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17 May 2007

Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker
Honourable Premier
Honourable members of this esteemed House
Members of the Executive Council
Esteemed executive mayors, mayors and councillors here present
Our valued stakeholders
Members of the media
Members of the business fraternity
Ladies and gentlemen

In 1978, President Thabo Mbeki delivered a paper entitled "The Historical Injustice" in Canada, Ottawa, wherein he declared that,

"The national wealth of our country, the heritage of all South Africans, shall be restored to the people."

Flowing from this promise, honourable Speaker, the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture is engaged in a rigorous programme aimed at undoing the historical injustices and delivering on the vision of the Freedom Charter that,

"Our country will never be prosperous or free until all our people live in brotherhood, enjoying equal rights and opportunities."

In order to reverse the injustices of the past, we had to institutionalise structural arrangements such as the Limpopo Heritage Research Authority (LIHRA), whose mandate it is to do research on heritage sites and develop them to the benefit of the people who live around them. The financial spin offs associated with such heritage sites should benefit the people of our province and contribute towards the attainment of the objectives of the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS).

To date, through LIHRA, we have managed to identify and declare four new heritage sites in the province. Departmental officials are in the process of visiting and assessing the sites and recommendations on the development of these sites will be considered for implementation. We are committed to implement interventions that will impact positively on the economic life of the people who stay in these areas.

Honourable Speaker, we are committed to ensure that all our people gain access to libraries especially those in the rural areas across the length and breadth of our province. This is the only way that we can ensure that; "the doors of learning and culture shall be opened to all."

We must use our various cultures to promote unity in diversity and encourage our people both young and old to showcase and develop their talents, as we continue to do through the Literary Awards. Our challenge is to encourage the broadest possible participation of all cultural groups in the province. To this end we intend to strengthen our existing cordial relationship and bond with both our communities and traditional leaders.

As the Premier directed in his State of the Province address (SOPA), the Department is engaging other state agencies to obtain information that will assist in compiling and correctly documenting the names of all the fallen struggle heroes and heroines. This is a project which will bring pride and joy to all of us and act as an acknowledgement to the fallen heroes and their families. Maybe then their remaining family members of our struggle will have reason to believe that their blood was not shed in vain.

Honourable Speaker, we have successfully reconstituted the provincial geographical names committee. Their mandate forms a very integral part of our reconstruction and reconciliation programme. We would like to implore them to deliver on their mandate diligently and without fear or favour. They must never omit to follow the stipulated processes and procedures as they go about performing their duties. We wish them all the best in their challenging responsibilities.

Akin to this committee is the Provincial Arts and Culture Council (PACC), which must be reconstituted as a matter of extreme urgency. We have already issued a call for nominations to this council. We cannot afford to have a void since it only serves to stall programmes and deprive our people of the services they are entitled to and so desperately need.

We would like to wish the outgoing members of the PACC well in their future endeavours. We trust that they will continue to promote our arts and culture in their respective communities, outside the operations of the PACC. We intend to constantly liaise with them to tap into the vast wealth of experience they have amassed during their term of office.

We are in the process of consulting cultural practitioners to solicit their views on how best they could be assisted to maximise the benefits out of their artefacts. In as far as the performing arts are concerned our province continues take the lead. To this end we would like to salute Vho-Tshimangazo Magadaniso, who can't read or write, yet she can render wonderful poems of note to this honourable House. A truly magnificent achievement!

Honourable Speaker and honoured guests, our road shows to the districts have further confirmed the well known fact that there are numerous artists who, without government's intervention, would never be known nor will their talent be recognised and used as a means to sustain themselves and their families.

In view of this, the Department plans to convene a two-day workshop for artists during the current financial year focusing on capacitating them on strategies and means to sustain themselves through their natural talents and how to use their talents to prepare for their future. We will also use the same workshops to encourage our artists to assist with the development of other artist in their communities.

We recently visited the internationally acclaimed artist in the Vhembe District, Noria Mabasa and we were overwhelmed by the sheer artistic beauty of the artefacts she created as well as by the vigour and enthusiasm of this woman, who is creating a better life for the people around her by giving them free training in pottery making.

One esteemed artist, Ntate Samson Makwala from Ga Mareissi in Maruleng Municipality, Mopani District, posed the question on many other local artists' lips. He asked why we, as departments, are not supporting him and fellow artists. He wanted to know why we display pictures of international places we have never even visited, yet we fail to acknowledge our own local arts and crafts and picturesque scenery when decorating our buildings and offices.

