Speech by Kwazulu-Natal Premier Sibusiso Ndebele at the 2007 Premier's Sports Awards held at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre in Durban

Programme director
The Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr Roy Padayachee
The Honourable MEC for Sport and Recreation, Mr A Rajbansi
Other MEC's present The Speaker and Members of the Provincial Legislature
The Chairperson and members of the Portfolio Committee for Sport and Recreation Mayors and councillors present
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Senior government officials executive and representatives of sports federations
'Nominees, ladies and gentlemen

Introduction

In KwaZulu-Natal athletes in the last year have toiled while the world turned. They have worked and they have competed, at home and abroad. Many have excelled. The Premier's Sports Awards is therefore an appropriate tribute to them! They have competed on the world's sporting stages this year alone, including the World Athletics Championships, World Surfing Competition, the Twenty 20 World Cricket Championships, the Rugby World Cup, the African Cup of Nations preliminaries and we wait with anticipation our hosting of the 2010 World Cup which has its preliminary draw later this month.

The exploits of Team KwaZulu-Natal at the SA Games where the Province won an overwhelming 136 medals need to be acknowledged and highlighted. On their way to dethroning Gauteng as Champions, Team KwaZulu-Natal walked away with 52 gold medals and 49 silver medals with swimming, women's football, boxing, rugby and athletics making clean sweeps. This fledgling development programme of the Department of Sport and Recreation has renewed our pledge, namely a provincial partnership to build a better life for all.

As the department endeavours to grow the economy through partnerships, our partnership with the federations, sponsors, other government departments and municipalities, has ensured that development and transformation in sport is taking place throughout the length and breadth of our province.

Sport empowers

The awards ceremony will endeavour to give prominence to the achievements of these fine athletes today's youth tomorrow's stars this is true empowerment. This is service delivery at its best!

The United Nations considers sport to be a fundamental human right. Sport and recreation is acknowledged as an essential part of daily living for young people, in particular and access to, and opportunities for participation should be available to everybody on an equitable basis.

It is important that the programmes of sport and recreation are aligned to the policy pronouncements as contained in Government's building Programme of Action. Sport and recreation has a responsibility to promote national identity and social cohesion and we hope that the outcome of the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France will also unite us as a province and spur us onto greater heights. Those of us who were present at the Springboks Rugby Parade at the Durban City Hall last Sunday will attest to this. With the nation's euphoria still fresh in our minds, we can emphatically state that little else unites a country like a winning national team.

Sports and nation-building

The past couple of weeks have been exciting in South African sport. First, the Springboks brought glory to the country by winning and bringing home the coveted William Webb Ellis Rugby World Cup from Paris, France, two weeks ago. Secondly, a week later the national soccer team, dubbed Bafana Bafana, won the Council for Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) Cup in a hard fought and heart-stopping penalty shootout following a goalless 90 minutes of pulsating football against the formidable Zambian team in Bloemfontein. Dominating the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region since their 1992, the national soccer team rubber stamped the Springbok win as not having been a fluke, but the fruit of a hard-working nation set to show its mettle in all its international games. Then hardly a week later the South African national cricket team, the Proteas, created history by winning both the test series and the one-day series in Pakistan a first for a South African cricket team in the Asian sub-continent since readmission to the international arena following the advent of democracy.

Indeed, this has been a formidable week for South African sport. Hence it is fitting that in light of these special achievements, due praise be given to both the players and sport administrators for their superlative effort to bring glory to the country. Evidently, sport is playing a crucial role in building this wonderful nation. It is noteworthy that a number of the world-beating Springbok players are drawn from the Sharks, the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) provincial rugby side based here in Durban.

Also, both the Proteas and Bafana Bafana have a number of prominent players who hail from KZN. KwaZulu-Natal is proud to have already successfully hosted several international sporting events such as the A1 Grand Prix, the Super 14 Rugby Final and the Twenty 20 Cricket World Cup where we presented the best team of volunteers. We will continue to offer a number of international sporting events such as the Dusi Canoe Marathon, the Comrades Marathon, the Durban July Handicap and many others.

