As a committee, we are curious to find out how effective the bilateral relations we have with other African countries are, especially in the era of the reawakening African revival. Take, for example, long- distance runners from Kenya and Ethiopia who don't have high-performance centres like we do in South Africa.
In South Africa we still have a sad situation in that Mzonke Fana, an excellent boxer, was stripped of his belt because promoters were unable to secure fights for him. Will these bilateral agreements in any way resolve such existing sporting challenges through international bodies like the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Organisation, and the World Boxing Association?
More importantly, the ANC government has created a society that is nonracial and nonsexist, yet there is little progress regarding sport for the girl child. When are we going to start creating long-distance runners similar to those in Kenya and Ethiopia? When will tennis produce more athletes like the Williams sisters and Monica Seles? In the era of the 50-year celebrations of the African Union, I am compelled to enquire about the whereabouts of the girl child, as we cannot rely on Caster Semenya alone. Where are our daughters playing? Apart from netball, where else do they participate?
A great example of the development of grassroots athletes and their potential impact on the economy is Floyd Mayweather. They call him "Pretty Boy" and some call him "Moneyweather". He is an undefeated American professional boxer. I love this young man. He is perfect, he is good and you would not want to exchange blows with him. [Laughter.] He is rated as the best pound-for-pound boxer. Because of his loaded hammer, he will knock you down. Notably, he never drops his guard. I love Mayweather! [Laughter.] [Applause.]
Floyd comes from a poor background and a family of boxers. He was trained to box by his father, whom he employs, along with uncles in the family, as trainers. This means that the family plays a crucial role in the athlete's development. So parents must be encouraged to come on board.
Floyd also employs other people and has stimulated the economy of America. Can you imagine how the sky would fall on us if South Africa produced multiple Floyd Mayweathers here in Khayelitsha or in Queenstown or even in the rural area of North West - like Tsowe village in Heuningvlei. [Interjections.] There would be an economy generated by the income from sports-related activities. We should remember that at one point we had great boxers in the making, like Simon "Tsipa" Skosana, Peter "Terror" Mathebula and others. We need to start establishing a sporting environment that can produce excellent sportspeople, straight from our poorest communities, starting from grassroots.
The committee recommends that the department consider academics of every sport code in all nine provinces to groom youngsters into sports people like Mathebula and Mayweather.
Under apartheid it was not surprising that segregation killed sport across the board. Under the ANC democratic government there is greater scope for the department to harness 19 years of freedom to improve progress in sport. The department needs to rise up to the challenges in the years down the line. [Time expired.]