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12 June 2008

Honourable members

It gives me great honour to address you in our fifth year in office and as is the norm to give you a report card on our progress. With all report cards, we also need to address that part which says: 'could do better' and thus to highlight the important areas that need to be addressed by all South Africans going forward. I emphasise this as transformation cannot be done in a few pockets of enlightenment but has to be done systematically at all levels of sport and recreation and by all involved in the best interests of our future generations of sports stars.

'Transforming South Africa into a country that belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity' remains our fundamental mandate. That is why we have a National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) so ensuring that all parts of our wonderful country are represented and contribute to the transformation of our nation. We will recall those heady days post-1990 and particularly from 1991 onwards, when sport led the way in uniting the disparate federations since then we seem to have lost impetus and more importantly lasting impact.

One of the first challenges we faced upon taking up office was the restructuring of sport. In the report accepted by Cabinet, the establishment of what has become South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) was approved together with the focus of our department being mass participation and the establishment of a national academy. SASCOC was established in November 2004 after the Athens Olympic and Paralympic Games and has faced many challenges in its infancy. As the organisation continues to develop more challenges will face SASCOC!

In the process of restructuring, it has been clear that our progress has been severely hampered by the lack of a sports plan to guide our endeavours. We are addressing this.

The social and economic value of sport lies at the heart of the case for sport as it is a global phenomenon, an integral component of modern society – some call it entertainment but it has become a global business. In 1999, sport accounted for approximately two percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in South Africa, contributing R795 billion to our economy. Sport has delivered socially and economically to nations but we need to leverage the impact of sport by guaranteeing the quality of the overall sport systems to manage, direct and align the entire sport system and to work collectively as government (through all spheres) and the private sector towards common goals and objectives.

There is ample evidence to demonstrate that sport and recreation does make a difference to people's lives as well as to the communities in which they live.

For every unit of monetary investment there are multiple returns in terms of:
* national, regional and local community development
* community regeneration
* health
* disease prevention
* psychological well-being
* learning and productivity improvement
* poverty alleviation
* social policy areas (women, youth at risk, marginalised youth and the aged) and
* employment opportunities.

Evidence highlights the positive impact of sport in relation to creating stronger communities, addressing issues of community safety, including reduction in anti-social behaviour, the propensity to commit crime and reduction in the 'fear' of crime amongst the wider community.

Sport and physical activity have gained recognition as simple, low-cost and effective means of achieving development goals. In its report, Sport for Development and Peace (SDP): Towards Achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations (UN) Inter-Agency Task Force specifically concluded that "the fundamental elements of sport make it a viable and practical tool to support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)."

Sport offers potential benefits with regard to each of the MDGs but is commonly linked to:

* the eradication of poverty and extreme hunger
* achieving universal primary education
* promoting gender equality and empowering women and
* combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

To complement our sports plan, we will deliver in a matter of months, a facilities plan. We have said on numerous occasions that we need facilities in the right places to be able to transform our sport. I am confident we will also have achieved another fundamental aim to regain the funding allocated to Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) so that we can direct the provision of sports facilities in the areas of need – in the areas outside the metropoles in your provinces. I said it in the assembly and I say it again here, we cannot explain why MIG funding is used to upgrade Orlando Stadium when our rural citizens are crying out for basic, I repeat, basic multi-purpose facilities. Our clear motivation is based on the fact that, during the four year period starting 2001/2, when Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) received funds for the Building for Sport and Recreation Programme, we built 363 basic sport and recreation facilities where they were most needed.

As part of the MIG funding since 2004 to date, only 45 facilities have been built. A Cabinet Memo to have the Building for Sport and Recreation Programme (BSRP) restored to us has been discussed within the Directors General's (DG's) clusters with some anticipated resistance in certain quarters. We have a deadline to achieve this of 25 July 2008 and we are working hard to do so.

For us, transformation, increasing participation, improving health through exercise and facilities are integrally inter-twined. We know that there are municipalities which receive less than R10m for their whole MIG allocation – to cover sanitation, eradicate the bucket system, build health and education facilities – and therefore it is extremely difficult for them to prioritise sport and recreation facilities. Yet it is those areas which are our priority as we know there is so much talent in the rural and peri-urban areas – you also know this. The Minister and I have travelled in your provinces and have seen this with our own eyes but the federations are not able to get there so it is incumbent on our department to assist and we will.

Like you, we recognise that sport in our schools is fundamentally important and we have, as recently as last week, met our counterparts in the Department of Education (DoE) to address areas of perceived weakness in the implementation of the framework on collaboration signed by Ministers Stofile and Pandor in March 2005. It is critical that our nursery of future sports – and other – talent is supported in every way possible.

Following confirmation from the two Ministers, we will report to you in detail but we continue to push for an increase in the amount of time allocated to physical education and sport within the context of a full curriculum which is restricted by a school day from 08h00 to 14h00 but I wish to record my thanks to our colleagues who are committed to this aim within the constraints in which they operate. We have also begun to explore other areas in which we can cooperate together to ensure that we expand opportunities for our children to participate and this is a welcome development. We hope that during this financial year, we will jointly make some exciting announcements!

