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LEND A HAND TO BUILD A BETTER LIFE FOR ALL

Madam Chairperson,

I stood before you this time last year and started my address with a tribute to the MEC for Sport and Recreation of the Northern Cape, Brian Hermanus, who died tragically and untimely in a motor car accident while on official duty. Honourable members, I stand before you today again, to pay tribute to a dear friend and brother, my predecessor, Comrade Stephen Vukile Tshwete who, while enjoying unprecedented success in his portfolio of Safety and Security, was taken away from us suddenly. I know that many tributes have been paid to Bhut Steve over the past two weeks, but I feel, given his pioneering work within the field of sport and recreation, that it is only fitting that we recognise his contribution to the institution in our society in this House again today. Comrade Steve made my task as his successor so much easier by having laid a solid foundation upon which I could build. His legacy will remain with us forever, and there can be no better way to honour him, I believe, than to continue what he had started and to actualise what he had set out to achieve, namely:

* To make sport and recreation accessible to all South Africans;
* To ensure that all our sports teams, including the national representative teams, reflect the demography of the people of our country;
* To ensure that we are successful in our international endeavours; and
* To ensure that sport and recreation makes a positive contribution to the achievement of the ideal society that we know is possible at the southern tip of the African continent.

Of course, Comrade Steve was also committed to making an appropriate contribution to the development of the African continent in line with the African Renaissance. In memory of his life, I would like to commit the rest of my career in sport and recreation towards achieving the ideals that he had for the institution. I will miss him as my mentor - he was always willing to give advice whenever I approached him.

Hardly had we come to grips with the blow that we were dealt by Steve's passing, when we were again struck by the news of the tragic death of a colleague and a personal friend, the Minister of Sport of Nigeria, Mark Aku. What made the tragedy of his death in an aircraft crash in Nigeria last Saturday even worse for me, was the fact that I had just met with him a week earlier at an intergovernmental anti-doping meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where this vibrant young man, in the prime of his life, gave me valuable support in our efforts to ensure that Africa was adequately and appropriately represented on the World Anti-Doping Agency and that, as a continent, we played our rightful role in this structure. I have passed on our condolences to the sports movement of Nigeria and to his family. It is going to be hard to find a replacement for this dynamic young man particularly at this critical time for Nigeria who is preparing to host the 8th All Africa Games in 2003, a project that he was heading. Honourable members, we have lost two great leaders who have had a significant impact on sport and recreation on the African continent. While it is going to be hard to find replacements for them, we have to continue with our efforts to actualise the objectives that they cherished for the institution.

Madam Chairperson, Honourable Members, I am honoured to be able to address this august House in this my third budget speech as Minister of Sport and Recreation. I believe that my task in making a case for sport and recreation this year is relatively easier as I have a sense that the importance of the institution for which I have been given responsibility in our country, is slowly being recognised.

In latter regard, allow me to quote from two recent speeches by significant role players in our country:

Firstly:

"..........(Presidential Sports) Awards should not be seen simply as acknowledgements for past greatness, the performances of yesteryear, but also, and more fundamentally, as an investment in our people for years to come and for the sustained development of sport and society in South Africa.

These awards must be seen as part of that fundamental national effort that we have undertaken as South Africans, and that is to push back the frontiers of poverty and to lend a hand to build a better life for our children, our youth, indeed, for all the people of our land, especially those who still reside in areas of underdevelopment and are deprived of benefits owing to all South Africans.

It is with this in mind that we must measure our success even on the playing fields. We must see the transformation of sport and recreation not simply as finding the ways and means to improve the physical performance of all our athletes, but rather as enthusing all our sports people to lend a hand to build a better life."

I continue to quote:

"...the Australians are very proud of sport and their sports achievements and you can see that very clearly as you talk to them, the great impact that sports has on the cohesion of Australian society. But you also get a sense of the great investment that the country and the society make in the development of sports because they understand what sports mean.

