Hon Minister, I want to speak about ...
Umlungukazi uyandicaphukisa. [The white woman is annoying me.] ... important things like the impact of the Confederations Cup on the world. But before I talk about that, I want to talk about what we, as Parliament and a committee, have given you.
We said that a Minister cannot govern sport today, because sport has become a little government in itself. Sport in this country has become a holy cow that pillages or plunders and then you are interfering by putting them in line with the national agenda regarding government policy. Sport is not operating outside the political sphere; it operates within the political sphere. What we have given the Minister was this: In section 6(3) of the National Sport and Recreation Amendment Act of 2007 we said to the Minister that:
National federations must -
a) before recruiting a foreign sport person to participate in sport in the Republic, satisfy themselves that there are no other persons in the Republic suitable to participate in such a sport;
b) ensure that such a recruited sports person complies with all the relevant criteria pertaining to entry into the Republic as contemplated in the Immigration Act, 2002 Act No 13 of 2002);
We are seeing a rapid increase in the number of foreign coaches and foreign administrators in this country, but the Minister has not come to the portfolio committee to say that we have granted these people permission to come and work in this country. That is why soccer bosses and other sportspeople are saying that there is nobody in this country who can coach Pirates and Kaiser Chiefs, because 47 million of the people in this country are utterly useless. I think that is an insult to the people of this country. [Applause.]
Hon members, if we are able to have our own South African coach coaching the national rugby team, and succeeding to become number one, what is wrong with that? When we have a cricket team, coached by one of our own South Africans, that is number one, what is that? When we have athletics in this country, a number one sport in this country, coached by our own countrymen, what is it that football has that makes people in this country inferior? [Interjections.] [Applause.]
This very same hard question is the question that the Minister has to explain to the people of this country. How many of these sportspeople are given permission to enter the country and are they all violating the law of this country? We cannot leave the people in our country without capacity if the CEO of any of these federations leaves the country, and say "No, we don't have a South African with the capacity". Therefore let us rather get somebody from Toekomsrus to come and work here. There are no issues with regard to putting him on such a level so that on the day the other person leaves we will have him - our own South African that we can be proud of - to take over from the other person. That is not happening.
The Confederations Cup was a huge success. A total of 500 018 spectators, an average of 35 773 per game, was recorded. These figures are higher than those recorded at Korea and Japan in 2001 and France in 2003. Germany had 37 694, just beating South Africa with its 35 773. This was a success, and when it comes to how this has put South Africa at the centre of the world stage, it is quite phenomenal and amazing. I think this was the best Confederations Cup ever and a precursor of the best World Cup ever on the continent. Television coverage surpassed that of the previous Confederations Cup with 198 territories having taken event rights and many countries showing 8 to 10 matches on television.
I think Donald Lee would at least understand this: A total of 6,8 million people watched the semifinal between South Africa and Brazil on SABC. The game between New Zealand and South Africa was watched by a total of 6,1 million people. Now, let's go international and look at the impact of the Confederations Cup. In Brazil on TV Globo, 15 million people watched the game between Brazil and Egypt as it was happening right here in South Africa. In Spain, on a station called Telecinco, 6,4 million watched Spain against New Zealand playing on our soil. We can be proud to be South African and for this to happen during our lifetime. In Italy on a station called RAI, the game of Italy versus Brazil was watched by 10,3 million people thinking to themselves that South Africa on the dark continent of Africa actually lived up to such an expectation. We are so proud of our country. [Applause.]
Minister, the last point that I want to raise relates to protocol. I was pained to see the Minister's wife sitting next to me while the Minister was up there, looking at his wife every now and again, but she was sitting next to me. I think the issue of protocol is something that we have to revisit. Protocol in those games was completely amiss. [Applause.] This Parliament, Minister, is a Parliament that has appropriated R50 billion for these stadiums. I hail those in construction who have given their workers, who have worked so hard, tickets to go and watch these games. I think these members deserve better treatment than what they got, because they have given purpose to this. [Applause.] You see, Minister, when you are sitting there, you are seated next to the Governor of the Reserve Bank. [Time expired.] Thank you very much.