Chairperson, the Minority Front congratulates South Africa on proving its highly qualitative organisational ability, and Africa has emerged very strong with the performance of Egypt and the high quality performance of Bafana Bafana.
His Excellency the President in the state of the nation address emphasised sport very strongly, and we will recommend to the hon Minister, together with the Minister in charge of education, that we shall no more play fools and theorise about school sport.
The future glory of South African sport is dependent on the nursery and the schools, and I am very glad that the school mass participation programme - especially in KwaZulu-Natal - has proven to be a great success. It is very important that, although school sport does not come under the hon Minister, sport in schools is restored.
The former MEC for Sport of KwaZulu-Natal, Mr A Rajbansi, had planned 2009 to be a year where there must be mass participation at nursery and junior level, and there must be a programme for talent identification, talent retention, and the establishment of academies and high performance centres.
We cannot allow sport to be splintered into various organisations and companies that are organising school sport, and the partnership between the Departments of Sport and Recreation and Education must be bonded together. That is the only way to the future. The MF suggests that the Building for Sport Programme and recreation be brought back under the control of the department, assisted by the provincial department. It is evident that the sports codes which are happening at nursery schools, like rugby and cricket, are codes that have excelled immensely in the world.
We also suggest that a provincial SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee, Sascoc, should be formed and furthermore, that those federations that are forming small cliques and calling themselves provincial federations should be dealt with very severely. If federations are not structured along district lines in our country at least, sport cannot progress, and we must at national level ensure that money is not transferred to these federations.
However, the MF is indeed concerned about Lotto funding in sport, which should be channelled through the national Department of Sport and Recreation, once again assisted by the provincial. The answer lies in taking sport to the townships where ordinary masses reside, and not to overemphasise the construction of massive projects in the CBDs, which people struggle to reach.
Every sport in the country, whether it happens in a dam, in the sea or on the road, must be under the control of a federation recognised by Sascoc, and here I am referring to the Comrades Marathon and mini cycle races that are run by private firms. [Time Expired.] The Minority Front will support the Budget Vote. [Applause.]