I would like to offer our Minister of Sport and Recreation that I'm quite ready to join a delegation that he will lead to our Finance Minister to say we need to put more resources into sport.... I think we want to see amongst our winners the people of South Africa and not some of the people of South Africa - The PEOPLE of South Africa."

Madam Chairperson, Honourable Members, these were the words of President Thabo Mbeki at the Presidential Sports Awards in Cape Town on 8 March 2002.

Allow me to read to you a second quotation:

"We could invest more in sports, particularly for the youth as sports bridge cultural boundaries and have the potential to promote tolerance, trust, respect and social cohesion.

More importantly, sport is fertile ground for much needed positive role models to our youth.

We should emerge with a programme that gives South Africans hope, a programme that says in working toward moral regeneration, we will mobilise for care and support ..."

Madam Chairperson, Honourable Members, these were the words of Deputy President Jacob Zuma at the Moral Regeneration Summit in Pretoria on 18 April 2002.

I would like to put it to this House that this is the most emphatic recognition given by our leaders, the President and the Deputy President, of the potential role of sport and recreation in our society. Indeed, they have placed sport firmly on the mainstream of the national agenda, and I thank them for that. I commit myself to the challenge of actualising the confidence that they have expressed for sport and recreation to contribute to the betterment of our society. I have always held the view that as Sport and Recreation we can play a much bigger role than what we have always been afforded and I am pleased that my appeals for more resources, to enable us to exploit the potential of the institution for the common good of the country, is being acknowledged. Sportspeople are waiting anxiously to make that contribution and I am excited about that.

Madame Chairperson, Honourable Members, I always appreciate addressing this House because of its proximity to the sites where the delivery of sport and recreation take place in our country, namely the provinces, the cities and the towns. I would like to make use of this opportunity to re-commit myself to fostering co-operative governance within sport and recreation, even though this constitutes an exclusive, provincial competency. Indeed, I have made a concerted effort to try and draw the local government sector into the fold by encouraging them to participate in the Technical Inter-governmental Committee with their national and provincial counterparts but, unfortunately, with limited success to date. I know that the local government sector has just emerged from a difficult period of re-structuring and I shall continue with my efforts to involve them with a view to fulfilling government's commitment to integrated planning and service delivery. Moreover, we have to give form to government's expressed intention to give greater responsibility for delivery to local government structures.

Madame Chairperson, Honourable Members: I am introducing a budget of R160,327 million today, a 55% increase in the budget of last year. This increase is largely as a result of the increased funding that we are getting from the Poverty Relief Fund for upgrading and building sport and recreation facilities in conjunction with the provinces and local authorities, in disadvantaged areas throughout the country. Our baseline budget has, however, not increased substantially and this continues to constrain us from achieving the outcomes of greater access and representivity, amongst others. I am happy to declare that less than 17,6% of the budget is allocated for administrative and personnel costs and that a mere 7% constitutes personnel costs. Of course, funding for sport and recreation in South Africa is still, despite the improvements that we have seen recently, a far cry from that in other countries with whom we are competing. This puts us at a distinct disadvantage. I am happy to report also that of the R103,581 million that we had available last year, we were able to spend R101,093 million or 98% of our allocation. The only savings that were realised related to administration costs that could not be shifted to other areas where it could have been spent.

One of the most significant areas in which the three tiers of government has reaped the benefits of co-operation and where local government has been drawn in to a considerable extent, has been within the sphere of upgrading existing, and the provision of new, basic sports facilities. Through this project we are making a substantial contribution to the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development, and the Urban Renewal Project. Over the past financial year we have successfully delivered 55 facilities in disadvantaged, mainly rural communities. Of these, 30% were located within the identified rural and urban development nodes. Despite the various teething problems that were experienced in the process, we were able to spend all of the resources put at our disposal through the Poverty Alleviation, Infrastructure Creation and Job Summit funds in the first year of our involvement in the project. We are proud of our achievements and wish to thank the provincial and local governments involved for their superb co-operation in the project, often under very difficult circumstances. We were able to make a difference to the lives of 2126 people who were employed in the construction phase of the facility by providing them with an income and empowering them with skills that they will now be able to use to sell themselves in the labour market more effectively. Of these employees, 47% were women, 39% were youths, and 70 were people with a disability. In total R8, 75 million found its way to the people in the form of wages. Of course, we have also been able to create permanent employment for individuals who will be managing and maintaining the facilities. I would like to appeal to the provinces to encourage an entrepreneurial spirit at the facilities that have been built by creating opportunities for informal trading at these venues when activities take place there. I am happy that we have been able to contribute to poverty alleviation in the communities that have benefited from our projects and especially for the role that we played in promoting black economic empowerment by ensuring that disadvantaged contractors were engaged to do much of the work that we put out on tender.

