to go and watch games on our town grounds, formerly in white areas. We now have a sense of what a field should look like. We became embarrassed to play on our own fields, because they were never properly resourced. We were given open fields on which to bruise and hurt ourselves and never become champions.
We rose beyond doubt and despite our unpleasant situation, heroes like Makhaya Ntini have emerged. Minister, out of the dusty rural areas of Rayi in King William's Town, a star was born. We have George Ntshiliza, who won the Two Oceans Marathon. We have Noni and Joyi, who are world boxing champions from the Eastern Cape.
Sport develops a person's attitude towards life. So, we need to fight crime by developing sportspeople. This department needs to build relations with other government departments and partner with them to build this nation.
I want to draw the attention of the Council to a small, former missionary town called Mamre, on the northern outskirts of the City of Cape Town. It was the only part of the city to be declared rural, and the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Minister Gugile Nkwinti, has decided to declare it a rural node. Minister Mbalula's department is involved as part of the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme in what will ultimately become a rugby academy, the best of its kind in that part of the Western Cape. I understand that this academy will concentrate primarily on the development of rugby among school learners.
Congratulations, Minister, but also a warning. We need to ensure that we find and develop the link between school sports and our national teams. We have thousands of children practising various sports codes, but where are they when we look at national team selection?
The 2007 Polokwane resolution of the ANC calls for the sports section of the municipal infrastructure grant, MIG, to be incorporated into the Department of Sport and Recreation. This needs to happen as a matter of urgency. Our municipalities either do not have the capacity, understanding or will to utilise these grants for the development of local sports facilities. There are way too many areas where children have to practise their sport in the street or at an inadequate facility. Our municipalities are doing absolutely nothing about that.
If MIGs are to remain with the municipality, the department needs to ensure that clear and proper guidelines are set, and it should monitor the implementation of the Comprehensive Sports Development Programme in municipalities that have been awarded a MIG for sports development.
In towns where there are indoor sport centres, there should also be guidance on how to make them accessible. Programmes drawn up nationally must link up with those of provinces and local areas. Our country has many remote rural areas. We must know what interests the people in those areas have. I am saying this because the Eastern Cape, in particular, is divided into municipalities, like any other province. Certain areas have an interest in playing rugby, but because this type of sport is thought to be only for pink people, it is not accessible in our areas. School sport is key and every school should have at least four codes of sport that must be made compulsory.
We can make Physical Education compulsory as a subject, but will that enable us to identify skills? This should not be seen only as a subject for relaxation, but for identifying skills. School leagues are a good idea. Do we have teachers who can coach the learners?
In his state of the nation address, the President declared 2011 the year of job creation. The programmes of this department must speak to the creation of more jobs. His call was also made to the private sector institutions, but as we know, these are run by mostly racists and whenever he makes the call for job creation, they make sure they retrench more than those employed.
If we can make this department work as per the goals, mission statement and vision of the ANC, we will have fewer sick people and minimise chronic diseases, as this department promotes a healthy lifestyle.
The Eastern Cape salutes the Magnificent Friday programme, as we will have less alcohol consumption and drug abuse in our communities every Friday of the year, because it will promote better morals. Our youth will take responsibility for their own lives. But it should not only be a national programme, it has to devolve to provincial, regional and local level. And visits to localities should be a permanent thing, so that the Minister can celebrate a day with local people, not necessarily with celebrities.
We need to ensure that sports stars who retire from their respective codes are not lost to our nation. We should find ways to utilise their expertise and give them an opportunity to transfer those skills to the new generation through sports clinics and academies.
I am worried because the hon Meyer has left us. He showed us a CD of the Western Cape fields. I would be ashamed to be him, boasting about sports fields that were built 342 years ago. In our provinces we have sports fields built in these 17 years of democracy because nobody in those 342 years took cognisance of us.
Allow me to commend our Bafana Bafana captain, Steven Pienaar, who decided to risk his entire career to play for our national team against Egypt on Sunday. Pienaar was advised by his overseas team, Tottenham Hotspur, to undergo urgent surgery to eliminate a groin injury. As the operation would have rendered him out of action for the African Cup of Nations, Afcon, he decided to postpone this, risking another injury which could see him permanently out of the game. Although we remain cautious, we have to commend him for his patriotism and his love for soccer and his country.
Minister and Deputy Minister, I am also immensely pleased to have the opportunity to ask the House to commend the International Rugby Board, IRB, rugby world champions, our own Springboks, who are going to defend the world title in just over three months. We know they are going to make us proud and tomorrow, when we start the 100-day countdown to the start of the tournament, our blood will all be green.
Chairperson, on a point of clarity, the member referred to "pink people" all the time. I want to know where these pink people live. Are they in South Africa or in England or where? I have never seen a pink person.
Maybe we will engage in this debate some other time because the hon member's time is up. I cannot allow her to continue speaking.
Hon Chairperson, firstly, I would like to deal with the issues that have been raised here. To hon Meyer, thank you for all the positive and constructive comments you have made about the municipal infrastructure grant and so on. We are looking forward to receiving and viewing the DVD or CD you displayed during your presentation.
