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6 June 2008

Honourable Speaker
Honourable Premier
Members of the Executive Council
Members of the Provincial Legislature
Officials from the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture
Comrades and friends
Ladies and gentlemen

On April 27 this year, this country celebrated its 14th anniversary as a democratic entity. As we march ahead unabated, we continue to look back at the torrid history of our past and how we emerged with flying colours as a nation full of hope and agility.

As part of our resolve to broaden the approach of celebrating our commemorative days, the Department, in collaboration with the Department of Education, facilitated official flag hosting sessions at schools during the week preceding Our Freedom Day. We will next year further add impetus to this activity to ensure that our children and youth in general have a clear understanding of the importance of this day.

We will be celebrating our National Youth Day in just over a week. While government has progressed considerably in mainstreaming issues that challenge youth, there is much that still needs to be improved. We note that the greatest challenges that face our nation affect the youth more adverse than is the case with the entire population.

At the centre of involving our youth in our quest for a better nation for all, our youth needs to comprehend our history and the path we have undertaken to follow.

Madam Speaker, it is with disdain that we note the recent developments that threaten to erode our hard earned victory over a segregationist and oppressive order.

Firstly, we join the many voices that continue to echo throughout the country in condemning the racially motivated acts of atrocity at the University of Free State. Our country once more proved itself as a nation that will not tolerate divisive activities by uniting against such immoral acts.

Secondly, we condemn the recent spate of xenophobic attacks on fellow Africans, who would otherwise not have chosen refuge in our country had it not been for the appalling circumstances in their countries of origin. We remind these unpatriotic perpetrators that the sizeable number of the current corps of leadership in our country, be it political, academic or economic, owes its experience and knowledge to the African nation.

We need to remind these perpetrators that it was from taxpayers of African nations that the liberation movement managed to sustain its war against apartheid. These African brothers and sisters gave us refuge and life skills when it was not possible to acquire these in our country of birth.

At the height of repression in this country, our youth crossed borders into neighbouring countries without passports and returned as combatants to overthrow the apartheid government. Today we stand as one of the nations that remain enviable; we have become a bastion of cohesion and brotherhood.

Honourable members, during the Executive Council Lekgotla held in August last year, we presented a number of challenges facing our young democracy and how we should nurture the gains that we have already acquired as a nation. At the backdrop of all our challenges is the unfettered and rigorous struggle of a people that was sustained over centuries and resulted in emancipation.

It is therefore deliberate that the African National Congress, as a liberation movement and the ruling party since democracy, clearly articulates in its Strategy and Tactics document of December 2007, that:

"The liberation struggle by the oppressed communities, even in the midst of confrontation, developed moral values of human compassion and solidarity far beyond the narrow confines of its opposition to the apartheid system. It represents something good, not just something better than apartheid. It asserts the humanness of the human spirit – the search for societies at peace within and among themselves."

We wish to reiterate the crux of the statement afore as implying that our struggle was not limited to opposing apartheid. The struggle was a manifestation of an unquestionable commitment to social cohesion. As a result, social cohesion was one of the core intentions and conduct during the period of struggle.

We are acutely aware that the pursuance of social cohesion is at the core of our mandate and the work that we do. It is for this reason that we will continue to talk about the heroes and heroines of our struggle that was waged over centuries with the objective of clinging to the moral values of human compassion and solidarity that was definitive of the selfless commitment of these leaders.

In our pursuit to rekindle the rich history of our nation and the role played by some of the most outstanding individuals that lived in this province, we last year took this house through the bravery escapades of Jager and Jonker Afrikaaner, two sons of the Northern Cape who in the late 18th and early 19th century resisted colonial authority first in Namaqualand and then along the Gariep, eventually settling in central Namibia where they founded Windhoek.

We will inform this house of another famous son of both the Northern Cape and Namibia. Madam Speaker, allow us to start at the point of the occurrences in Namaqualand in the period shortly after the departure of Jager Afrikaaner.

