Hon Chair, I wish to compliment the department on receiving an unqualified audit. However, the performance on three matters did not meet the requirements of the Auditor-General.
The department in prior years incurred unauthorised expenditure of R704 000. Furthermore, an amount of R3,4 million was incurred as irregular expenditure, of which R790 000 related to the prior year and R2,5 million to the current period. Also, R7,2 million was incurred as fruitless and wasteful expenditure in prior years. Such transgressions of the Public Finance Management Act, PFMA, and a very small funding allocation weaken the department's motivation for a larger budget. Minister, the department has a staggering 29% of posts that are unfilled. The focus on sport in South Africa is of such a nature that it can indeed be the motivating force for building national unity, social cohesion and economic prosperity. However, without its being appropriately resourced from a human capital perspective it will struggle to deliver on its mandate to transform sport in South Africa. Cope believes strongly that our budget allocation of R848,4 million is gross underfunding and that makes it difficult to fulfil the various mandates of the department.
The fact that neither the President in the state of nation address, the Minister of Finance in his budget speech in an Olympics year, nor the Minister in the Presidency in his deliberations regarding the National Planning Commission mentioned sport as a high priority, would suggest that the Executive appears to have placed sport way down the priority list.
Thankfully, we have a Minister who is energetic, decisive and hands-on. The fact that we have a new Sport Plan, with school sport as its core component, and a partnership with the Department of Education to promote sport in schools, which aims at promoting physical wellbeing, effective socialisation, greater participation and improving the health of our youth, is wholeheartedly endorsed by Cope, particularly as one in four youths is overweight or obese. The government must be held to account for omitting physical education and sport from the school curriculum for the past 17 odd years. Chair, in the support services category R187 million has been allocated. Part of this is for club development, education and scientific support for federations and nongovernmental organisations, NGOs.
Minister, I myself have witnessed at school, in sporting events and leagues, the difficulty that young players, particularly of colour, have in participating. The cost of playing kit, transport, etc, is a financial issue that needs to be recognised to ensure that all our children can participate. Transformation on the ground is being hindered by a lack of funds. I wish to compliment those volunteers, teachers and other sports administrators who fund these children, often out of their own pockets, and without recognition or thanks. Participation in school sport must be our main objective and the funds allocated in these areas need to be more focused. The question is, however, will the Sadtu-affiliated teachers play ball?
Minister, facilities in our poor, rural and some urban areas are totally inadequate. This issue is severely retarding our progress in transformation. Again, our budget merely allows for R8,6 million, a far cry from what is needed. That will not maintain facilities in one province, let alone the country.
In 1995, in response to a question asked in Parliament, the then Minister of Sport, the late Steve Tshwete, indicated that 1 000 sports grounds would be developed around the country, but due to a combination of a lack of political will and the absence of credible partnerships between government, business, federations and clubs, this target was never fulfilled.
We have excellent facilities at the top level, but virtually nothing at grass-roots level. Full transformation has not occurred for 18 years, because up until now there have not been fundamental changes on the ground, that is, school sport, facilities, funding and a coherent sports plan.
Government, and not only civil society and federations, needs to take responsibility for the lack of transformation. Government needs to transform its own thinking and policy directions, instead of only laying the blame at the door of federations and other sports bodies. They must deliver on the most fundamental needs of sport in our country.
Rugby is often accused of a lack of transformation and faces the brunt of this, but it is a federation with a real transformation plan and a record of success. Minister, you have witnessed the hurt of the Springbok players and management after the World Cup loss. They are true patriots and warrant support, as do all our sportswomen and men who wear our emblem and colours. Well done to rugby and cricket, both of whom are ranked in the top three in the world. Minister, we need to build partnerships. We are all in this together to make this work. This is the year of the Olympics. After our dismal performance at the last Olympics in Beijing, we are very hopeful that our medal count will improve substantially. Funding is again a major obstacle to our success, and the amount spent on preparing our athletes for this event - approximately R130 million from government and other sources - pales into insignificance when compared to other major sporting nations. Swimming, where we have our best chance of medals, has a very small budget and most of our swimmers are trained and coached in the USA to get to the Olympic standard. Cope would like to congratulate the men's hockey team for qualifying for the London Olympics in Japan recently, which was also achieved on a skeletal budget. We wish team South Africa every success.
As a member of Brics, a comparison with their sporting objectives will indicate how far we lag behind them. We should possibly develop a multilevel co-operation agreement with them, so that our athletes can benefit from this association, which will include team and athlete exchanges, coaching, and medical/scientific support.
Minister, Boxing South Africa is a disgrace. This body cannot function with the funding it receives, which in the past year amounted to R5 million, when their budget was R9 million. Government is setting Boxing South Africa up for failure and the bleeding will continue. A real solution is required and the continual lack of political will will not solve the problem.
We would like to compliment the Minister on his decisive action on Cricket South Africa. Today we can see that a real clean up has begun, and that the Nicholson report can act as a blueprint for all sports federations going forward, particularly in the area of governance.
It is of concern to Cope that only 2% of school leavers go on to play organised sport. This is due to the factors that I have previously outlined. If we can increase this to 10%, then natural transformation will take place across our country.
Finally, I wish to share the story of Sibusiso Duma. He was a farmworker in the Howick area in KwaZulu-Natal. His employer encouraged him to ride horses and, upon seeing his natural ability, encouraged him to play polo. Sibusiso became an outstanding player, representing his country, and was called the new Lionel Messi of polo. He was tragically killed two weeks ago.
When people are given opportunities and facilities are made available, how many other Sibusiso Dumas will there be out there? This is the intriguing question we all need to answer by our future actions. I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]