Vote 18: Sport and Recreation Budget Speech, National Assembly, Deputy Minister Gert C Oosthuizen, MP

Madame Speaker
Cabinet colleagues
Honourable members

As SRSA, we are renewing our pledge, namely, 'A national partnership to build a better life for all.'

Over the past two weekends, South Africans enjoyed the privilege of either attending or watching major rugby games in Pretoria and Durban, respectively.

In the first, we watched the Bulls annihilate the Reds at Loftus Versveld in Pretoria while, in the second I saw them narrowly edge out their South African rivals in the dying minutes of a highly charged and excellent rugby game.

As a politician, I obviously, watched these games through different eyes to those of the ordinary man in the street.

As the Deputy Minister of Sport I reflected also on the role that sport has, and is continuing to play in our society. I was struck at the Pretoria game by the spontaneous ovation of the predominantly white crowd when Heinie Adams was injured and withdrawn from the game.

At the Durban game this past Saturday, the crowd responded in awe (some with joy, others in horror) as Bryan Habana scored the winning try for the Bulls and JP Petersen tried his utmost to prevent Bryan from scoring.

It occurred to me that the common factor that elicited these responses was the sheer brilliance of the players involved. Not to me nor, I am sure, to the majority of the crowd, did it matter that the players concerned were black. They were heroes, national ones at that, in their own right. Makhaya Ntini, I am told is, according to a recent survey, recognised as the most popular South African sportsperson.

He deserves the accolade. Let me say, that is the way it is supposed to be and should always have been. Sport, I though to myself, is accomplishing what I had always known it had the potential of achieving, namely that of 'normalising' our society, albeit in tiny steps.

I will be the first to admit that not enough black players are coming through the ranks in most of our sports by a very long shot. What is it, I ask myself, that is preventing this or is slowing down the process? I am sure that there are many answers to these questions that can range from a lack of adequate development programmes at one end of the spectrum, to outright racism at the other end. Hopefully, we have moved beyond racism by now, the vestiges of which, should there be any, must be eliminated forthwith. There is just no place for it. If our development programmes are not producing the desired or expected numbers of black players, then we must establish what their shortcomings are and rectify them.

What I am convinced about, is that we need to follow a different approach to addressing these challenges. Other than the ones we are currently pursuing where often in the media we put politicians and officials against selectors and coaches.

Some of our federations have ploughed millions of Rands into development programmes, but have relatively little to show for their investment, especially at the elite level. Of course, simply throwing money at a problem will not solve it; the programmes must be designed to deliver the desired outputs and outcomes which, if they don't, have to be reviewed and revised in order to do so.

We must address these shortcomings rather than insist on a specific number of players of a particular hue that must be included in our national representative teams. If our programmes are adequate, by the law of averages, the representivity of our teams will normalise naturally. That is not to say that the process must not be speeded up. On the contrary, I am agitated by its relative slowness. We must ensure that we turn things around in the shortest period of time, but, not at the expense of any of our players.

Our government has never advocated for quotas in sport � one thing we have consistently said was that there are no quotas and that transformation was non-negotiable. I remind us of this because of the experience of our cricket team at the World Cup in the Caribbean recently. Cricket South Africa, against the advice of the Ministry, announced that they will include 7 black players in the World Cup Team. In fact, as a Ministry, we are on record advising against this!

But, what a let down, an embarrassment, it must have been for some of those players for not having been afforded a single opportunity to play during that competition. The United Cricket Board converted the 7 into spectators rather than players! Surely, we cannot expose our cricketers or any of our sportspeople for that matter, to that type of humiliation. Unfortunately, this is the type of consequence that players may suffer with this approach.

On the flip side of the coin, we may expose our (black) players to accusations of being the weak links in a losing side. We must never allow that to happen. We must ensure that they are selected on merit and not merely to make up the prescribed numbers.

Last week we passed the very important Sport and Recreation Amendment Bill that seeks to, amongst other things, address the lack of transformation in sport. I want to urge federations to closely study the contents of the Bill.

Ek lees in die media and hoor op die radio dat die self aangestelde hekwagters oor sport in SA, nou die stoute skoene wil aantrek om ons as regering te beskinder by van die Internasionale Sport Federasies. Sprake van isolasie en inmenging in sport word nou voorgehou en die Wysigingswet is die sondebok!. Niks kan /en is verder verwyder van die waarheid nie!