This augurs well for the future of sport in the province of KZN and should spur our sportsmen and women to achieve even greater things for their own personal glory and the nation building that comes with these events. Here we are talking nation building.

Fifa 2010 Soccer World Cup

Sport has been labelled as one of the facilitators and enablers of unification in the richly diverse South Africa, and will provide the platform the country needs in the build-up to the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

Plans for the 2010 Soccer World Cup preliminary draw to be held at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre (ICC) in Durban from 23 to 25 November 2007 is well on track. KwaZulu-Natal is glad to be the host of this all important draw, the first official international event associated with the 2010 Fifa Football World Cup, which will see 2 800 international delegates from 205 countries, including a projected 700 international journalists visiting our shores.

This first official flagship event of the 2010 World Cup will give us in KwaZulu-Natal the opportunity to showcase our enticing, spectacular, fascinating and multi-cultural showpiece destination to the rest of the world, a province with two heritage sites, ten world class beaches and eight different tourist destinations, each offering its own unique set of experiences. Many parts of our country will qualify to be base camps or training venues for those 31 countries who will qualify to participate in the World Cup. Our successful hosting of this preliminary draw will clearly demonstrate that KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and Africa are ready to roll out the red carpet for 2010.

2010 will be a major catalyst for further enhancing our image and growing our economy and tourism potential. As part of 2010, the benefits accruing to the province include infrastructure development, facilities upgrades, small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME) and other enterprise development, which will for generations be legacies of this spectacle. Only next week, this province will be holding its 2010 Indaba where the state of the province's readiness will be thoroughly interrogated.

Structures

The KZN Provincial Government recognises that fundamental to the successful implementation of the provincial strategy are sound working arrangements of all structures within the provincial government. In addition, these structures have to cement the working together of the three spheres of government to deliver a successful 2010 World Cup in the province. For this reason it has been necessary to create a hierarchical structure of governance and technical task teams in the province to co-ordinate all activities and aspects related to the World Cup. The most important governance and co-ordinating in August 2006, the Premier-in-Cabinet appointed the MEC for Finance and Economic Development, Dr ZL Mkhize to chair the 2010 Political Oversight Committee (POC), supported by the MEC for Sport and Recreation, Mr A Rajbansi.

The other MECs in the POC are the MECs for: Transport, Community Safety and Liaison; Local Government and Traditional Affairs; Education; and Arts, Culture and Tourism.

The POC's terms of reference include to:

* provide political leadership, direction and interface between the 2010 Local Organising Committee (2010 LOC), the national government and the municipalities involved in the 2010 World Cup
* oversee the continuous improvement of the 2010 Framework Document of the province and its implementation
* facilitate and co-ordinate the involvement of external stakeholders
* receive and evaluate all project management reports emanating from the various technical committees and task teams on all facets of the 2010 World Cup project
* ensure compliance with Fifa and 2010 LOC requirements
* lead and guide the Technical Committee to ensure successful preparation for the 2010 World Cup
* report to Cabinet and the Legislature as and when required to do so.

In addition to the provincial political representatives in the political oversight committee, the Mayor of the host city is invited as a permanent representative, while it is also the intention to invite the Mayors of the District Municipalities identified as potential base camps training venues from time to time as the need arises.

2. Technical Committee

To support and feed into the Political Oversight Committee, there is a Technical Committee at provincial level, made up of Heads of Departments represented in the Political Oversight Committee and convened by the Director-General in the Office of the Premier. Its terms of reference are:

* to provide technical and managerial support to the political oversight committee particularly as it relates to the implementation of the framework document for 2010

* to co-ordinate the full implementation of all activities within the province to prepare for 2010 within guidelines set by the political oversight committee

* to develop a detailed strategic plan and to determine specific projects within the department's areas of work together with the attendant budgets. for instance, the department of transport needs to provide a people movement strategy within the province and its budget

* to establish and guide various sub-committee or task teams that are required to oversee work streams emanating from the 2010 framework document

* to provide a realistic timetable for activities that must be finalised in the short, medium and long-term to ensure compliance with the FIFA and LOC deadlines.