This year marks the 210th anniversary of the so-called the 'Namaqualand Revolt', which followed a series of disturbances in Namaqualand from 1796 that had driven European settlement back south of the Groene Rivier. The rising of 1798 is remarkable in that for the first time the mutually antagonistic indigenous people of the Cape Colony, the Khoi Khoi, the San and the so-called coloureds, found common cause in resisting Trekboer incursions into their country.

The rising commenced in the Kammiesberg following provocation of the Nama by a commando which confiscated firearms and registered people's names with several commando leaders threatening that the purpose of such registration was enslavement of the people. The unrest spread to farm workers and eventually brought in the San living over the Kamiesberg in Bushmanland. It culminated in a confrontation between several commandos and a large force of freedom fighters along the Buffelsrivier, or more correctly the Koussies River, near present day Springbok, in February 1799.

A hundred and five years later, on 12 January 1904, the Herero of Namibia rose against German subjugation. Over the next months, the resistance spread to include almost all the other communities of Southern Namibia. In the war of the next four years more than half the Nama population and almost three-quarters of the Herero people perished.

Jakob Marengo, a major hero of this struggle was born in Namibia of a Herero father and Nama mother, but grew up and was educated at Pella. As an adult, he joined the Bondelswart community just over the Gariep at Warmbad. Marengo symbolises the fact that the war of 1904 to 1908 was not one of ethnic identity, but one where for the first time Namibians of different cultural background stood shoulder to shoulder against oppression. His background and subsequent actions also show the disregard of colonised people for the national boundaries imposed upon them.

On 26 October 1904, a German force killed Jan Abraham Christian, the chief of the Bondelswarts, whereafter Marengo assumed military leadership of his people. He was a master of guerrilla warfare and after over 200 attacks on Germans, was by early 1906 one of the only two leaders remaining in the field. In April that year, his force was pushed over the border into the Northern Cape where on 4 May; the Germans took him by surprise at Rooisvlei. With a price of 20 000 Marks on his head and severely wounded he escaped to put himself in the custody of the Cape Police.

For a year he languished in prison, but with the war in Namibia all but over, Marengo was released in July 1907 on condition that he does not return to his people. It is not known if he did, but a few months later Marengo and his men were operating on the Cape side of the border near Noenieput. Cape troops, together with German officers, were sent from Cape Town and eventually surrounded him and his ten remaining followers at Eensaamheidspan, 100km north of Upington.

At the end of a day long battle during which over 5 000 rounds of ammunition were fired by over 100 troops, Marengo and six of his followers were dead. The Battle of Eensaamheidspan took place on 20 September 1907 and this year, Saturday, 20 September, will mark the 101st anniversary of the battle.

Honourable members, we last year raised the issue of our forgotten heroes and heroines and undertook to commence appropriate commemoration of their contributions over the coming triennium. The 'Heroes and Heroines' programme is a flagship programme of this Department and last year, through collaboration with the Office of Premier, we were able to dedicate a memorial on the gravesite of Kgosi Galeshewe and successfully ensured the return and reburial of the remains of the Griqua leader, Cornelis Kok and his followers in Campbell. These projects and various related research programmes in the Department laid the groundwork for the 'Heroes and Heroines' programme which will unfold further in the coming financial year.

We are glad to announce to the house that the 2008/09 financial year will see a further expansion of this programme to the Kalahari and Namaqualand where we will appropriately recognise the contributions of the heroes of 1798/99 and Jakob Marengo.

Furthermore, since we will be celebrating Youth Day in ten days, it is appropriate that I mention two projects that show the depth and scope of our heroes and heroines project. Both concern the contribution of the youth of the 1980's.

On 2 July 1985, police shot four young people at the end of a day of protest in Colesberg. It is intended as part of a project to place commemorative plaques at 20 sites this year, to mark the site of the deaths of these young people who became known as the Colesberg 4.

Shortly after events in Colesberg on 13 November 1985, a municipal policeman was found dead on a soccer field in Paballelo, following several days of protest in that township. 26 people, most of them youth, were arrested, charged with murder and after a marathon two year trial held for another two years on death row. Ways of commemorating the Upington 26 are also being explored and will form part of the programme during September Heritage Month.

