Hon Chair, hon Ministers in the House, all members, people in the gallery and all protocol observed, South Africa has one of the highest rates of inequality in the world. Last year there was much excitement and hope around the future of sport in this country, after the final whistle blow that ended the 2010 Soccer World Cup. The real challenge at the time seemed to be translating the billions spent on the World Cup into something tangible and sustainable for our people. The important question now is: Did we succeed in doing so? The answer is no.
We would like to state that we are in complete support of and encourage transformation in our sports sector. Like most other South Africans, we would like to see fully representative teams in all disciplines taking on the best in the country and the world, and emerging victorious.
For transformation to be successful and sustainable, it has to start with our children and in the poorest of our communities. It is therefore extremely disheartening, when travelling in rural areas, to find a complete lack of sporting facilities. We do, however, acknowledge the huge challenges facing the department in bridging the gap of inequality. The budget cut of almost R300 million will undoubtedly place a heavier burden on the transformation processes.
In urban areas it happens to be our poorest areas that are the worst affected. These are areas where our youngsters are forced to practise football and other sports on sand, as well as on unlevelled and inappropriate grounds, or next to busy highways. For many of our young people, sport is often the only hope they have in a society saturated with crime, drugs and neglect.
The challenge that one often witnesses in rural and underprivileged communities is astonishing. The bulk of our future champions are to be found in these remote areas, but it is up to government to bring them into the mainstream of our sporting sector. It is time for us to truly level the playing field. It is high time that previously disadvantaged communities are given the same privileges as those from higher-ranking economic classes.
Hon Minister, I like your attitude towards your department. You have a passion for sport in this country. But I would like to challenge you, as I challenged the Deputy Minister last year in the House, to go to the furthest rural places, to places like Mier in the Kalahari, where the school doesn't even have a sports ground. There are places where children are playing barefoot in the new South Africa; where schools don't even have money to transport the children to interschool athletics. It's a big, big problem and I know that it's a challenge. That's why we will support you in whatever endeavour you have to bring empowerment to our people; to uplift our people, because sport can do what other things can't do. We have seen it with the World Cup; sport united South Africa. We have seen the success of the World Cup. Let's use that success to tackle tangible issues and ensure sustainability. Thank you. [Applause.]