For the current financial year we will almost be doubling our output in that we are going to be building at 85 sites throughout the country. A total of 66% of the sites are located within the rural and urban development nodes. This time around we hope to impact on the lives of some 6500 people who will be employed and thereby improve the quality of life of many more who are the dependants of these employees. In July we will also start with the planning process for the 2003-04 financial year during which time we intend launching a further 105 projects. Your support as members of the NCOP will be appreciated in ensuring the success of these endeavours and, thereby, contribute to growth in areas that are still extremely underdeveloped. I had the privilege earlier this year to hand over the first facility that was completed to the Kutlwanong community in the Sol Plaatje metropole in the Northern Cape, and was touched by the appreciation and sense of pride that it instilled in that community. It was abundantly clear that it contributed to rekindling the dignity of the people of the town. I trust that the impact will be similar in all the communities that we are, and will be involving and that this will contribute to protecting the facilities against vandalism and neglect. Again, Madam Chairperson, Honourable Members, I believe that you have a vitally important role to play in this regard.

Of course, our purpose in providing communities with facilities is to ensure that, amongst others, our youth have opportunities for participating in wholesome and constructive activities that will contribute to the moral regeneration initiative that government has embarked upon. Government has acknowledged the role that sport can play and, as I have indicated earlier, we are prepared to take up that challenge. I am convinced that the problems that we are currently facing in certain communities are related to the lack of facilities and appropriate activities for our youth in these areas. We have already embarked upon a project aimed at establishing sport and recreation clubs in identified high crime areas in conjunction with the South African Police Service. We are also targeting the areas where we have built facilities and will be working in close co-operation with the Community Sports Councils that we have established at these sites, to further this cause. In this regard also, I would like to confirm that the programme, "The youth is our future" is still on track and I have been actively involved with Admiral Clothing in distributing sports kit and equipment to schools in disadvantaged areas to enable children in these schools to participate in sport on a more level playing field, while still acknowledging that we still have a long way to go to achieve this ideal. I would, once again, like to laud the contribution of Admiral and express the wish that other sports providers in this domain will emulate them. To date we have covered 350 of the 1000 schools that we eventually hope to reach and I would implore the Honourable Members to liaise with their respective provinces in the identification of schools that need this type of support.

Our efforts to exploit the potential of sport and recreation to achieve positive outcomes will not, however, succeed without the active involvement of volunteers. Sport, in general, is largely dependent on volunteers and a powerful spirit of vuk'uzenzele. Again, I appeal to you for your support in encouraging such a disposition in your constituencies. We must commit ourselves selflessly in service of the common good, and every one of us should lend a hand in doing the simple things that will make a difference to the lives of, especially, the poor. Government has declared 2002 the "year of the volunteer" and we shall re-double our efforts to ensure that these people who give of their time, effort and, very often, own resources in the interests of others, are given the appropriate recognition.

Madam Chairperson, Honourable Members, allow me, therefore, to concentrate on some of the more pertinent issues that I think have a direct relevance to this House, very briefly.

You are well aware that I have three structures that report directly to me, namely Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA), the South African Sports Commission (SASC) and the South African Institute for Drug Free Sports (SAIDS). I would like to focus on the programmes and projects that have a direct bearing on provincial and local authorities at this stage.

