Deputy Chairperson, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers present, hon members and the public at large, let me join the Minister of Sport and Recreation and pay tribute to the late Director-General of Sport and Recreation, Mr Vernie Petersen, who passed on early this year. I got to know him when I was a member of the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services in the National Assembly, when the hon Dennis Bloem was chairperson of the committee before he decided nna morwa sesinyi [to go and spoil things]. I later worked with Mr Petersen in the Select Committee on Education and Recreation until his untimely death. May his soul rest in peace.
One of Africa's great statesmen, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, once said, "I had a dream of a united African country where sport would play a vital role in forging the youth into one nation." According to Dr Nkrumah, sporting success gave dignity and pride. In 1960, when Ghana's national football team made a tour of Europe, Dr Nkrumah instructed them to go and correct European prejudices about Africa. He saw sport as the first step in building a formidable team which could contribute to the emancipation of Africa.
Sport should never be undermined, as it improves health, fitness and education; creates business opportunities and employment; fosters nonviolence, fair competition, teamwork and respect; bridges cultural and ethnic divides; and contributes to cross-cultural dialogue, understanding, unity, tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
To make the dream of Dr Kwame Nkrumah a reality, sport should be totally transformed. Transformation in sport is a subject that has been debated at length ever since we became a democracy. Imposing quotas was seen as a way to speed up the process, but this is clearly not working. Change has to take place from the ground up, and that means it has to start at school level. To achieve transformation, we require breaking of the old in order to adopt a new form in response to a radical change in function.
We need to level the playing field to ensure that the previously disadvantaged get access to resources. We as the ANC must be biased towards previously disadvantaged communities, and when we do so we should not be apologetic. According to the department's strategic plan, a more focused approach will be given to transformation and funding will be made via the national federation for the development of clubs and facilities.
But how do we ensure that this happens? When we speak of clubs we are referring to the places where actual activities are taking place at the local level. In most cases the national federation does not reach them because there are no roads, no sports grounds and they are deep in the remote areas. We need to come up with a proper strategy and monitoring mechanism to ensure that we achieve our goals.
The expenditure of the Department of Sport and Recreation is projected to decrease at an average annual rate of 10% to reach R915,5 million. This is due to the completion of 2010 Fifa World Cup projects for 2010-11. However, we have seen additional allocation to the mass sport and recreation participation conditional grant, which is expected to increase from R452 million in 2011-12 to R507 million in 2013-14 and sport federations which are expected to increase expenditure in the Sport Support Services Programme by R104 million, including savings generated.
Regarding mass participation, when government introduced the National Mass Participation Programme, the intention was to get the nation to become active and to provide access to a relatively wide variety of activities to impoverished communities, identified as hubs. Against the backdrop of relatively low participation figures in a variety of sports, the focus of the programme was to unearth sporting talent and to use sport as a means to achieve social and human development goals.
Seeing that this programme continues to enjoy a big slice of the budget, we should ask ourselves the following: Are we achieving the goals we set ourselves? Do we have records that show the talent that was unearthed through this programme? What programmes do we have in order to reach out to the farming communities?
Resolution 88 of the ANC's Polokwane conference states: "Mass participation, physical activity and sports programmes must prioritise the involvement of girls, women and people with disabilities with a view to promoting equity."
Access to participating in sports activities remains restricted for black South Africans in ways that white South Africans do not experience. One reason for this state of affairs is the influence of the apartheid system and the lack of facilities in African townships, which in turn offered few opportunities for the development of the range of leisure activities enjoyed by wealthier communities. The lack of investment in sports facilities in our townships and rural areas has resulted in many young people not engaging in sports and leading them to antisocial activities, including crime.
At the same time, we should ask ourselves whether we have done enough to engage young people in sports meaningfully, especially those from poor areas. The unfortunate incident that claimed the lives of 10 youths in Mamusa Township near Schweizer-Reneke on 1 January 2011 was the direct result of a lack of infrastructure. The lack of sporting facilities in this small community leaves the youth with no option but to go to taverns. The other contributing factor is the high rate of unemployment. I appeal to the Minister, through you, Deputy Chairperson: Let something be done for this community to assist them in their healing process.
As we resolved at the 51st national conference of the ANC in Stellenbosch, the ANC and the government must also give leadership in the area of sport and recreation, especially with regard to community development and ensuring that young people engage in sport as part of our moral regeneration programmes. This includes school sports and the promotion of sport among all our young people and among people with disabilities.
School Sport works in close co-operation with the Department of Basic Education to ensure that sports programmes are offered to schoolchildren in an effort to encourage lifelong participation in sport. The programme will facilitate the establishment and operation of a national school sport governance and co-ordinating structure; contribute towards hosting national school sport competitions; build the capacity of school sport volunteers; support participation in international school sport competitions; and monitor and evaluate the delivery of school sport in South Africa.
I was moved one day, when I went to watch a cricket match between St Conrad's Primary, a private school, and Itereleng Primary, a public school, from Jouberton Township in Matlosana Municipality in Klerksdorp. The boys from the township school were playing with passion and were determined to win. When they lost I couldn't help but overhear one of the boys saying, "If we had equipment like these boys, we would have won, because we practise daily and our teacher is committed to helping us."
I became interested in their discussion because I wanted to know their plight. What hurts is that these boys only had two bats to practise with, and these were a donation from their teacher. Seeing these children so determined, without equipment or proper clothing, I really saw the cruelty of apartheid.
Resolution 87 of the ANC national conference of 2007 states: "Physical education must be offered as a compulsory subject for learners Grade in 0 - 12." Charles A Bucher defines physical education as "an integral part of the total education process, a field of endeavour which has as its aim the development of physically, mentally, emotionally and socially fit citizens through the medium of physical activities which have been selected with a view to realising these outcomes".
We all recognise the need to promote sport and physical education in schools. This would benefit learners by helping them develop healthy lifestyles and providing them with the opportunity to use their spare time productively.
Physical education was reintroduced to schools, with a minimum period of 45 minutes per week for each learner. As members of this Council we also need to be involved in encouraging our educators and learners to take physical education seriously. This is the right thing to do. The ANC supports this Budget Vote. I thank you. [Applause.]