Any organisation that considers itself to be revolutionary would realise the potential this department has. But this government and department has no idea what they are doing, and are only interested in sports when there is money involved, and at
the level of professional male sports - everybody else doesn't matter. But this attitude is misguided. The primary focus of this department should be sports at the grassroots level, and female sports. These two areas receive little attention and support. The government should be selflessly taking care of the poor black child and it's been 25 years.
A key failure of this government has been its inability to link sport and physical activity with preventative health care. In South Africa, noncommunicable lifestyle diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and certain types of cancer are killing our people in hundreds of thousands and leaving many more unfit and unable to be productive. The consequences this has for our economy most likely goes into the billions of rands, but the consequences it has for our people and society is even worse. An unhealthy person is a reflection of an unhealthy society. And every day, the number of South African's diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure grows and grows with the latest estimates suggesting that there are 3,5 million South Africans with diabetes.
Currently, the approach to this problem is informed by pharmaceutical companies who want people to consume the medicine. The approach to these noncommunicable lifestyle diseases must focus
on prevention and not treatment, and sports has key role to play in this. Sports got a key role in this if you listen carefully. Countries like Cuba and China have adopted this approach and it has produced results and good results. The government through this department must ensure that sporting equipment and facilities are available to people across South Africa.
The current allocation of sporting resources is the same as it was during apartheid. You have the so-called white schools with swimming pools, fields, courts, training equipment and professional coaches, while in the townships and rural areas our schools are lucky if they have proper fields, functional equipment, and coaches. Black children are being denied the opportunity of enjoying sports, but also of being healthy. The legacy of apartheid is being continued. While in the past, your department has made attempts in allocating some resources to schools in black communities that has never produced lots of good results, and it is because of corruption, incompetence, lack of vision and a small budget. [Interjections.]
There are a number of things that must change if this government wants to provide the black child the same access to sports and recreation facilities as they do to the white child. I will now give you a few examples of what can be done, not just to make speeches
about, it's been 25 years. All schools should have proper fields, swimming pools, dedicated coaches of physical exercises, teachers, equipments and courts. All municipalities need to have multipurpose indoor and outdoor sports facilities located within communities so that it is easily accessible for children and people within the communities.
Each ward in this country needs to have an outdoor gym and all wards need to have at least one park where families can relax and be outdoors. The other burning issue that this department must immediately address is the unequal treatment of the male and female sporting codes. Female athletes in South Africa continue to be neglected. They receive less than their male counterparts from government institutions and from sponsors. We are not only talking about Banyana Banyana, we are talking about all female athletes across all sports. It makes no sense that more government money is being used to support sportsman who are already professional athletes and make large salaries, while less funding is allocated to amateur sportswoman who are working other jobs. This is not right and will not help the development of female sports - just like you are saying because you are not a serious person.
Government needs to make funding available to establish and support female sports leagues in this country. Banyana Banyana recently showed the potential that this country's female athletes have. Imagine what could be achieved if from an early age female sportswoman received proper support and training. Imagine what could have been achieved if every member of the Banyana Banyana squad was able to dedicate all of their time and energy to soccer, and did not have to have a side job. But until this government changes its approach and attitude to female sport, we will have to keep on imagining. It has been 25 years, we cannot beg anymore. We have to come and take these things, because now that the Women's World Cup is over female athletes will once again be forgotten. So, we reject the Budget Vote.
IsiZulu: