Ke a go leboga Motlotlegi Modulasetilo, Maloko a Palamente, Tonakgolo le Motlatsa Tona wa Motshameko le Boitapoloso. [Thank you, hon Chairperson, Members of Parliament, Minister and the Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation.]
Chairperson, let me indicate that this is my maiden speech. [Applause.] I was told that if I indicated and disclosed that, I'd be secure. [Laughter.] Also let me acknowledge that the committee is appearing here today in yellow. As I look at the House I see the beauty of the sports committee. I think it would have been even more beautiful if this was a Friday, when everybody had their jerseys on but, nevertheless, we support Bafana Bafana. We are sending the message to the world that the Parliament of South Africa supports the national team of South Africa. Viva Bafana Bafana!
I want to begin my speech by borrowing an idea from the Freedom Charter. The doors of learning, sport, arts and culture shall be open to all. But that was not the case prior to 1994. Sport in South Africa was polarised along racial lines. There was sport regarded as sport for civilised people, and there was sport regarded as sport for noncivilised people. I say thanks to the ANC, because it brought transition from apartheid to democracy and, with it, great progress to many of its people and numerous untold advances in bridging past divisions.
However, many tensions and inequalities are still present that contribute to the high level of conflict over a variety of issues ranging from challenges in transforming historically white-dominated sport as well as equitable access to recreational resources and facilities.
We all know that sport plays a vital role in modern contemporary society. Its prominence in the media, which devotes considerably more coverage to sport than to politics or economics, demonstrates its expansion during the last century. This phenomenon has had different impacts on the development of nations, cultures and communities. For the majority of our people sport forms an integral part of life, whether as active participants or passive spectators.
The time has come for all of us to scrutinise the impact of sport development, not only from a school sports and professional league perspective, and its link to the broader principles and agenda of transformation. This should occur by assessing programmes such as sport support services, which embodies subprogrammes such as club development.
In this context, if the department is reporting to have supported 136 out of 450 new clubs and also claims to have supported 221 out of 300 clubs, the logical question should not only be to enquire about the average variance to such support, but the link of these interventions to school sport, high performance, professional league and further transformation of sport in this country.
The question should be one of impact. For example, the department should in the foreseeable future explain how club development is linked to school sport. How is it connected to professional league? How is the whole thing linked to broader transformation and the principle of national democratic revolution? Why do we struggle to replace players such as Brian Habana, Makhaya Ntini and Benni McCarthy in our national teams while we have programmes like sport support services? What is this connection with loveLife producing?
Minister, we are at a crossroads. As members of the portfolio committee we are caught between a rock and a hard place. I'm saying this because in the North West, for example, there are lots of clubs of different codes, ranging from athletics to netball, at the community level. Some of these codes have never received assistance from these programmes. There are many such complaints, even in the Eastern Cape - in fact, across the country - as our people continue to ask us questions in our constituencies. We have witnessed this during our public hearings and oversight visits.
The annual report, on the other hand, is glossy, but it remains qualified for the past years in terms of substance and governance. Why do other departments get a clean audit report? We need to ask ourselves this question, Minister. Re direng Tona? [What do we do, Minister?] Senze njani? [What must we do?]
Addressing this question would require looking at what gives birth to these problems. Firstly, the sport support services programme is meant to provide support to public entities, to sports and recreation bodies, including the monitoring of performance through targeting sports bodies and federations, developing community clubs and providing education and training facilities.
These things should be the baseline for any community development effort and we all agree, but do we really monitor the performance of these entities, such as loveLife? Do we really monitor the performance of sport and recreation bodies and extensively investigate issues of noncompliance? Why do we continue to get qualified audit reports? Are we enjoying this status quo? That is the question, Minister. In terms of transformation progress, how do we gauge ourselves?
An ideal situation for community development would be to consider the following: multicultural sport teams, beginning at the community level, led by coaches and trainers who are able to navigate team-building to be a process that includes all parties and creates mutual respect between cultures and races; integration programmes between schools; public support; political acceptability and viability; co-operation between organisations; multicultural exchanges; and support for physical education in all primary and high schools.
A o a nkutlwa Tona fa ke buela mo tsebeng ya gago? Re ikaegile ka wena. [Are you with me, Minister? We rely on you.]
We are from rural areas and it is not by choice that we come from rural areas. If I had a choice I'd be living in Summerstrand in Port Elizabeth, or Midrand. I did not choose to stay in a rural area. Re lelela mo go wena. [We lay the blame on you.] Go and develop sport in rural areas. Re lelela mo go wena. [We lay the blame on you.]
You know that we did not have a choice. We were forced to go and live there.
Kwa bokhutlong, ke tsholetsa monwana wa me o mogolo wa kgononopo le supasupa baloi ka re ANC e tshegetsa tekanyetsokabo e. Ke a leboga. [Nako e fedile.] [Legofi.] [In conclusion, I want to say the ANC supports this Budget Vote. I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]]