Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, the Chairperson of Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture, hon members of the committee, the leadership of the department led by the two director-generals, DGs, SA South Confederation and Olympic Committee, Sascoc, and all national and provincial sport federations, all stakeholders of sport and recreation sector, members of the media present here today, good morning.
Hon House Chairperson, the ANC has been given a mandate by the majority of our people to govern during the 2019 national and provincial elections. We will never disappoint them because within our voters we have passionate sports men and women, sports administrators, sponsors and sport lovers who still believe that it is only the ANC and never the DA in their lifetime that will totally liberate the sport and recreation sector in this country by implementing policies that talk directly to the sector. [Applause.]
After the 1994 elections, sport remained the integral element of the postapartheid politics and it was viewed as one of the key areas in promoting reconciliation and racial integration in the new South Africa. Sport plays an important role, in promoting, community
development, social cohesion, and plays a critical role in the sharpening of the minds of children in schools.
President Nelson Mandela believed that sport was the best cultural activity through which to promote sociopolitical upliftment, breaking down old barriers and fostering a new national identity and culture in which all South Africans are drawn together.
The ANC has set the scene for future policy. It pledged to promote representative and participatory democracy. South African government led by the ANC, has over the years developed new policies and put in place some transformation measures to improve the unacceptable conditions left behind by the apartheid government.
President Mandela was right when he mentioned and I quote, "A winner is a dreamer who never gives up." This is in line with what President Ramaphosa who is our bigger dreamer has alluded in His 2019 state of the nation address where he mentioned that one of the four critical burden of diseases facing the health sector was the noncommunicable diseases.
There is an Australian proverb which goes like this hon Mhlongo and I quote, "Those who lose dreaming are lost."
Participation in community sports and physical activity programmes will help in mitigating the burden of noncommunicable diseases.
John Wanamaker once said and I quote, "People who cannot find time for recreation are obliged sooner or later to find time for illness."
Hon House Chairperson, in order to make sport and recreation accessible to all, the ANC through all its deployed cadres in government has to implement, firstly, the National Development Plan, NDP, vision 2030 in which social cohesion and transformation framework are featured. It encourages sports and physical education participation.
Secondly, the 2014 to 2019 Medium-Term Strategic Framework which is structured around 14 priority outcomes which cover the focus areas identified in the NDP and government's electoral mandate. Outcome 14, which says, "A diverse, socially cohesive society with a common national identity."
Thirdly, White Paper on Sport and Recreation pronounces government's policy regarding sport and recreation in the Republic of South Africa. This White Paper sets out the government's vision, strategic
objectives, policy directives, outcomes and outputs for promoting and providing sport and recreation.
Fourthly, the Transformation Charter for SA Sport which gives mandate to all sport and recreation sector stakeholders to redress the apartheid sport legacy and other social transformation matters.
The fifth one is the National Sport and Recreation Plan Vision 2020, which aims to improve the health and wellbeing of the nation by providing mass participation opportunities through active recreation. The ANC is really working. As the ANC we say, recreation must be prioritised to address youth unemployment crisis in this country.
Chairperson, soon, Parliament will have to approve the National Sport and Recreation Bill that is meant to address holistic challenges, governance and delivery of programmes within this sector. All these policy directives are in line with Sustainable Development Goals and African Agenda 2063.
Hon Chairperson, we wish to be emphatic that our oversight work on sport and recreation will be deepened to ensure that we advance nation-building and social cohesion through sport and recreation.
This is to ensure that we play our part towards ensuring that this apex priority is achieved.
I wish to send words of caution to our colleagues on the left that on the issue of transformation of the public service and sport and recreation in particular should not be something that could be taken for granted by leaders like the hon Mhlongo and the hon Faber from the DA who talk without proper context, and understanding of our historical struggles and lacks geopolitical knowledge ...