Promoting physical education and sport in school is important for life-long participation. People who exercise regularly in their youth are more likely to continue to exercise in later years. Research in the United Kingdom (UK) since 2002 shows that 'Specialist Sports Schools' and schools with physical education and a sport focus have shown improved academic results and reported reductions in truancy – this is why we are so committed to ensure that physical education and sport become stand alone!

There is no question that physical education is the competence of our sister department. However, we can and will assist and we have already committed that all teaching materials we have on our books for physical education must be made available to the DoE. It is important that, in bringing physical education back into the curriculum, we ensure a quality experience for our children. We need to ensure that our educators are able to help children develop their motor learning skills and their basic fitness – a good foundation technique is critical to the child's future development.

Once the learner is identified as having talent, through collaboration with our national federations, we need to place them with provincial academies and develop that talent. This we need to do in close cooperation with the DoE, the national federations and our tertiary institutions which hold the expert knowledge of sports science and medicine.

In the spirit of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, we launched the South African Schools Soccer World Cup together with the DoE in partnership with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and the FIFA 2010 World Cup Organising Committee. This tournament for under 14 (U14) and under 18 (U18) boys and girls will mobilise our communities from now until the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This project will be linked with other 2010 legacy projects such as the Supersport one million ball project for schools which in addition to the training of volunteers will contribute to a lasting legacy.

We are clear: educators must run sport in schools. We will continue to encourage the national federations to take responsibility for sport in schools and for the committees of educators who bring so much experience and energy to our federations. We need a seamless process to ensure that our children and youth get the full benefit of sport for competition and recreation purposes without having to understand who controls what aspect of the sport.

However, the Minister and I have both been fortunate to identify talent on our forays into our rural areas, talent which has not come to the notice of the federations. We are therefore pushing our department hard to establish a club to take such athletes into the system to be developed and handed over to the federations as important partners to the process to ensure that we leave no stone unturned in our continuing search for success.

We have agreed that the best way forward on the national academy is for us to use the expertise and de-centralise the services provided to our elite and sub-elite athletes where they live and train. Thus we have brought on stream all our tertiary institutions with the 19 identified priority sports. After the Olympic and Paralympic Games, we will review with SASCOC the criteria for being a 'priority sport', include Government priorities as part of the criteria and consider the performances of the federations not only in terms of on the field but also in the boardrooms.

Accountability at all levels is important. In this process we believe that we need to expand the services in the short-term offered to athletes. These include insurance, career development and life skills advice. Too often an athlete gets injured and is unable to compete and thus earn a living consistently from the sport. When he or she does earn a living we need to ensure that they are also able to continue their training to be able to perform at an optimal level through leveraging appropriate job and study opportunities for them.

There have been many stories particularly of successful Kenyan runners who made their fortunes but were not able to keep them and we hope that life skills support will guide our athletes in this regard.

Among our other international commitments this year are the Commonwealth Youth Games and the Supreme Council of Sport in Africa (SCSA) Zone VI under 20 (U20) Youth Games which we are hosting in Tlokwe from the 7th to 17th October 2008. These developmental games in seven sports, athletics (including track events for the visually impaired), swimming, basketball (men and women), boxing, soccer (women and men), netball and tennis will attract the best U20 athletes in our country to compete against our friends from Southern African Development Community (SADC). The mark of these games will be top class competition, cultural exchange and social cohesion contributing to New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) in a very real way. We hope that these games will add to other efforts to establish friendships across the borders and help fight xenophobia in our country and elsewhere on the continent.

I would like to thank our colleagues from the Ministry of Defence for their assistance in accommodating the teams at their installation in Tlokwe, the Tlokwe Municipality, the North West Province and the University of the North West for their support in this endeavour which will be a great success.

This is an excellent example of one of our up and coming towns enjoying the benefits of sports tourism. When we talk about a legacy for 2010, people will appreciate that legacy is not just about mega sports events but also about regional and local events. It is also not just about facilities being built and roads upgraded but it is also about the 'soft side' of a legacy – the positive impact on the people, the national pride demonstrated by the volunteers who will remember the experience for the rest of their lives about what the residents of Tlokwe experienced of the cultures of SADC and what our children learn through appreciating and supporting diversity as a result.

South African Tourism tells us that in 2006 approximately, 1, 6 percent of all foreign arrivals were to participate in or observe sports events hosted here. This translates into 130 000 visitors out of 8, 4 million who came to South Africa in 2006. In 2007, globally 10 percent of GDP was generated through tourism and this is estimated to triple by 2020 and it is important that South Africa increases its share of this market. Internationally, in 2006, just over half of all international tourist arrivals were motivated by leisure, recreation and holidays (51%) – a total of 430 million. We need to tap into this market and reap the benefits of sports tourism for South Africa. Germany, in 2005, earned US$29, 2 billion from tourism.

In 2006, this increased to US$32, 8 billion – a large portion of this as a result of hosting the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Already, tourism contributes seven percent to our GDP and working together, we can expand this through bringing more sports events to our country. For example, the 1995 Rugby World Cup generated direct expenditure of R300 million and indirect expenditure of up to R500 million.