The Upington 26 project is being undertaken in co-operation with the KharaHais Municipality and we welcome the response from other municipalities, amongst which is the Frances Baard District Municipality with whom we are presently working on a project to erect a statue of Frances Baard.

This year will also see the erection of a memorial on the grave of Cornelis Kok and his followers and the commencement of a process that will in the course of the triennium see the erection of a statue of Kgosi Galeshewe. We will during this financial year unveil a new live size statue of Comrade Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje, as promised by the Premier on the day of the unveiling the tombstone of Kgosi Galeshewe.

We have also tasked ourselves to resolve the final location of the current statue of Sol Plaatje. These projects are made possible by the addition of an amount of R2,3 million to the budget of the Heritage Directorate.

In keeping with our intention to inform this house of the great sons and daughters of our soil, allow me to describe the very little known peculiarity of Kimberley around the time that Sol Plaatje arrived in the town. As a new and growing mining town, Kimberley offered several unique opportunities that educated Africans could not access elsewhere. As a result, the town was both a host and agency of intellectual activity.

Largely forgotten intellectuals like Bud M'belle, Nelson Lindie, Eliza Kosani and the Reverend Jonathan Jabavu became role models for and provided personal inspiration to Sol Plaatje. Bud M'belle, for example, was a pioneer sports administrator in the town and introduced Plaatje to cricket to the extent that he became the secretary of the Eccentrics Cricket Club in 1895!

These leading figures must be remembered and honoured so that the myth that the only names worthy of mentioning from that time are Rhodes, Barnato and the like.

To this effect, the Department will in September launch a travelling exhibition of the African Intellectuals Project. This project is a result of research into the work of these acclaimed African academics and writers during the diamond rush and was conducted by the Human Science Research Council as commissioned by the Department. The project will be concluded with the publishing of a book on the lives of these heroes and heroines.

Madam Speaker, we have noted the great enthusiasm that the recognition of neglected heritage creates amongst our people. The events at Hartswater and Campbell last year were testimony to the positive role that the 'Heroes and Heroines' project plays in communities and how it enhances their pride and sense of community in line with this government's programme of social cohesion.

Madam Speaker, the greatest challenge is not the creation of heritage sites but the monitoring and control thereof. We announce today that the Heritage Resource Unit receives an allocation that is more than double the budget of the previous financial year. An amount of R2,68 million has been set aside for this unit over the 2008/09 financial year.

Honourable members, one of the critical mandates of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture are the responsibility to oversee and manage our museums. We have over the past year focused our endeavours in repositioning the museum services of the province to ensure that its impact is magnified and touches areas that have historically been void of this service.

This financial year will see the Museums Unit receiving an additional R500 000 with the primary focus of strengthening the capacity of research staff in the above mentioned and other projects.

In addition, staff will be recruited for outreach programmes necessary for results of the research conveyed to communities. This process will increase the capacity and sustainability of the use of the Mobile Museum Unit, which was piloted last year and saw increased engagement with educators and learners over a three month period reaching over 4 000 learners. In so doing, our museums unit will exceed its target for learners by almost 100%.

As already resolved by our Executive Council, the McGregor Museum will shortly take a new name that better reflects its new role and responsibilities. This is a measure undertaken by the Department to ensure that the museum institution is reflective of the province in its entirety. The new state of affairs will see improved museum services.

Madam Speaker, last year we announced that the Richtersveld Community Conservancy, south of the Orange River, would be considered for World Heritage status. We are elated to report to this house that our endeavours resulted in resounding success as this conservancy is now an official World Heritage site. Following the success of the Richtersveld endeavour, the Department has already embarked on the nomination of the Big Hole as a World Heritage Site.

Honourable members, very relevant and closely linked to the role of the Heritage Directorate are our Library and Archive Services. Both units have the monumental responsibility of not only preserving but also ensuring the wealth embedded in our natural and human resources is disseminated.

From the earliest times when events were recorded on tablets and walls of caves, we became aware of the need to preserve history and record information for generations to come. The Royal Library of Alexandria in Ancient Egypt – in Africa! - was once the largest library in the ancient world. Some historical evidence points to its existence in the first century before Christ, however, it is generally believed this library was founded in the third century BC when the first building in a complex that would eventually have a 5 000 seating capacity was built.