Die ANC regering weet presies wat die Internasionale Sportliggame se standpunt is. Trouens Minister Stofile het self in sy dae as aktivis menige toer van sportspanne na SA gekelder!

Dink maar aan die All Black toer wat destyds gestop was. So, Rip van Winkel en kie, die trein het vertrek, maak gou of julle staan alleen op die platform en wag dat die spoke julle vang!

Kortom, die wetgewing in Frankryk en elders is meer drakonies en hulle is nie geisoleerd nie! So, aan die doemprofete, ons as ANC Regering sal voortgaan om geleenthede te skep vir diegene wie dit nie voorheen gehad het nie.

We take this task seriously, as I have already mentioned, it is non-negotiable and sports federations would be wise to heed the call for transformation. These measures must be seen as imperatives for federations to increase access to their sport by bringing all our people on board and for improving their development programmes to ensure greater representivity in our teams at all levels. We must redouble our efforts in this regard. It is based on the fundamental principles that were agreed to when sport was unified in South Africa.

We sincerely hope and trust that it will never be necessary for government to intervene beyond the level of laying down guidelines. The ball is now squarely in the court of the federations.

Whilst we have made some progress with our School Sport initiatives, I believe that we are only just scraping the surface in this regard. School sport constitutes the nursery of all sport in our country. We have launched two school sport programmes; one designed to ensure access to the masses of learners. That should serve as the entry point of the development continuum for sport in schools.

The second programme is aimed at a smaller group of elite performers who participate in regular tournaments that channel them to the next level of participation. It constitutes the link between school and senior sports programmes. The national federations must include these competitions on their rosters and include them in their planning. They must assume greater responsibility for these programmes in their capacity as the custodians of their sport in our country.

School sport must be played on a massive scale throughout South Africa, led by educators who are trained to provide quality coaching given the state of disrepair in which community sport structures currently find themselves. They constitute the sites where in disadvantaged communities in particular we have the best chance of ensuring that young people have an entry point to formal sport in our society.

It can also serve as a basis from which new community sport structures can grow and must link up, organically, with our Community Club Development Programme. The department has now established a Directorate for School Sport and their priority must be to ensure that it flourishes.

Our School Sport Mass Participation Programme has had an injection of more than R110 million in the current year. This will be ensuring that regular sports programmes in seven codes of sport are taken to the poorest of the poor schools in the country.

The co-operation of our colleagues in the Department of Education and the provincial departments responsible for sport and for education is critical for the success of the programme.

Physical Education as a subject is high on the agenda of the Department of Education. I do not think that we fully comprehend the damage that was caused by the demise of physical education in our schools and by the continuing lack of programme in some of them. A task team appointed by the Minister of Sport and Recreation to examine South Africa's poor performance at international level a few years ago reported that the root of the problem can be found, amongst others, in the death of Physical Education programmes in our schools.

The report contended that Physical Education and school sport are vital ingredients for an elite sport system. The British came to the same conclusion when they investigated the decline in the performances of representative British teams after they also jettisoned Physical Education and sport from their school programmes in the 1980s and early 1990s.

The British Government has since revised its strategy in this regard completely, and the status of Physical Education and School Sport has been restored with promising results. We must heed these lessons.

In particular, I think that we must pay particular attention to the plight of the girl-child in sport in South Africa. Here again, physical education and school sport can serve as a catalyst to unlock the potential of women's sport in our country and, at the same time, help to counter the challenges that we are facing with schoolgirl pregnancies, in certain parts of our country.

Another area where we cannot claim spectacular success is in the area of women's sport. I do not know of one sports programme that targeted specifically women's sport that stands out as a huge success other than the Spar Women's races. We all know that it is an aspect of our sport that needs special intervention.

We have had several women and sport structures but other than attending meetings or having a one day event I have not seen any sustainable programme that can claim that it has increased women's participation in sport. I want to challenge the department and our national federations to come up with sustainable programmes or visible campaigns that will increase the number of girls and women that participate in sport.

