FREE DAILY EMAIL

Date : 05/06/2006
Source: Ministry of Sport and Recreation
Title: Oosthuizen: Sport and Recreation Dept Budget Vote debate, NCOP


  Address by Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation, GC Oosthuizen, during the Budget Vote debate, NCOP

Chairperson,
Honourable members,

The legislative programme of our Department will enjoy the attention of both houses soon. Prominent amongst these are the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Special Measures Bill that seeks to amend all ‘non-money’ matters that may impede on the implementation of government guarantees that were provided in the bidding phase. The bill currently tagged as a section 75 Bill will have to be amended to facilitate the delivery of infrastructural projects as well as the signing of ‘host city’ agreements. The amendments may affect the provinces and local authorities. It cannot be accommodated in the bill currently because we have to meet the delivery deadline that we have agreed with FIFA, which is 31 July 2006.

The Safety at Sport and Recreation Events Bill will be put to Cabinet for consideration shortly. This significant and substantial piece of legislation is a sequel to the 2001 Ellis Park tragedy and is intended to minimise the risk of such a disaster occurring again in future.

It compels stadium authorities and event organisers to take responsibility and be accountable for the safety of participants at sports events both off and on the field. It also constitutes an important tool in the security arrangements for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

We also have two Amendment Bills: The Sport and Recreation Amendment Bill and the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport Amendment Bill. Both bills have been passed by Cabinet and will serve in this house shortly. The Sport and Recreation Amendment Bill is aimed at improving the governance of our sports federations. It gives the Minister the right to intervene where actions of federations threaten to bring sport into disrepute. The South African Institute for Drug Free Sport Amendment Bill is aimed at improving the efficiency of the institute in its efforts to counteract the utilisation of banned performance enhancement substances by athletes. It will align South Africa with international best practice!

The standing committee on recreation and education, I understand, had decided to put a motion to the House to ratify the International Convention Against Doping in Sport that is being sponsored by the United Nations (UN). The convention harmonises the anti-doping initiatives of the sports movement as well as governments. Once a sufficient number of countries have ratified the convention, governments will be compelled to implement the world anti-doping code. Failure to do so could result in sanctions that could even impact on the participation of the offending country’s athletes in international sporting events.

Because we as leading nation want to comply with this convention we take the opportunity to thank the standing committee on recreation and education for their support in this regard.

Chairperson, despite some progress, we still have a long road to travel in the sector to achieve the objectives of the White Paper. Sport is still being trivialised in our country. It is regarded as frivolous and unimportant even though it is a multi billion Rand industry said to contribute more than two percent to South Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In fact, sport daily occupies the time of the majority of our people and it forms part of the psyche of the majority of our country’s people. Even the UN gave credence to the role of sport by declaring 2005 “the international year of physical education and sport”. Today the UN speaks of “sport for development and peace”.

In particular we must look at the tourism potential of sport and recreation. We know that the sports tourism industry in South Africa does not match the international norm of 30 percent of all tourism. Sports tourism in South Africa is underdeveloped. Being a provincial and local competency and given the small budgets for the sector in these spheres of government, there is, substantial room for growth in this sector. Our human resource needs are enormous. At the entry level of community, mass based sport and recreation we are in need of suitably trained and skilled people. Eliminating the dearth of qualified people at this level is important because the foundation is vital to ensure quality at the top end. Chairperson, we also need quality physical educators in all our schools not only in the more privileged ones that can afford to have them.

To start with we must restore school sport to the status it enjoyed in the past, a status that saw the sports fields of our country flooded with learners especially on a Wednesday afternoon, during inter-house and inter-school matches. But then we need to understand the difference between physical education and school sport. The school going youth enjoyed at least two periods of physical education per week. They don’t anymore! Compulsory physical education will truly massify participation in physical activity in our society and address the low levels of participation, currently estimated to be restricted to only 25 percent of our population. Only 11 percent of our women participate regularly. Just last week a new report indicated that young black girls are exposed to the greatest health risk in our country at the moment because of their lack of involvement in physical activity. To promote participation, we need qualified teachers who will ensure that our young people are introduced to sport and recreation properly, trusting that it will enhance life-long participation. If we employ only two qualified physical education teachers in each of our 27000 schools in South Africa, one for boys and one for girls, we would have provided more than 54 000 job opportunities. We obviously need more than two physical education teachers in every school. The rise in antisocial behaviour amongst our youth, unfortunately, parallels the demise in school sport and physical education. We have to look no further than to prioritising the reintroduction of these activities in our schools. The memorandum of agreement between the Departments of Sport and Recreation and the Department of Education facilitates this.