Secondly, with regard to the matter that has been raised about the annual report of the Department of Sport and Recreation for 2009-10, this was presented to the portfolio committee as well as the select committee last year. The 2010-11 report is due to be tabled only at the end of August.
A number of hon members raised the question of school sport, emphasising that we must ensure that this is implemented. We agree with that. Our concept of school sport is not just a parochial implementation of the school sport programmes. In South Africa, we have more or less 30 000 schools. When you talk about school programmes, they are actually parochial and each and every one has its own vision of school sport. What we are trying to do, as a department, is to develop a comprehensive programme so that even should Deputy Minister Oosthuizen not be there - because people get reshuffled every week - those who come in can actually continue with the plan for the implementation of school sport. We need a school sport programme for South Africa.
If we have limited resources in South Africa - this is our vision, as well as the ANC's - most of those resources must be spent on the university and school sport programmes. If you look at the Olympic athletes in our country, 80% of them have been groomed through university sport. Recently, there was a university Olympics at the University of Stellenbosch. Most of the athletes who will be competing in London will come through the university Olympics programme. This shows what university and school sport programmes can do in terms of the development and delivery of athletes of high calibre and of Olympian performance for South Africa. This is our vision.
We don't want to utilise resources that have no impact or don't produce anything. We are not in sport to basically supply extramural activities. Our task is to nurture and unearth talent. That is the point.
When we talk about school sport Olympics, it is something that we want next year. This year we start with finalising the issues of the memorandum of understanding. It must be organic. It must start at school level, where the person participates in football, or athletics, and continues up the pyramid until they reach the national school sports Olympics. In that way the athlete would have proved to be a worthy talent that can be nurtured for the country. That is the vision for school sport.
There is no country in the world - look, for instance, at the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia - that changed the face of sport and got to where they are today without school sport being the bedrock of development. This is what we are seeking to do with school sport. People have been talking about school sport, and others have school sport somewhere in the corners, with spaza shops and all that, but it has never taken off.
What we want is that yes, young people must be in the streets playing sport on Wednesdays, but out of that there must be a league of not less than 16 sporting codes, which will actually evolve up to the national level. If that evolves and is implemented over a period of time, we think that we will have played a role in changing the face of sport. Of the many things that we can do, school sport is actually a critically important one.
Transformation is important. The sports indaba is not just a talk show. We invite all hon members to participate in shaping the National Sports Plan. Part of what we are reviewing is a perspective on the question of transformation in South Africa. This is important, because we talk past each other. Other people have reduced transformation to racial polarisation - white versus black. That is not the issue. The fundamental question is: If we want a black and white squad that is representative of the rainbow nation, where will those young people come from? The Rugby World Cup is coming and the Springboks are going to participate. Is that team representative? You will argue that it is not. Why? The reason is that we don't have a developmental theory and alignment with regard to transformation.
Yes, people talk about merit, but merit does not mean underplaying what we represent. It means we must get our tools correct with regard to development in South Africa. Every sporting federation in this country must speak to the scorecard and be able to tell us what they have done to unearth and nurture talent in line with the principles of transformation in South Africa. If you ask sporting federations in this country what their transformation agenda is, each one of them has a different answer, and if not, no answer at all. And you can't blame young people when they go to tournaments and complain that a particular team is not representative but lily-white. What do sports administrators do to develop talent where they are? You are passing the buck to people who have no responsibility. As South Africans, we must all ensure through our own plans that there is a project.
Furthermore, I just want to say that I agree that indigenous games are very important. It is missing, but it is part of our plan and I think we have to work together.
As a Minister of Sport and Recreation in South Africa, I support all national teams and I recognise excellence. So, it does not mean that I hate Orlando Pirates by not mentioning them. [Interjections.] Of course, up the Bucs, because they have excelled. They have proven in tough competitions that they can actually make it, and that's the end of the story, finish and klaar. That is it. [Laughter.] As to whether or not I support Black Aces, thank you for reading my mind wrongly. [Laughter.] That is my secret, just as my vote in an ANC conference is a secret.
Lastly, I would like to acknowledge and voice my appreciation for all sportspersons, luminaries, coaches and administrators - without exception - present here with us. Together we are on a journey to change the face of sport in South Africa, together with the supporters and players who are part of the game.
When we talk about sport in South Africa, we don't mean football, rugby and cricket only; we mean everything. That is what we must begin to bring into the fold. We must learn to support even the lowest in the ranks of sport in our country. I know, Deputy Minister, that when you talk about jukskei, people will ask what that is. I think it is important that we support everybody and acknowledge and appreciate our working together.
I wish to thank everybody who wished me a speedy recovery from my short illness. I think recovery is a journey. I want to thank the staff and the doctors at the 2 Military Hospital, Members of Parliament, sports administrators, my family and everybody for their support. It shows that umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu or motho ke motho ka batho [human beings are interdependent]. That is the kind of world we live in. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.