This library was created during the reign of Ptolemy II of Egypt in a building his father built. In excavations, the same features would often appear in sites. These are literary texts as well as religious and administrative documents – the basis for any library. Tablets as well as scrolls would be found to be protected in buildings of this nature and tables and benches seem to be provided for sitting – indeed, a library!

The Library Services section of the Department performs a strategic role to deliver services to communities through the municipalities. In this regard we assist municipalities to strengthen their capacity through the provision of funding to be utilised for library transformation and development. In this financial year, an amount of R9,3 million is dedicated for this purpose. This relates to an estimated R3,2 million from the equitable share and R6,1 million from the conditional grant framework dedicated to ensure quality service delivery.

In the 2006/07 financial year our total expenditure on library materials (books) amounted to an estimated R3,3 million with an amount in excess of R11 million spent in the 2007/08 financial year. In this current year, we look forward to placing material with a value of R13 million on library shelves in the Northern Cape. This has enabled us to provide a complete new stock which is relevant and responsive to the demands of our current reality. Our material will then address the curriculum demands of learners to a large extent as well as paying particular attention to Early Childhood Learning and Development through the provision of another 25 toy libraries at a local level.

For the quantity and quality of material we will be able to place on library shelves, our objective is to ensure that relevant and up-to-date information is made available at all times. The increased intensity of utilising the materials by communities will add impetus to the mass literacy campaign centralised within the Education Sector. This increased use will also serve to further promote our services within the communities we serve.

Madam Speaker, we are proud to announce to the house that this province will, in this financial year, see the beginning of the construction of four newly designed libraries with the most innovative service solutions. These libraries will be located in the Dikgatlong, Phokwane, Nama Khoi and Ubuntu Municipalities.

The current infrastructure which is utilised for library services is not necessarily custom made and the Northern Cape will, for the first time, be establishing infrastructure tailor made for this purpose. A budget of R14,3 million in total has been earmarked for this purpose.

Honourable members, the Premier of the province recently launched the Container Library Service project wherein 40 container libraries will be distributed to the most far-flung areas of our province to ensure that even the remotest of communities receive library services. In this project we will spend an estimated R5,7 million in this financial year to distribute a further 40 container libraries throughout the province.

Riverton, as one of the receiving communities of the mobile libraries will benefit dearly as this has not been an available service. We will bring the world to Riverton, not take Riverton to the world. Our youth will be able to empower themselves with knowledge far above the levels which we were informed at in our youth! If they know better, they can do better!

In addition to the overall programmes of library services which include literacy and reading habits, the Department has set aside an amount of R250 000 this financial year, to serve as a Writer's Grant. This project offers writers the opportunity to develop and publish material that will enhance and promote social cohesion. In this regard, we will support the Nama Proverbs Development Project in the Richtersveld together with the Language Unit of our Department both as a contribution to indigenous language development and making available local heritage content to a wider audience.

The construction of the Provincial Archives Repository will commence in this year with the allocation of R5 million. Project management and design of the project has been awarded and work has already commenced. In addition to it representing a physical space for the storage of our administrative history, the strategic importance of the repository relates to the role it will play in making information accessible to support the transformation of our society. If we know better, we can do better!

Honourable members, we have thus far spent time outlining the approach related programmes of the department in preserving and nurturing our natural and human resources. We would however not complete this process without delving into the abundant wealth of talent that is available in the province.

We applaud the diligence and commitments of a number of artists who continue to serve as living prove that our artists can attain national recognition for outstanding performance. It is for this reason that the Department continue to support our performing artists through the provision of capacity development training.

We will this year begin with the first critical steps towards developing the province's first ever Arts and Culture Strategy. The main purpose of this process will be to develop a long term strategy for the growth and development of the arts and culture sector. The strategy will identify existing gaps in relation to policy, legislation, infrastructure and institutional arrangements. It will also table interventions intending to deal with current inefficiencies in the sector – both within government and the sector as a whole.