I have been involved in the government initiative of Provincial/National Imbizos for the past two quarters through which, I believe, we have achieved remarkable successes in engaging directly with people on the ground in cities and towns around the country. I have had very interesting encounters with citizens at the grassroots level and whose inputs are, often, extremely insightful and would certainly influence my thinking in future. I believe that this is an excellent initiative that deserves greater involvement and interest from the members of this House.

I would like to reflect, very briefly, on some of the initiatives within Sport and Recreation South Africa to which I believe this House could make a substantial contribution.

We hosted a very successful Presidential Sports Awards Ceremony this year. We are increasingly realising our dream of ensuring greater representivity amongst the award winners at the ceremony, but I believe, that we should involve the provinces to a greater extent in integrating the provincial and national ceremonies, in the spirit of co-operative governance and inclusivity. Once again, I have instructed my Department to ensure that this happens in future.

We have had a very successful season with the Siyadladla television programme that is dedicated to raising the profile of our minor sports. The series will be extended and we have offered provinces an opportunity to showcase their initiatives in sport and recreation on it. Once again, I would like to urge Members of the House to get involved in these efforts to ensure maximal exposure for the work of our provincial departments responsible for sport and recreation in getting the nation to play.

We are in the process of publishing a revised White Paper on Sport and Recreation that takes cognisance of the altered governance landscape in the institution. At the same time we have embarked upon a process to write a new white paper for sport and recreation that will chart the course for our activities for the next five years. This initiative might correspond very closely with my intention to appoint a task team to oversee the drafting of a national plan for sport and recreation, a sequel to the Ministerial Task Team on High Performance Sport, whose report we are interrogating presently with a view to implementing some of the recommendations. The recommendations of the Ministerial Task Team could have far-reaching consequences for high performance sport in our country, but I shall refrain from elaborating on it at this juncture. You can, however, expect an announcement from me soon in this regard.

Madam Chairperson, Honourable Members, I am happy to report that we are moving closer to the public process with regard to the broadcasting of sports events of national interest. Icasa has appointed consultants to investigate the issue and they shall be engaging the public on this shortly.

I shall continue with my drive to ensure that sport in South Africa continues on the path of transformation so that every person in our country has an equal chance to access the institution and to reach the highest level that his/her potential allows for. I have already had a meeting involving 24 federations who all signed performance agreements with me, articulating their plans and targets for ensuring greater representivity at all levels within their sport from the playing, officiating, administration, coaching, and management perspectives. I shall call them to account within one year to determine whether they have accomplished what they set out to achieve and establish ways and means to assist them if they have not. We shall proceed in this manner with more and more federations on an annual basis until I am satisfied that we have achieved our goals. Within the same context, I have requested my officials to revisit the resolutions that were made at the Colloquium Against Racism in Sport during the International Conference against Racism, Xenophobia and Associated Intolerances in Durban last year with a view to determining how this declaration can be implemented. I wish to bring it to the attention of this House that during my deliberations with National Federations, I am often confronted with claims that the problems surrounding transformation and racism are not so much at the national level, but rather that provincial and local sports structures are the stumbling blocks. In this regard, therefore, I would like to appeal to you, Honourable Members, to strengthen my hand by urging the provincial and local authorities in your constituencies to tackle the problem head-on. Only by working together in this manner, will we be able to make the desired progress.

Unfortunately, Madam Chairperson, Honourable Members: a solution to the question of school sport continues to elude us. We have received a very clear indication from MINCOMBUD that school sport is a competency of provincial departments of education. I am still of the opinion, however, and have been supported by the Technical Intergovernmental Committee in this regard, that Education departments should take responsibility for the curricular aspects of school sport, while sport and recreation should take responsibility for the competitive and representative aspects thereof. I shall continue to pursue this argument and appeal to this House and the Select Committee on Education and Recreation to support me in this regard, in order to secure a speedy solution to the matter. I am convinced that part of the problem that we are experiencing with our national representative teams in terms of their international success rate presently, is linked to the absence of the solid foundation that school sport can provide.

