Thank you, hon Chair. I was saying that this past weekend, another young man, whom many people may not have regarded as a factor to be reckoned with, excelled beyond all our expectations. This young golfer not only proudly flew the South African flag at the US Masters, but he has also proven to the world, once again, that South African sportspeople can be world beaters. As a department, we pay tribute to Charl Schwartzel for his magnificent performance at the US Masters.
Sport and recreation is a force to be reckoned with, a sector that can contribute to the achievement of many of the government priorities, ranging from social cohesion and nation-building to job creation and contributing significantly to our gross domestic product - evidence of which we are expecting soon in research that has been commissioned by the department.
This is the first Budget Vote from our department after we successfully hosted the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup. As South Africans, we are proudly looking back at the legacy of the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup that stretches beyond the obvious tangibles: the stadia, the roads, the airports, the infrastructure, and the new equipment acquired for the police, emergency medical services and other government service points. Never before had the country, with all its people, rallied together united in its support of the national football team as it did during the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup. Never before were campaigns such as Football Friday and Fly the Flag so successful in uniting the entire nation in support of our national team and country. It truly was one team, one country.
Our department fulfilled its mandate by monitoring the construction of stadia to ensure that they complied with Fifa standards, and we also ensured that all the deadlines were met. We facilitated the training of volunteers and mobilised South African and African support.
Another key area of responsibility of our 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.
I am happy to report that South Africa, through the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup, also made valuable contributions to international initiatives such as global warming. During the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup, the Green Goal Programme, as an environmental management programme, was successfully launched in all nine provinces.
Looking back at 2010, there is no doubt that the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup has changed our country forever. In terms of nation-building, social cohesion and leaving a legacy, no other event has ever, or could ever, come close to this one. The challenge now is to take the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup experience forward, to invest in this experience for the future of our children and of our country. The tournament has ended, but the legacy must live on and inspire us in the way we work. I have no doubt we will also achieve this as a country, summa cum laude. Governments worldwide have become increasingly supportive of greater investment in sport as an industry. There is a new global drive to utilise the potential of tourism, sport and mega events to the benefit of countries and humankind worldwide. This drive resulted in the UN World Tourism Organisation and South Africa hosting an inaugural summit on tourism, sport and mega events in Johannesburg in February last year. The summit was a resounding success, with participation from 35 countries. Our department forged valuable networks and friendships with local and international role- players in the field of sports tourism. The wider perspective that this brings, combined with the new access to this knowledge network, will assist us to do what we do in a much smarter way.
We have a partnership with the Department of Tourism which is aimed at forging closer working relationships between the tourism and sports industries within South Africa. The aim is to maximise the tourism value for major sporting events. The first priority of this partnership is the formulation of a sports tourism strategy for the country, which will be finalised in 2011. In fact, it will form part of the legacy of the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup. As there is a need for an accurate register of major events, we are working with, and giving direction to, our national federations that are planning to bid for events that we see as strategically fit to host as a country.
This year, we will also see the partnership between our department, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Tourism. We will host the first of its kind Sports and Events Tourism Exchange in Cape Town during July. This "confex" will focus attention on the world-class standard of facilities and services that South Africa has to offer as a host. In short, it will be an exchange between sport tourism and the events industry. Running alongside the exhibition component of the exchange, we will be holding a comprehensive and informative international Sports and Events Tourism Exchange conference, also during July.
Chairperson, I want to focus attention on transformation. Many talk about this concept; some reduce it to colour and quotas, others correctly extend it to the mindset of those in charge. By and large, sports leaders are inward-looking. This is why it is so easy to run abroad to buy a ready-made player, official or coach, even when the country has the requisite skills. Together with the Department of Home Affairs, we are working on tightening the administration of our laws to protect the integrity of our country. We have said in the past and we repeat it today: transformation is non- negotiable.
However, we are also acutely aware, when we say this, of the role played by control over the economy in accessing opportunities. After all, apartheid was never just a political programme. It was an economic and class issue too. We are too knowledgeable to ride roughshod over this matter. Transformation needs scalpels, not assegais. To this end, we as a department will use our budget to intervene at the amateur levels of sport. We want to do that because market forces cannot help us here, because our experience is that they have no sympathy for the poor.
The governance of sport, in a different context, has been in the news in recent months. We are aware of the lack of good governance in some federations. Let me say that we know it is an issue that the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee, Sascoc, is addressing. There are, however, inconsistencies in the way that federations address bad governance, similar to the way that different sanctions are handed down in terms of the World Anti-Doping Code for the same offence.
If we are to be able to confirm that we subscribe to the principles of good corporate governance, we need to take tough action. It should not matter that someone is our friend, is a volunteer or has done good work in the past. Bad governance hits at the heart of the organisation and betrays not only the athletes but also the supporters of the organisation. We have to act firmly to ensure that our sport federations are properly managed, are transparent and serve the best interests of our athletes.
Taking cognisance of the audit findings on the 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. We shall not rest until we can present to you a report that is not only unqualified but also completely clean. As far as our personnel are concerned, we are looking into the internal capacity of the South African Department of Sport and Recreation to deliver on its mandate. We are in the process of filling critical positions, including that of our director- general, Mr Vernie Petersen, who sadly passed away this year.
This process is coupled with a review of the organisational structure to strengthen the department in line with the increased challenges that require a lean and enabled operational capacity. As we present this Budget Vote today, we are proud to intimate that this year we will be reporting expenditure in excess of 99% of our allocated budget.
A week ago, our hon Minister launched the National Sports Indaba. To this end, we have clearly identified our vision and strategic goals for sport and recreation in our country. We have developed a roadmap for the department and have ensured alignment with the key policy issues as captured in our updated White Paper.
As a next step, we have started the process of developing a national sport and recreation plan. This plan will manifest the implementation plans of the sport and recreation policy directives of our government. Underpinned by the White Paper, the national sport and recreation plan will contribute to addressing 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 indabas scheduled for July 2011. Together with inputs from the portfolio committee, the select committee, Sascoc, and the national federations of other stakeholders, we hope to finalise and approve the first-ever official national sport and recreation plan for our country at our National Sports Indaba in August 2011.
The envisaged theme of this indaba is "From Policy" - in other words the White Paper - "To Practice", the sport plan, and the tagline we are using is "More than just playing". The main objectives of the indaba are to clarify and put into action the policy directives emanating from the revised White Paper that also capture the strategic directions of our roadmap and, secondly, to facilitate the collective buy-in from all stakeholders into the national sport plan, to streamline implementation towards common objectives, to elevate public awareness of the national sport plan by means of an effective and targeted media campaign, and to finalise the transformation charter and scorecard for South African sport.
Chairperson, without a co-ordinated, integrated and aligned sport 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 would emerge from the National Sports Indaba. The responsibilities of all role-players are substantial. It is clear that they 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 the country. To this end, under the leadership of Mr Mbalula, Sport and Recreation will liaise with other government departments and the private sector. The aim is to establish strategic alliances, ensuring the appropriate co-ordination and alignment of programmes, structures, strategies and funding. As a department, we are committed to work in a spirit of ubuntu in finalising the national sport and recreation plan.
Chair, let me say this: We know that the winning nation will then walk tall, and the respect we will have earned as competitors, as hosts, and as pioneers in sport will have further cemented the rainbow nation of Madiba. I thank you. [Applause.]