We will also this year work with municipalities, the Department of Education as well as the arts community and other role players to develop a provincial plan to promote and sustain Community Arts Centres. This plan will serve as the base of our broader Arts and Culture facilities plan where services such as training and development will be made more accessible to our artists and the broader communities.

Part of the plan will look at providing support to arts centres already in existence and those that offer limited services to communities.

The Department has already commenced discussions with the National Institute of Higher Education's Academy of Music to start a feasibility study into the establishment of a Music Training Institution at the Mayibuye Centre so as to achieve our ultimate objective of establishing a Provincial Symphony Orchestra within the next three to five years.

In terms of visual arts and craft development, the Department will be embarking on a training programme on ceramic training as well as the development of a Craft Catalogue of all crafters in the province.

Our intent to establish a focus on the development of cultural practitioners is evident by the number and variety of training and development programmes we intend implementing this year. We will hold script writing and music workshops throughout the province, 30 violinists will be trained in Springbok and at Mayibuye, 30 artists will benefit from the vocal art programme and a large number of dancers will benefit from our line dance, choreography and indigenous dance projects. To support the performing arts, we will commission the production of two plays by local producers, directors, writers and actors in this year. R3,3 million is available to achieve the above projects in this year.

Madam Speaker, we gladly report to this house that the Mayibuye Multipurpose Centre was officially opened by the Honourable Premier on 28th September 2007. This Centre managed to immediately find its standing as one of the jewels of our province.

The centre has hosted over 30 events since its opening which includes the first 2010 FIFA World Medical Conference in the country which saw medical doctors from all over the world converging on the centre to discuss medical matters related to the hosting of the 2010 World cup.

During this financial year, our focus will be on ensuring that the Centre positions itself as the Centre for Excellence that it was envisioned to become by our predecessors. Key among these is the establishment of a governing Board to lead the growth and sustainability of the Centre.

While we are striving to resolve the governance arrangements for Mayibuye, we are proud to announce that we will also activate the full spectrum of the facilities available at the centre.

A ceramics programme will be conducted at the arts studio while its products will be sold at the crafts shop that we will open in this year. The language laboratory will host a research project into language development as well as an interpreters’ training project in support of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In addition both the dance and music studios will be the facilities for the implementation of our related departmental programmes.

Allow us, Madame Speaker, to announce to the house that the Mayibuye Centre will play host to the first ever Ulysses "Gogi" Modise Memorial Lecture tomorrow. This lecture is in honour of one of this province's greatest sons who passed away during 2007.

The Mayibuye Centre will benefit from an allocation of R4,3 million in this financial year.

Language development is a central element of our mandate and resides at the heart of the strife for social cohesion. We recognise the need to accelerate in this regard and as a start, Madame Speaker, we have now consolidated our relationship with our strategic partners within and outside the province. We have established the Provincial Language Forum (PLF) in conjunction with all our strategic partners to ensure that all programmes in support of language development are well co-ordinated and no duplication takes place.

During March 2008, we successfully co-hosted the first ever Provincial Language Lekgotla in this very Chamber in conjunction with the Legislature and the Provincial Language Committee. One of the central outcomes of the Lekgotla has been the Action Plan that was adopted and will be implemented over the next few years by the department and its partners.

This year will also see the development of a compilation of Nama proverbs. This project will be done through a process of recording elderly people who speak Nama. Fieldworkers will be paid by the department to gather the required information. The final editing will be done in collaboration with Nama experts based at the University of Windhoek in Namibia.

We are also scheduled to host an African Literature Book Festival in the Province. The aim is to give opportunity for writers, poets and publishers to market their products, with special emphasis on African and other indigenous literature.

The Department has already commenced discussions with the National Institute of Higher Education on the possibility of establishing research capacity in support of the Khoi and Nama languages in the province. Members will remember that this province hosts the largest number of speakers of these languages, thus the need to ensure that we build the necessary capacity in support of the development and sustainability of these languages.

Madame Speaker, we at the beginning of our presentation mentioned the importance of our heritage and our heroes and heroines. Closely linked to this programme is the names given to natural and human constructed features throughout our country which remains reflective of the apartheid era.

A concerted and corrective programme needs to speedily take shape to rename some of the offensive and inappropriate names. It is for this reason that we elevated the geographic name changing project to that of a flagship as it is already one of the Apex projects for our government.