Our province is, indeed, rich in artistic talent. We decided, as a Department, to fast track the campaign to promote our artistic talent in all our corridors and reception areas. The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture will take the lead and hopefully, others will follow.

This will not completely address the challenge of creating viable markets for the work of our artists but it will certainly be a step in the right direction. We need to position our small medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) to benefit maximally from the financial spin offs of major events such as the 2010 Soccer World Cup. We would also like to take this opportunity to commend the commitment shown by some of our municipalities by availing their resources to the benefit of these artists. This proves that together we can do more.

Honourable Speaker, another committee that is definitely worth a mention is the moral regeneration committee which has a bigger role to play. One that extends beyond this Department. Therefore, it is our strong belief that the same committee could play a far more important role in our sister departments and municipalities. Campaigns will have to be embarked upon at the last layer of government to ensure that the information reaches its intended audience.

We are also delighted to share with honourable members that faith-based organisations (FBOs) have agreed to play a more central role in ensuring that the moral regeneration committee does not only exist on paper, but that it begins to deliver tangible results.

Honourable Speaker, the province is gearing itself to host some of the games of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. We are convinced that this event has the potential to make a huge difference in the economic outlook of the province and most importantly in creating a better life for the people of our province.

We call on the councillors responsible for sport, arts and culture portfolios in all the municipalities to assist with the development of our people through sport and the arts.

The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture in conjunction with the Department of Education constituted with other stakeholders the Provincial Schools Co-ordinating Structure (PROCOC), which is the provincial co-ordinating committee. This committee is tasked with facilitating sport activities at school level. The process leading up to the formation of the PROCOC has not been without its fair share of challenges. As a result of the role clarifications between, mainly the two departments, it was possible to draft and sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two which was done at a national level.

Unfortunately, the delays in concluding the signing of the MoU amongst others had a negative impact on the spending of the conditional grants. The grants which were meant to create a better life for many of our people could not be utilised as planned. This is certainly a situation we would like to avoid at all cost in future.

Honourable Speaker, we commit the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture to turn the tide and move speedily to assist federations in unearthing and developing talented players that will ultimately become championship material beyond 2010.

We further acknowledge the fact that have boxing champions, track and field athletes, football stars and administrators who were born and bred in Limpopo but we say as the Department that it is not enough for a population as big as ours. We deserve more. To this effect we call upon the Limpopo Academy of Sport to strengthen its capacity to deliver even more stars in future.

The province hosted a National Softball Championship earlier this year, which has confirmed that our province is indeed a softball powerhouse. This fact was further emphasised with the appointment of our very own Mr Tom Kgomo as the Head Coach of Softball South Africa, making him the first black person to become head coach. We congratulate him and wish him well, hoping that many more other young people will follow in his footsteps.

Honourable Speaker, one of our department's success stories has undoubtedly been its ability to facilitate the Freedom Day celebrations and this year's celebrations were no exception, it was a resounding success. We firmly believe that with the continued assistance of our sister departments we can do even better. This is not just an event to meet with old acquaintances, which is why we are proud of the fact that we have been able to increase the level of awareness about its significance among the people.

However, we remain perturbed by the observation that there is still a large section of the business community, who compel our people to work on Freedom Day. This is unfortunate and should not be accepted lightly.

Together with the Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism we successfully hosted the Marula Festival in Ba-Phalaborwa, where we also launched co-operatives of the Marula industry. We hope that this initiative will enable our people to acknowledge and preserve this cultural heritage and endeavour to realise its economic potential for the benefit of generations to come. On our part, we want to further strengthen our cooperation with the Department of Economic Development and take this project to the next level.

We further wish to agree with what the honourable Premier said in his State of the Province address (SOPA) when he stated that, "The Mapungubwe Arts and Culture Festival remains one of the most important provincial tourism draw cards, despite all the negative publicity it received last year."

Honourable Speaker, we wish to assure this esteemed House of our commitment to work towards correcting the mistakes of the past. The Department will engage other departments where necessary to assist with the proper planning and management of the project. We cannot allow this event to degenerate into a blaming festival. We owe it to our people to turn it into one of the most prestigious arts and cultural festivals of our time.

We have already met with our local musicians who expressed their displeasure at not being optimally utilised in the build up to the festival in the past. We managed to resolve the differences that existed and we have strengthened our partnership with the Performing Arts Federation of Limpopo (PAFOLI). We are ready and committed to move forward as a united force with all our stakeholders, in the interest of our province and people.

