Chairperson, for two consecutive years this department has received a qualified audit report. The ID is hoping that 2010 will be different. This department should use the opportunity of hosting a world- class sporting event like the Soccer World Cup to become a world-class department.
If we have the ability to host the World Cup, surely we can get an unqualified audit report. During our Budget Vote hearings, we saw school sports competitions being cancelled due to a lack of funds. We saw provincial and municipal sport and recreation departments failing to implement national policies. We saw millions of rands in municipal infrastructure grants lying unspent in municipal accounts while our children are playing soccer on rocky fields next to dangerous highways. We witnessed a transformation stagnation that continues to translate into lily- white rugby and cricket teams and all-black soccer teams. We have seen millions of rands being allocated to loveLife without much evidence to suggest that it is translating into a solid HIV-prevention campaign.
We experienced a National Economic Development and Labour Council, Nedlac, that has not even responded to the ID's letter calling for a mediation process for a strike-free World Cup. Nedlac says it builds bridges that hold the nation together. But we have seen it is incapable of doing the same for the World Cup.
The ID would also like to come out in support of Cosatu's mass action against electricity price increases.
We are mindful that the World Cup has the ability to boost the department's morale, which has suffered over the past few years.
The ID also supports the portfolio committee's decision to summon the department each quarter to report back on the progress in the provinces with regard to the Division of Revenue Act grants.
I am happy to announce today that there is no need for me to say anything negative about our Bafana Bafana boys, who are putting in their best; the coach, whom we have come to accept; the Gautrain, which is basically ready; the vuvuzelas, which we are going to blow; and the beautiful world-class stadiums - proof that we have silenced our critics. I would like to repeat - and I have said this many times before - that in a nation with the highest inequalities in the world, the real challenge will be to translate the billions we have spent on this World Cup into something tangible and sustainable for our people in the years long after the final whistle has been blown. To Danny Jordaan and his team, we would like to say, we salute you. The ID supports the Budget Vote.