Already, a total of five Municipal Advisory Committees have been established in the Richtersveld, Nama Khoi, Khai Ma, Karoo Hoogland and Hantam municipalities. Ten name changes have subsequently been effected in the Namaqua District.

The Department, in collaboration with the Provincial Geographic Names Committee (PGNC), will be intensifying the name change process through a massive public awareness campaign to ensure that we increase public awareness and participation in the process of effecting name changes. We have allocated R750 000 to the PGNC this year to enable them to fulfil their critical responsibilities.

We have already commenced this process by writing to Mayors in the province to start with the changing of street names within their areas. We have encouraged municipalities to identify at least three names per municipality that they change within the next three months.

The highlight of the PGNC's programmes for this year will be Amagama (names) School Project. This project is aimed at involving learners in the renaming process by inviting them to participate in research about the origin of geographic names in their respective areas. The PGNC will sponsor prizes to the best performing schools.

The PGNC has also set itself the task of engaging private property owners through their unions and associations to get rid of derogatory names attached to their properties.

During May 2008, the Executive Council approved a submission by the Department to rename all government buildings in the province. Interaction with all relevant stakeholders in the province has already commenced and we hope to finalise the first phase of this process by the end of this financial year. We would like to encourage members to play an active role in this process as it intensifies over the next few weeks.

On 13 April 2008, Trevor Immelman became only the second South African in 41 years to win the Masters Golf tournament at Augusta, United States of America – ahead of the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia – a magnificent achievement indeed. On 20 October 2007, South Africa won the Webb Ellis trophy in becoming rugby world champions.

Natalie du Toit and Oscar Pistorius are national heroes for defeating all odds and displaying the strength of character befitting those we label "great". Our under 19 cricket team reached the final of the under 19 ICC cricket world cup with two local boys in the team – Reeza Hendricks and Roy Adams.

Ruben Ramolefi, born and bred in Topline near Upington, became the first South African athlete to qualify to participate in the 3 000 metre Steeple-chase event at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Madam Speaker, I repeat, we are indeed a nation and province of heroes and heroines!

Madam Speaker, I will continue to inform this house of our heroes and heroines. Allow me to relate the story of one of the greatest sporting heroes of this province.

In 1975, Sam Ramsamy, then coach of the Havering Swimming Club at Crystal Palace in London, arranged for five black swimmers from South Africa to join and train at the club. These highly talented swimmers were of course barred from international participation at the time. Amongst this group were two local boys – Sharief Abass and Brian Hermanus.

After a mere two weeks of training at the club, Brian Hermanus swam against a local swimmer, David Wilkie, in the 100m breast-stroke. It must, however, be noted that Wilkie at the time was the reigning British, World and Olympic (1972) champion. Wilkie also held the 100 m breast-stroke world record at 65 seconds.

Brian, who had done most of his swimming in the 25 yard floors swimming pool in Kimberley, beat the world champion in a time of 65,5 seconds – a mere 0,5 seconds outside the world record. Brian and Sharief continued to win numerous events during their three month stay in London.

Madam Speaker, this story compels us to write the history of sport in the Northern Cape – a project we will launch in this year. This book must talk of the formation of Thistles Rugby Football Club 100 years ago, it must talk of the Eccentrics Cricket Club in 1895, it must talk of the many intense duels between Dalton Brothers and Orlando Pirates or Kaizer Chiefs at the old King George soccer field and it must confirm that Kimberley was the origin of organised black sport in the country.

Madam Speaker, to continue this tradition and culture of winners and excellence in sport, we must re-position and re-define our role in the sector. We must provide leadership and strategic direction for sport. A new and long-term vision and plan for the development of sport in this province is now necessary.

This is precisely the strategic intent of the Sport Growth, Development and Transformation Strategy that we are currently concluding and that we will launch at a Sport Indaba in this year. This Strategy will clearly define roles, set targets, enable coordination in the sector and provide a vision and implementation plan for the next ten years.