We are now implementing the provisions of the agreement. The Department of Education share our concern about the absence of physical education in the schools.

They tell us that it is now being reintroduced and the movement component comprises 33 percent of their compulsory life orientation curriculum. That translates into 40 minutes of activity per week. Although it equates the recommended daily exercise requirement to remain healthy, we would like to see more time for physical education weekly. Sport Recreation South Africa (SRSA) too has introduced programmes that now see our youth competing more regularly and on more equal grounds. During the course of this year we will see 798 schools participating in 56 clusters comprising schools in close proximity to one another that will facilitate regular interaction between them. It will involve more than 200 000 learners to start off with. The lack of sufficient financial resources currently constitutes the only impediment to a more expansive programme. Our aim is to see that all 27 000 schools in our country are involved in the project.

School sport has to be fully funded so that no learner is prevented from participating because of personal financial constraints. This programme will require the involvement of large numbers of teachers, volunteers and even learners. Of course, chairperson, these best plans of ‘mice and men,’ will come to naught if the infrastructure for launching them is not available. Of these appropriate facilities at schools are absolutely essential if the memorandum of agreement between education and ourselves is going to mean anything. What it practically means is that sports facilities should be a norm when we build or upgrade a school.

As we all know; the sports facility project, “building for sport and recreation,” has been transferred to the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) of the Department of Provincial and Local Government. We are not happy with the consequences thereof.

Apart from the fact that we are not delivering the same number of facilities that we used to with the Building for Sport and Recreation Programme (BSRP), we perceive that the sport and recreation departments in the provinces no longer feel that they own the project.

The fact that local authorities are no longer prioritising sport and recreation facilities compounds the problem. We are in discussion with the Department of Provincial and Local Government about getting the facility development programme back on track because without facilities it is impossible to realise our higher level objectives of representivity in our sports teams at all levels. Not to mention the much needed social cohesion. The local authorities must be encouraged to include sport and recreation facilities in their Integrated Development Programmes (IDPs) and I appeal to this House, honourable members; when you work in your constituencies persuade local authorities to do so. Our challenge is to ensure that there is congruency between SRSA, the provinces, our schools and the local authorities with regard to sport and recreation facility provision.

We receive hundreds if not thousands of requests annually from schools, clubs and communities for sport and recreation facilities. In addressing this we have been in touch with the Department of Housing to ensure adequate open spaces and sport and recreation facilities in their ‘sustainable human settlements policy.’ It has always been our contention that human settlements could never be complete without adequate provision for amenities in which people especially the youth could adequately exercise their ‘right to play’. We are happy to see that the Department of Housing has heeded our call in this regard by rectifying this shortcoming.

As a Department we have the smallest budget of all national departments. With our budget we can never make a sustainable contribution to participation rates in sport and recreation, but participation can have an impact on the budgets of many other sectors in government.

Sport can substantially reduce the health budget and we are excited about the “Vuka South Africa, move for your health” programme that the Department of Health has introduced. The savings that we can make on the Justice bill as with many other budgets can be as, if not more, significant. We have always said that ‘a child in sport is a child out of court.’ Last week was designated Child Protection Week. I want to contend that sport if properly organised, supervised and run constitutes one of the best ways to ensure that our children are protected. If our children are constructively engaged in activities outside of schools there is no reason why they will or can become caught up in the influences of antisocial tendencies.

If we say all these things and we agree with it; we have to be bold and say that we must increase the budget for sport and recreation to ensure that more people become physically active, more often!

Thank you!

Issued by: Ministry of Sport and Recreation
5 June 2006
   

SPONSORED BY

Advanced