Chairperson of the NCOP, Minister Fikile Mbalula, Deputy Minister Gert Oosthuizen, members of the National Assembly, MECs from various provinces, who happen to be my colleagues, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to address this august Council as we debate the Sport and Recreation budget and policy statement. We will briefly outline the achievements we have made as the Free State department of sport, arts, culture and recreation in our quest to ensure the sustainable delivery of services to our communities.
The department in the Free State remains firmly committed to the overall vision of promoting and ensuring an active, creative and informed Free State community by providing effective service delivery to the people of the province. In aligning the range of services that the department provides, some critical factors have to be outlined and achieved in order to truly fulfil the mandate of the department.
It is our considered view that sport and recreation serve a pivotal role in our quest to develop our communities. For far too long, sport and recreation in our communities have been underestimated as a means of developing and defining the psyche of our nation. It is important to realise that sport is an integral part of the life of a nation.
Sport, in conjunction with recreation, can serve as a catalyst for economic development in our communities. It is important that we collectively identify the problem areas in our communities that impact negatively on the development of sport and recreational activities and that we put in place strategies to resuscitate them in all areas of our society.
As government, we are prepared to engage in programmes that ensure and create conditions in which our youth can excel in sport. This means providing sports fields, training equipment, facilities and sports equipment. We have huge social problems in our communities, including drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, HIV/Aids and a lack of discipline among our youth. Sport is an indispensable means of improving the social fabric of our society and can make a very real contribution to ensure that our children and the youth lead meaningful lives.
We are all aware that our country hosted one of the best Fifa Soccer World Cup tournaments ever. Through the co-operation of the provincial government and the Mangaung Municipality, our province was able to host all of its designated games successfully. As a build-up to the World Cup, the department held the 32 Schools Mini World Cup, which involved schools from across the province.
Through our partnership with Bolton Wanderers, a tournament is currently running in our province whereby five of the best-performing athletes in this particular tournament will eventually be taken to Wembley to play in their programme. The best participants will be roped into the academy of this London team. All this is through our association and partnership with them and at their cost. This enables aspiring young soccer players to hone their skills while also showcasing the excellent talent and athleticism we have in our schools.
In the national Minister's road map, one of the priorities is to enhance optimal performance and excellence in sport. In this road map school sport is indicated as the bedrock for mass participation, social cohesion and, crucially, measures against juvenile delinquency.
It is of the utmost importance that the Free State re-engineers its school sport delivery system to support the road map. We are left with the task of ensuring that the face of sport and recreation changes quite fundamentally as a result of the impact of the World Cup. Through our various sport and recreation programmes we will ensure that this happens.
Following the success of the 2010 Fifa World Cup tournament, the ANC centenary celebration will be the next major event in our province. There are a number of stadia in the province that will be upgraded as part of the centenary legacy project. An amount of R45,6 million has been set aside for these upgradings.
In the next financial year we will realise the goals we have set for ourselves. These include buying the naming rights for the Vodacom Stadium for an amount of R5 million per year for the next three years. This is a worthy and essential step as the long-term benefits of the province owning the naming rights of the stadium are beyond doubt. Every time there is a national and international match played at this stadium and that match is broadcast globally, we stand a good chance marketing the province and attracting tourists.
In our quest to promote social cohesion, nation-building and sport tourism in the province, we will annually host a soccer, rugby and golf reconciliation challenge. This challenge will involve a Free State soccer outfit playing against another Premier Soccer League, PSL, soccer team, as well as the provincial rugby team against another franchise team. This year the challenge will take place from 16 to 18 December, and it will also be linked to the centenary build-up programme.
The provincial government has also undertaken to donate R1 million per team for Bloemfontein Celtic, Free State Stars, Cheetahs and Griffons. This is also a necessary and important investment for the province. These are the teams representing the province at national level. They carry the name and pride of the people of the province. Their matches in the province also contribute a huge capital injection through sport tourism.
Last year the department launched the Free State Sport Federation in an effort to advance sport development in the province. We believe that this federation will ensure that sport in the Free State is managed and controlled efficiently, effectively as well as professionally. We also successfully launched the Free State local talent development centres to ensure that we are able to identify, develop and retain raw young talent that will ultimately represent our province and country in various sporting codes.
On the 4th, hon Mbalula is scheduled to open another centre in the Fezile Dabi district. This centre will also make sport science and injury rehabilitation services more accessible to the broader sport communities of the Free State. On 28 April 2010 we launched the Free State School Sport Organisation, which is the controlling body for school sport in the province. As the hon Minister Mbalula pointed out, school sport is going to become the bedrock of sport in the country. We have no doubt that the Free State School Sport Organisation will assist us in realising this vision. The structure covers 16 school sports codes: athletics, aquatics, baton twirling, baseball, basketball, chess, cricket, cross-country, football, hockey, netball, rugby, table tennis, tennis, volleyball and gymnastics.
The structure has been established from code committees that represent the above-mentioned sports codes as well as regional and district committees constituted by various schools in the province. The process for the establishment of this structure involved a collaborative effort between the Free State department of education and the department of sport, arts, culture and recreation.
As part of the new road map of the national Minister in this financial year we have set ourselves the task of establishing and sustaining school sport committees to run sport within schools. This programme will be run with both the provincial and national federations. In line with the Minister's road map, we will also establish and sustain structured leagues in all schools in the province.
One of the programmes that we will be implementing this financial year is the establishment of vegetable gardens as a pilot project in five schools, as part of the school sport sustainability programme. We will install water boreholes as well as sprinklers to assist in the irrigation of these gardens. This project will enable schools to raise funds and sustain their sports activities.
We are confident that through our community sports initiatives we will continue to ensure that mass participation in sport penetrates every nook and cranny of our communities. We will build on the positive outcomes realised in the last financial year which include, among others, the following milestones: a new strategy which we introduced for sport and recreation activities in all 82 towns of the province, as opposed to operating in only 33 hubs. The fourth O R Tambo Games were successfully staged in Matjhabeng from 3 to 5 December 2010. Six recreational sport leagues were established in all towns of the province from town level, municipal level and district level, culminating in the provincial O R Tambo tournament. These are football, netball, volleyball, rugby, table tennis and basketball recreational leagues. Playing equipment and attire for volleyball, netball, football, table tennis, rugby and basketball were distributed to all 82 towns in September and November 2010.
As part of our efforts to ensure access to sports facilities for our communities, we have erected five Munman multipurpose courts in Van Stadensrus, Petrus Steyn, Heilbron, Luckhoff and Vredefort. [Time expired.] [Applause.]