Madam Chairperson, Honourable Members: I am looking forward to the inaugural South African Games that will take place in Pretoria from 25 to 30 September of this year. These Games will serve as a nursery for our elite performers by giving those individuals in the U/23 age group and who are on the verge of breaking into the national team, opportunities to display their skills and talents, and to provide them with a chance to compete against the best from around the country. All nine provinces with take part in this festival of sports comprising 9 codes including soccer, netball, athletics, swimming, sevens rugby, cricket, table tennis, field-hockey and goalball, in which opportunities for participation by women and people with a disability will also be maximised. Your support for the event and, indeed, for the participation of your constituent province, will be appreciated. The event will take place biannually on a rotational basis between the provinces and is intended also to provide economic spin-offs for the centres in which it will take place.

I am in discussion with the South African Sports Commission about Provincial Sports Academies which should be playing a vital role in the nurturing of our up and coming elite performers. I am also looking at the possible establishment of a National Sports Academy/Institute that I believe can play a vital role in addressing the problems that we are experiencing with the performances of our national teams and can make a valuable contribution toward addressing the question of representivity. I am considering various options in this regard presently and will be consulting with the Minister of Finance about resourcing such a project.

I am aware, Madam Chairperson, Honourable Members that there is a great deal of concern about the apparent slow progress in areas such as recreation, indigenous games and women in sport. I am happy to report that the South African Sports Commission has made considerable progress in these domains and will unveil their plans for these projects shortly. Recreation workshops have been held with all the provinces having participated, recreation structures are being formalised, and mass participation events are being planned. Consideration is also being give to a food gardens recreational project that can contribute to the national food security project.

With regard to the indigenous games project, a research report is being finalised presently and a national festival of indigenous games is on the cards. Efforts are also being made to network with countries in the SADC region on indigenous games while, locally, we are investigating he standardisation of equipment for these games in conjunction with the CSIR.

A policy document on women and sport has been drafted. I am satisfied with what I have seen and have requested that it be distributed to the provinces for comment via the Technical Intergovernmental Committee and Minmec.

Lastly, I would like to report that I have received Judge Ngoepe's Interim Report on the Ellis Park Stadium Soccer Disaster. I am eagerly awaiting his final report so that we can lay this tragic incident in our country's sporting history to rest in the knowledge and comfort that those who lost their lives in the disaster would have secured for generations to come the assurance that something of this nature will never happen again.

Bafana Bafana will be departing for the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan during the course of this week. Of course, we wish our team well and give them the assurance that they have the support of every South African. We are proud of the very fact that they have qualified for this prestigious event, an achievement that must certainly be the dream of every football-playing nation. Our Commonwealth Games Team will be participating in the Manchester Games later this year and we trust that they will be able to improve on their performances at the 1998 Games in Kuala Lumpur. We would also have witnessed the 2003 Cricket World Cup by the time I present my next budget speech to you in 2003. I want to urge the provinces to ensure that each and every South African is afforded an opportunity to derive maximal benefit from this event and that we use it to present a favourable image of our country and society internationally to secure similar major events in future.

Madam Chairperson, Honourable Members, in concluding, I want to express my sincere thanks to everyone who contributed toward making my task less onerous than what it could have been. I would, in particular, like to thank the Select Committee on Education and Recreation in the NCOP for the support that it has given to me. The same goes for the MECs and MINMEC, the TIC, and the staff in the Ministry, Sport and Recreation South Africa, and the South African Sports Commission. I would like to extend a special word of thanks to the Ministerial Task Team for a job well done and to all those who gave of their time and energy in contributing to it. As always, my thanks go out to the macro-bodies and the national federations and their various affiliates as well as each and every individual, particularly the volunteers who so selflessly contribute to ensuring that sport and recreation continues to take place in South Africa. I laud you for your example within the context of vuk'uzenzele. I am sure that sport and recreation can set a fine example in this regard for other institutions to follow.

Madam Chairperson, Honourable Members, thank you for your kind attention.

Issued by the Ministry of Sport and Recreation, 14 May 2002