A major strategic thrust of this strategy is to dramatically increase the role of the Sport Council and to re-structure its composition and institutional arrangements. In order for them to play the type of role that we envisage, we will have to dramatically increase the current allocation to the sport council of R400 000.

Madam Speaker, let me highlight that in our preparations of developing a sustainable sporting legacy for our province a number of projects will be undertaken to support our sport growth and development strategy.

Such initiatives and commitments include the construction of swimming pools and the introduction of mobile pools in our communities and identified schools.

This project is in line with the water safety campaign, the learn-to-swim and Aquatics programmes that will be promoted throughout the province to primarily minimise drowning and promote swimming as a sport. An amount of R4,9 million is earmarked for these programmes.

Honourable members, sport and recreation infrastructure remains central and key to the promotion of sport development. Since the transfer of funds from the Building for Sport and Recreation Programme to the Municipal Infrastructure Grant in 2004, our province has not produced one new sport facility in our province. We must highlight this phenomenon as a set-back for sport in the province. We can, however, report that our efforts to highlight this challenge of non delivery of sport facilities has ensured that the fund is reverted back to the Building for Sport and Recreation Programme under the auspices of the Department of Sport and Recreation. We are looking forward to channelling this funding ourselves next year to ensure that we provide our communities and athletes with the much needed opportunity and enabling environment to participate in sport and recreation to the fullest.

We will also continue to focus our attention on the preparation and selection of athletes for major events and tournaments through support to the necessary structures with the aim of ensuring that these athletes perform at levels that the province can be proud of. An amount of R1,5 million is earmarked to support this process. A further R350 000 will be transferred to the Northern Cape Sport Academy to ensure that our high performance programme support these athletes.

Another of our critical programmes is Sport in Schools. This programme is geared towards positioning schools as an incubator for sport development as well as the mass mobilisation of learners to become active and live a healthier lifestyle.

We have this year targeted and selected 90 schools to for the mass mobilisation through our mass participation programme – these schools benefit from the appointment of sport assistants, procurement of sport equipment and support for leagues and competitions. Competitive sport in schools will be supported to prepare all selected athletes at school level the opportunity to compete at national and international levels.

Our support to school sport extends further to include building sport management and administration capacity, supporting inter and intra school leagues, life-skills training and promoting school sport clusters in municipalities. We have allocated a total of R8,5 million to promote and support school sport in totality this year.

The Mass Participation Programme (MPP) conditional grant of R18,7 million has enabled us to broaden our sport development programme and will also enable us to implement recreation programmes and other special projects such as the Siyadlala programme and MPP legacy project.

The Siyadlala programme has been allocated R9,1 million and is directed in the main to mobilise communities into healthier life-styles, to support moral regeneration and substance abuse programmes. Various games and festivals at ward, municipal and district level will be implemented. Pilot public viewing areas will be held this year to prepare for 2010 and will be built around major sport events in the year. Another initiative is the project designed to assist youth in conflict with the law through participating in structured sport and recreation programmes.

The MPP Legacy project with a budget of R2 million will support the creation of legacy programmes toward 2010 and focuses on under 17 football development as well as developing clubs specifically in hockey, swimming, rugby and athletics.

735 days Madam Speaker, I repeat 735 days! This is the time remaining before the kick-off of the 2010 FIFA World Cup on 11 June 2010 in the country. We must double and even treble our efforts and work to ensure that we gain maximum benefits from this enormous spectacle for our province. The potential for both sport and economic development is so huge that we must bemoan the allocation of only R4,1 million this year for the 2010 programme in our vote. Madam Speaker, if we want to tap into the potential which 2010 offers, we must dramatically increase our own investment and spending in this regard.

In preparation for the biggest sporting event in our country, we have developed the 2010 Provincial Integrated Plan. Four strategic priority areas were subsequently identified for focussed attention to ensure that we have a successful 2010 experience in the province. These are: tourism, base camps, legacy programmes and fan parks and public viewing areas.

Our legacy programmes are both infrastructure and events based to ensure that a development legacy is left post 2010. To this effect we will be hosting the COSAFA u/20 football tournament at the end of the year. The star youth football players of fourteen Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries will then converge in the province.