As directed by Cabinet, the Technical Committee is convened by the Director-General, who is also responsible for overall coordination of 2010 preparations within the provincial government. The Director-General (DG) reports directly to the Political Oversight Committee. In addition, the DG uses this Committee to facilitate the bringing together of all relevant stakeholders, including the Municipal Manager of eThekwini and the targeted District Municipalities, so that the province has an integrated approach in all matters related to 2010.

3. Provincial Co-ordinator

The Office of the Premier has contracted a full-time co-ordinator to manage the football development programme in KZN. In addition, a contract post at the level of Chief Director has been filled to co-ordinate all 2010-related activities within the provincial government, reporting to the Deputy Director General (DDG): Special projects and Director-General the Office of the Premier.

The establishment of a full-time provincial 2010 Office headed by the provincial co-ordinator is regarded as critical to the successful implementation of the provincial 2010 Western Cape strategy. The co-ordinator is a custodian of the Provincial Strategic Framework, both from a context and content point of view. To this end the Coordinator will create a provincial link levels. As such the co-ordinator will drive the technical work streams, which prepare work that is finalised by the Technical Committee.

Municipal technical committees

At municipal level, in the eThekwini Metro and in the four district municipalities which receive provincial infrastructure grant funding to prepare for 2010, similar technical committees to coordinate activities within that municipality.

Programmes

Consolidating a provincial 2010 business plan, incorporating the work/projects of government departments and the identified municipalities. The province is also working on a Provincial Marketing Strategy to help position KZN as a world-class tourist destination and to influence decisions by qualifying teams to set up base camps in the province.

On 7 and 8 November the province will host the second Provincial 2010 Indaba at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli ICC. Durban will host the 2010 Football World Cup Preliminary Draw on 25 November this year, drawing over 3 000 delegates and journalists from 204 confirmed countries. This will afford us an opportunity to position and showcase ourselves from the tourism and investment point of view. The presence of 200 international journalists means the event will be beamed live across the globe, providing a huge marketing opportunity for us as a province.

Soccerex

Soccerex is an international soccer exhibition to be held in Johannesburg from 26 to 28 November, and KZN will participate in this, another opportunity to market the province to an international audience. KZN is already engaging a number of top foot-balling countries to convince them to set up base camps in the province, the most recent being Germany. 2010 will be the first Fifa Football World Cup event in the African continent hosted by KZN.

All this goes to prove that the 2010 Football World Cup showcase will not just be a frivolous money-gobbling exercise, but will bring about unprecedented economic and social benefits to provide a rich legacy for generations to come. What has emerged is that everyone as stakeholders in the province, are eager to contribute towards a successful World Cup, and as President Mbeki has promised the world, the best World Cup ever staged, all in the name of the whole of the African continent.

Sports generally

We are committed to promoting greater involvement of marginalised groups such as women, people with disabilities, people living in rural communities and the youth in sport and recreation. Youth empowerment remains a central feature of our developmental focus in serving as a bridge between the first and second economies. The implementation of the Siyadlala Mass Participation Programme has seen the establishment of 65 hubs (Community Recreation Centres), which are run by the youth.

The primary objective of the programme is getting South Africa active with a view to reducing lifestyle diseases such as high blood pressure, heart diseases and diabetes, as well as combating anti-social behaviour such as crime. It also seeks to reduce levels of poverty by employing youth aged between 18 to 35 years.

Daily programmes offered by the hubs that exist in all 61 municipalities include aerobics, recreational sports such as fun athletics, action soccer, volley ball, learn to swim, dance as well as variety of indigenous games, first aid and basic life skills support. The 650 youth employed have undergone intensive training in basic sport and recreation administration, life skills, recreational sport, indigenous games and first aid. This stipend they receive, in some cases, is the only income being generated in a family. A total budget of R16,3 million has been earmarked for 2007/08 and R25 million for 2008/09.

School Sport Mass Participation Programme

The School Sport Mass Participation Programme has provided sporting opportunities to 321 schools. 343 unemployed youth from the communities are employed to assist with the delivery of the programme.