We have always contended that even with the best of programmes we will make very little headway if we do not have appropriate facilities. Their availability remains a major problem in areas where the majority of our people live. The lack of facilities has a debilitating effect on transformation in sport that, in turn, impacts negatively on our ability to achieve our higher order outcomes for the broader society. Government in the three spheres has the responsibility to build facilities. Nobody else will build, upgrade or maintain them for our communities.

The termination of our Building for Sport and Recreation Programme had a devastating effect on facility provision especially in areas where the need is the greatest. We are currently working on a norms and standards blueprint for facilities. Through this document we will attempt to outlaw the development of new human settlements or the building of new schools without including sport and recreation facilities. At the same time we will lobby for the building of facilities in areas where there are none.

We have already started to engage some of our sister departments on this issue. To be blunt, a school is not a school without sporting facilities. A sustainable human settlement is not sustainable without sport and recreation facilities. Like it or not - those are the facts.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup could provide the impetus for a vigorous legacy programme, including the provision of basic, multi-purpose sports facilities as was the case during the 2003 Cricket World Cup. I am aware of (private) initiatives that are already underway in this regard and trust that more stakeholders will come to the party to exploit the opportunities presented.

The Minister has already alluded to the 2010 FIFA World Cup that, we believe, provides our country, the region and, the continent with a golden opportunity to boost our (sports) tourism industry. It can help push our economic development to a higher notch and fast track the attainment of elements of the 2014 Millennium Development Goals and of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA).

The 2010 FIFA World Cup and the extent to which much of the development taking place in our country over the next few years will be centred around, provides an indication of the power of sport. I trust that this event will make us realise this potential and allow us to understand why internationally there is so much competition to host major events. Hopefully it will encourage us to bid for the biggest prize of all, the Olympic Games, in the not-too-distant future.

In the past two years there has been an international upsurge in the realisation of the potential of sport and recreation as a vehicle 'for development (and peace).' Even the United Nations recognised the potential. You may recall that the global organisation dedicated 2005 as the 'Year of Physical Education and Sport.'

It articulates the significance that has been afforded sport and recreation. I have tried to devote a part of my own tenure ship as Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation to pursue the possibilities in this regard for our own country and for the continent. In the past, the focus tended to be on 'the development of sport and recreation.'

Sport and recreation is inextricably linked to health and the fight against HIV and AIDS, education, sustainable development (including economic and social development, environmental protection and volunteerism), peace, communication and partnerships.

Well-designed sport-based initiatives are practical and cost-effective tools to achieve objectives in development and peace. It can be argued that by its very nature sport is about participation, about inclusion and citizenship, bringing individuals and communities together, highlighting commonalities and bridging cultural or ethnic divides, inculcating a sense of belonging! The extent to which our national flag has become one of the best known brands, internationally, demonstrates the power of sport.

It was heart warming to see young South Africans during the Cricket World Cup, waving the flag, the flag painted on their faces, singing shosholosa! This said it all! White South Africans singing our shosholosa at the Cricket World Cup - we are truly transforming!

Sport provides a forum in which to learn skills and discipline, confidence and leadership and it teaches core principles such as tolerance, co-operation and respect. It teaches values. It contributes to social cohesion and nation building. Accordingly, the emphasis has now shifted to 'development through sport and recreation,' an orientation that we would do well as a country to embrace.

We can only reap the benefits. My experiences of the two Super-14 rugby matches these past two weeks persuades me of that. I am convinced that the 2010 FIFA World Cup will prove it on a much bigger scale.

Madam Speaker, there is never enough time in these debates to extol the role that sport has, that it continues to, and can still play in our society and across the globe. We will continue to persuade our colleagues of its virtues and convince them to elevate the seriousness with which we approach this asset, also in terms of what as a government we invest in the institution. I am not saying that sport can solve all the challenges that we face.

I am saying that it can help us to develop the goodwill amongst all our people, the social cohesion and the pride that will inspire us to tackle the struggles that lie ahead in unison and in the interests of all our people in this beautiful country of ours. I want to take the opportunity to thank Minister, Rev Dr Makhenkesi Stofile for his continuing guidance and leadership, the Portfolio Committee for Sport and Recreation and the Select Committee for Education and Recreation for their support and wisdom in their oversight role, and to the previous DG - Prof Denver Hendricks and everybody in the Department for their hard work. Your efforts are appreciated.

I thank you.

Issued by: Sport and Recreation South Africa
22 May 2007