This is the reality of sports tourism that must be coordinated and guided for the benefit of our citizens.

Staging major sporting events is a catalyst for inward investment and stimulating economic regeneration in regions and cities as Barcelona did for the 1992 Olympic and Paralympic Games and as London is doing in its Docklands in preparation for 2012. A greater understanding of the broader economic benefits has led to increased competition for staging major events. Hosting the Triathlon World Cup in Richards Bay has done wonders for the reputation of Richards Bay and South Africa in the world of international sport.

Limpopo has an excellent shooting range and we should again investigate hosting a world event there. We are looking to develop a strategy to host international and continental events to bring the benefits to our country and to ensure de-centralisation wherever possible to our smaller towns. Can you imagine if we were able to host a Formula One event similar to the Monaco Grand Prix and how many people around the world would be able to view the beauty of the host city via television?

There are many spin-offs, not just of cars, for South Africa through hosting major international events and our strategy will address this.

We also need to thank our colleagues in the provinces for working to expand our mass participation programmes in our everyday lives. We are too often driven by meeting numerical targets but we need to address the quality of our programmes and working creatively to measure our success perhaps by taking people's heart rates resting and after activity over a period of a couple of months so that progress can be seen by the participant so that they come back for more. We, together with the national federations and the provinces, will increase the number of wards in which we work from 36 hubs or wards in 2004 to 451 this year.

We will as a result increase the number of people involved but we need to track the increase as a measure of our success together with the improved health of our citizens. There are numerous synergies that we need to bring to bear through working with our international partners through our international agreements, our (NGOs), our federations and those who just go out and make it happen.

We also need your assistance in monitoring the progress we make in the wards and we welcome your advice and guidance in this important area.

A study done last year on the impact of our mass participation programme showed that 12, 4% of the coordinators obtained permanent employment outside the Mass Participation Programme (SMPP), and 58, 5% viewed themselves as 'more employable' as a result of their experience working with us. If we all play our part in the creation of this active and winning nation that we want, we can achieve more – including job creation.

Another partnership which we rightly need to recognise is that with sponsors. There are some which work at the top end of sport where the return on investment is publicity, exposure and sales. There are many which work at the development end and their return on investment is employee satisfaction when they get involved in development projects, in spreading the name of the sponsor in all our communities which ultimately raises the profile and sales of that sponsor.

Whatever the reason for sponsorship, we are thankful that so many in the private sector publicly and privately support sport and we hope that many more will see the benefits of sport and get involved – not only by giving money but also by providing expertise. We need to expand our horizons and see the possibilities of an airline company partnering a sport because the research on aerodynamics could well be applied to cycling or perhaps sailing. Some companies can – and unfortunately should – assist in guiding our federations in improving their corporate governance. Others can provide accounting services and the list goes on. As our President said, this year is marked by the need to make "Business unusual" and the creativity of the private sector combined with sport is an exciting prospect.

As you will be aware, we were able to pass into legislation the National Sport and Recreation Amendment Act last year. This has already brought some sanity to our sports system and has been tested. Recently, the Minister was able to apply his mind to the application by South African Football Association (SAFA) to bring in a foreign coach and we wish Mr Santana well in guiding our national asset to 2010.

We also hope that he will leave a definitive legacy by mentoring some of our younger coaches. We have federations at all levels working with SASCOC to resolve their disputes internally without recourse to the courts. We still need to encourage federations to ensure that their constitutions comply with disputes being referred to SASCOC and our department rather than to the international federation or to the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS). This piece of legislation is long overdue and must be applied not only in spirit but in the letter of the law. Many federations speak about autonomy. The Amendment Act makes it clear that there is no autonomy without responsibility and accountability. As a nation, we must ensure good governance and that we achieve our nation's priorities together.

I have had the honour and pleasure to work closely with My Minister over the past five years, re-establishing working relationship which began when he was chief whip in the first democratically elected Parliament. I would like to pay tribute to him for his guidance, patience and willingness to share his vast experience of the complex world of sport with me.

Minister Stofile represents our continent on the Board of the World Anti-Doping Agency and this year, he has taken on the role of chairperson of the Zone VI of the Supreme Council of Sport in Africa. Mfundisi – I greatly appreciate your wise counsel and ongoing guidance.

I have outlined some of our successes achieved and our challenges faced. We have many challenges still to meet which, with the guidance of Minister Stofile, I relish and look forward to overcoming with the support of our department and our colleagues in the NCOP.

In closing, we remember the pinnacle of our success last year and that was undoubtedly regaining the William Webb Ellis Trophy! I hope sincerely that our Olympic and Paralympic teams which have now been announced will emulate their successes of 2004 – beating the hosts on their home ground will make the medal more of an achievement.

To those who are going out to represent our nation must do so with pride, dignity and in the spirit of Ubuntu. In doing so, I urge our federations and sporting heroes and heroines not to let the opportunity slip through our fingers once again to instil in our national psyche the ongoing contribution we must make to social cohesion and thus to contribute to our motto of 'Striving to create an active and winning nation'.

I thank you.

Issued by: Sport and Recreation South Africa
12 June 2008