One thousand seven hundred and thirty-four (1 734) educators and volunteers in the six prioritised codes of sport has been completed and training of 171 contract employees in event management, life skills and first aid has provided skills to the youth. Cluster Co-ordinators and School Sports Assistants have also been trained in monitoring and evaluation of programmes. Strategic links with United Kingdom schools have been established to ensure professional growth and development through the sharing of areas of good practice. One hundred and fifty thousand (150 000) learners are involved in ongoing intra-school and inter-school leagues culminating in major cluster festivals.

These numbers are increasing at an average of 15 000 per month. We have already enjoyed a fair measure of success in these programmes with a small percentage of youth gaining permanent employment within the fitness industry, municipalities, as sports development officers in sports federations, as governing body employees at schools and within the department itself.

Principals, educators and learners from the most rural schools have had the opportunity to travel overseas through the United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa initiative and have greatly benefited through partnerships with UK Sports colleges. Young men and women from our hubs, all in rural areas, had the opportunity to participate in the International Gymnaestrada in Austria this year.

Developing skills

These initiatives at a grass roots level will lay a solid foundation for the development of skills, the identification of talented athletes and the progression of athletes into the club development programme and the high performance programme of the various sports federations with the support of the Provincial Academy of Sport.

Despite a limited budget, the delivery of Sport and Recreation to all parts of the province, mainly the rural and poorest, has grown in leaps and bounds and more people now have access to sport and recreation programmes than ever before.

Currently, approximately 57 000 youth are actively involved in the sporting activities organised by the relevant structures. The collaboration protocol signed by with the Department of Education also outlines the roles and responsibilities of each Department in ensuring learners are provided with the necessary skills, opportunities to participate in intra and inter schools competitions and to represent the provincial at a national level.

Referees

Aligned to the national and overall provincial 2010 Soccer World Cup
strategy, the Department's focus has been on team preparation and support in improving the standard of football in the province, leaving a legacy of infrastructure development by the provision of appropriate facilities, equipment and support services and providing assistance with structural transformation.

Four hundred and fifty seven (457) Referees were trained with the basic referee's qualification and 120 coaches were qualified according to South African Football Association (SAFA) introductory coaching certificate. Sixty SAFA level one coaches were qualified at a course conducted by SAFA national.

One hundred and fifty (150) administrators from the numerous local football associations were trained in sports administration. The department also embarked on an innovative programme of providing training equipment and aid to formerly disadvantaged clubs. The department, in partnership with the Provincial Academy of Sport and sports federations is actively involved with, and has trained and qualified coaches, administrators, technical officials and administrators in football, athletics, cricket, rugby, volleyball, aquatics, boxing, netball, hockey, table tennis, golf, boxing, and dance sport. A number of coaching clinics were held for all district structures.

Women and girls

The department aims to mobilise and increase the number of women and girls participating in sports. The Department's Equity Programme targets active involvement of women and the disabled in sporting activities. We salute our achievers this evening for their untold sacrifice and commitment on the sports fields which have brought us immense. Our nominees for the awards come from a wide range of sport from rugby, athletics, gymnastics, swimming, women's football, wheelchair basketball, volleyball, table tennis and equestrian sport.

Our nominees have represented the province and country at many national and international sports events and have notched outstanding achievements. Many are holding national and international records. We also salute our community builders who work tirelessly to lay the foundation from which our talented athletes are identified and channelled into the high performance arena.

Conclusion

We pay tribute tonight to our sports administrators, coaches and technical officials who for time immemorial have given of themselves for the love of the game, to oversee the smooth operations, for imparting the skills and strategies to our athletes and for taking charge of the game on the field respectively.

Well done to all our finalists. In a short while our winners will be announced, but the fact that you are here tonight as a finalist at this prestigious event is an achievement in itself. To all the nominees and the winners here tonight, we wish you all future success in your chosen sporting codes and careers. To those who did not quite make it tonight, this is not the end of the world, but should spur you on to work harder to conquer next time around. Your turn will come. The world is waiting for you to conquer.

I thank you.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
2 November 2007