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Chairperson Lungisa Saunders
Chairperson of USSASA - WP Ismail Teladia
Principals, Teachers
Ladies and Gentlemen

This gathering this afternoon is more an opportunity for you to engage government in discussions rather than for me to be speaking at length to you.

National Imbizo Focus Week is the chance for you to interact with each other and with government on issues of common interest. In this case, it is about school sport and how it impacts on the communities that you serve.

I am familiar with the circumstances surrounding school sport in the townships where you teach and with the role of the Interim School Sport Committee in attempting to restore school sport to its glory of former years. Personally, it pains me when I see our children not being given the rightful opportunities to participate in school sport. This must change. It must be turned around. Not some time in the future; but immediately. We owe it to those who have been entrusted to our care. We owe it to ourselves as the guardians of education in this country.

I understand that the interim committee was planning to invite me here to listen to matters affecting school sport. I am, therefore, pleased to be here and want to thank the interim committee for having played such a leading role in setting up this meeting.

Let me say at the outset; I am concerned about school sport or the lack of it in our schools. We can now apportion blame for this and blame it on a host of reasons or we can assess it and put in place a programme to turn this around. I prefer the latter. But having said that, there are some issues that I want to raise.

Firstly, it is the role of USSASA (United Schools Sport Association of South Africa) as the flag bearer of school sport in the country. I have said it in the past, that while I have a great respect for the role that USSASA plays in school sport; my concern is that I do not believe that school sport is experiencing the growth that it should be. Your presence here is partly as a result of dissatisfaction with the direction that USSASA is pursuing. But I leave that for you to speak on later.

School sport should be the vehicle that delivers our future stars. School sport is where grassroots development should be flourishing. This does not appear to be the case, more so in schools in our townships and rural communities. How do we hope to make sport in this country representative if we cannot get the basics at grassroots level right?

While school sport is a voluntary association and your role in it is purely voluntary, I believe that as educators, you also have a moral and social responsibility to be involved. I understand the pressures that you have to endure as teachers. I have empathy for your concerns and realise that sport is often practised under the most atrocious conditions. But it should never be a reason for you not being involved. You hold the future of our youth in your hands. You contribute towards the development of young, fertile minds. You contribute towards shaping the lives of our future leaders and sports heroes. Our parents look to you for guidance and leadership. Let us hear how you feel about this major responsibility entrusted to you.

What is the role of government in school sport? I accept that this is a long outstanding issue about the placement of school sport. My colleague, the Minister of Education, and I have agreed about the future direction that school sport will follow. My department and the Department of Education will share the responsibility for school sport. Education will focus on the curricular aspects of school sport while Sport and Recreation South Africa will concentrate on school sport including that at provincial, national and international levels. There will be shared responsibilities. Obviously, the financing of school sport will also involve both departments.

These are merely introductory remarks to start the discussions and debate this afternoon. I am here to listen to you. However, it is important that we focus on the positive. Let us unpack all the issues that hinder delivery of school sport and then, collectively decide on the way ahead. You must understand that while I am determined to see representivity in all sport in this country, we need to be developing the talents of our youth in order to ensure this.

As teachers, we must ensure vibrancy in our playgrounds and a commitment to getting all our youth involved in sport. As government, we have a responsibility to ensure delivery and the development of sport. As USSASA, the organisation has a responsibility to cater for the needs of all our youth and our teachers in sport and to shift the emphasis to school sport in our townships and rural communities.

But that I leave up to you to consider today. Let us now engage each other in discussions.

I thank you all.

Issued by Ministry of Sports and Recreation

06 November 2001