Furthermore, it may be worth mentioning that we recently visited the Czech Republic with a provincial multi-cultural dance group to participate in our country's week long Freedom Day celebrations, there. Initiatives of this nature successfully showcase our province and country's unity through cultural diversity to the rest of the world. They also have the potential to unlock even more doors and create an international market for our artists, both performing and visual arts.

Honourable Speaker, our Department received a budget allocation of R144 924 million for the 2007/08 financial year which is an increase of 22,27% as compared to the 2006/07 adjusted budget. However, this increase can be attributed to the conditional grant for library services.

In essence, the equitable share of the Department decreased by 5,2% from R103 708 million, to R98 320 million. The Department will strive to spend within the allocated budget.

The Department will spend a total of R54 186 million of its total budget on compensation of employees, that amounts to 37,39%. Forty million nine hundred and twenty three thousand rand or 28% of the budget will go towards goods and services excluding the conditional grants which amount to R46 604 million or 32% of the budget. In total, therefore, the allocation for goods and services including conditional grants amounts to R87 527 million or 60,4% of the budget. Furthermore, 1,25% will be spent on transfers and 0,96% on capital assets.

It should be noted that the Department did not receive any allocation for the construction of the archive building, which is currently under construction.

The budget of the Department will fund the following programmes:

1. Administration

Honourable Speaker, R46 142 million which amounts to 31,84% will be utilised for administrative support to the Department. This includes:

* improving financial management by establishing financial controls within the supply chain management and strengthening the risk management unit
* effective management of the Department's internal processes to create and sustain high levels of productivity, staff morale and skills development and retention
* improving internal and external communication and stakeholder consultation
* strengthening performance evaluation in terms of the performance management system and the retention of skilled personnel
* encourage integrated planning to attain economic efficiency.

2. Cultural affairs

The cultural affairs programme is allocated R34 529 million or 23,83% of the total budget. This will be utilised in the following manner:
* Mapungubwe Arts Festival and other calendar dates such as Freedom Day, Africa Day and Heritage Day Celebrations;
* development, implementation and monitoring of policy for the promotion of performing and visual arts;
* commencement of the programme of the erection of a Garden of Remembrance;
* the development of heritage sites;
* to promote and enhance the linguistic diversity of the province.

3. Library and archives

Honourable Speaker, the Department is taking stock of libraries in the province. This includes a study of those that are active and fully utilised as well as those that are under utilised.

We call on our municipalities to continue to work with the Department in a partnership that will ensure that we encourage our people to read.

The Department will also approach the Department of Education to come on board and join us in this important initiative. We invite each and every citizen of our province to make use of their local library facilities, because "a reading nation is a winning nation".

For the programme library and archives services, R31 104 million has been budgeted which is 21,46% of the total budget. This allocation includes a conditional grant of R22,860 million for the recapitalisation and transformation of community libraries. This allocation will also be used to provide library material to all public libraries in the province.

4. Sport and recreation

This programme is awarded R33 149 million or 22,87% of the total budget.

The allocation includes a conditional grant from Sport and Recreation South Africa, amounting to R23 744 million for sport and recreation programmes. This enables the Department to temporarily reduce the number of unemployed youths and sport graduates. It will ultimately yield positive results in that a percentage of these sport co-ordinators in all our districts will lay a good foundation for school learners to grow up learning good sport ethics. The Department's School Sports and Siyadlala Mass Participation projects are breeding grounds for future champions.

The breakdown of the conditional grant of is as follows:

* R1 million for club development
* R11,980 million for the School Sport Mass Participation Programme
* R10,764 million for the Siyadlala Programme.

The Department entered into a partnership with Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Education and Training Authority (THETA). This partnership will take on board all the unemployed graduates who have a qualification related to sport. They will receive a stipend to the tune of R1 500 per month while they get first hand experience of the working environment. This will prepare them to enter the job market.

In February this year, the Department went on a strategic planning retreat wherein the way forward for this was chartered. The slogan "I am in" was adopted as our collective commitment to work together for excellence. We acknowledge the fact that our people depend on the services we have to render and unless we rise above our narrow individualistic difference to work for the common good of our province, we will be failing in our duty. The slogan is an individual commitment made by each and every official in the Department and we are ready to declare to the province that the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, "is in" and with your support we will make a difference.

Ndo livhuwa, ke a leboga, ndzi khensile, I thank you, baie dankie!

Issued by: Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, Limpopo Provincial Government
17 May 2007