The Futbol Forever project – an Argentenian programme - is a further legacy project being piloted in the province. Participants will not only derive high level football coaching and administrative skills, but also partake in various life-skills programmes.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to announce the imminent development of the first hockey astro-turf in the province. This legacy project is a partnership with First National Bank and Sol Plaatje Municipality and will see the development of the artificial hockey pitch and an artificial soccer pitch being developed at the old King George field in Galeshewe. The project which will be done before the end of this year (2008) will cost R6,5 million of which we will contribute R1 million.

We have allocated R900 000 in order to attract professional soccer matches to the province. We will continue to strive to get Bafana Bafana to play an international match in the province.

The flagship of our infrastructure legacy programme is the development of a multi-purpose sport complex in the province. We have completed the design work of this complex that will provide the quality and type of facilities needed to elevate participation and achievements in sport in this province. We are aggressively and vigorously lobbying various donors to realise this ambition.

An amount of R350 000 has been allocated to market the province as a base camp. To this score, we are in the process of developing a professionally compiled Brochure and DVD to advertise the qualitative products and services of the province for the benefit of securing a participating country. This package will be completed by June 2008. We will endeavour to attract a top 10 ranked team to use Kimberley and Upington as base camps for the duration of the event.

It is imperative that we highlight the advantages of our Altitude of about 1 250 m above sea level, the easy access through the Kimberley and Upington Airports, the excellent hotels and the training venues that must be upgraded in time for this spectacular tournament. An allocation of R480 000 has been set aside for the lobbying of participating countries.

In pursuance of sport development throughout the province and to enable local clubs and leagues to be sustained, we will transfer another R800 000 to eight municipalities for this purpose.

Madam Speaker the nature and extent of the programmes we have just described begins to reflect a new strategic vision for the department. Our programmes cohere around and are driven by our fundamental policy plank that is social cohesion. Furthermore, we are now developing a coherent, coordinated long-term focus and approach to our mandate. To this extent we have introduced flagship programmes in the department.

Our indication of the imminent launch of the sport, growth, development and transformation strategy as well as the intention to develop an arts and culture strategy is reflective of our resolve to conclude the turn-around from an events-driven department to one with coherent and co-ordinated programmes that will enable the realisation of our long-term strategic vision and realise our mandate of attaining social cohesion.

We are grateful for the recognition of this new strategic approach in the form of significant growth in our budget allocations over the past two financial years. Our total appropriation is R160,7 million in this financial year compared to R111,7 million in 2007/08 and R62,5 million in 2006/07. We must, however, signal our concern over two key matters in the total allocation to our vote.

Our two conditional grants make up 39,7% or R63,8 million of our total allocation. This is even more disconcerting when one considers that more than 50% of the sport and recreation programme budget is in the form of a conditional grant!

This poses obvious down-stream challenges when conditional grants - which are by nature temporary - come to an end and must be accommodated in our equitable share allocations. This is a matter that would require special financial planning going forward. In the immediate, one key challenge is the reality that staff appointments through conditional grants are contractual and therefore temporary. High staff turn-over rates and all the related challenges are obvious consequences.

We have already stated our concern over the allocations to the 2010 sub-programme. This matter will require some very serious re-consideration if we are to make real headway in preparing for the 2010 FIFA World Cup – only 735 days away.

The breakdown of the budget allocation for Vote 7 in 2008/09 is as follows:

Programme 1: Administration
Equitable Share: R24,999,000
Conditional Grant: None

Programme 2: Cultural Affairs
Equitable Share: R35,109,000
Conditional Grant: None

Programme 3: Library and Archive Services
Equitable Share: R21,330,000
Conditional Grant: R45,123,000

Programme 4: Sport and Recreation
Equitable Share: R15,480,000
Conditional Grant: R18,722,000

Totals:
Equitable Share: R96,918,000
Conditional Grant: R63,845,000

Total Allocation: R160,763,000

Madam Speaker, allow me to thank the honourable Premier, my colleagues in the executive council and members of the portfolio committee for their support and leadership in the execution of this critical mandate. I also extend my sincere appreciation to each member of the Department.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, Northern Cape Provincial Government
6 June 2008