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Date : 31/05/2006
Source: Sport and Recreation South Africa
Title: Stofile: Sport and Recreation Dept Budget Vote 2006/07


  Budget Vote speech of Minister of Sport and Recreation, Rev Makhenkesi Stofile, sport as a catalyst for development in South Africa

Salutations and acknowledgements

One of our rallying calls during the struggle for the liberation of our people and our country was that the struggle for a non-racial sports environment was an essential part of the struggle for freedom. We argued that sport in every part of the world reflected the society it is practiced in. A racially divided society, a society which gives preference to a particular gender or class, all these things tend to be reflected in the sports of a particular country subtly or sharply.

Sports people can be exposed to anti-social traits like violence, corruption, hooliganism, excessive nationalism and cheating. Sports people can be exposed to the dangers of child labour, doping, early specialisation, exploitative commercialisation and over exertion. These ills of society invariably affect the health of citizens; create a premature separation of juveniles from their families and a loss of cultural and communal ties. So yes, sport is a reflection of society; its miseries and woes, the socio economic challenges and a society’s values.

A positive and developmental approach to sport has potentially positive benefits. In a transforming society like South Africa, Department of Sport and Recreation must necessarily contribute to our country’s transformation agenda: An agenda which seeks to create a non-racial, non-sexist, prosperous and peaceful South Africa. Sport must contribute to the redressal of the disparities of the past. Equal opportunities, access to infrastructure, access to equipment and kit, yes equal access to skills and skilled coaches, referees and efficient managers.

What guides our work

Our President in South Africa has persistently highlighted the potential that sport has to build social cohesion and national unity. Who can understand that more than us who experienced how South Africa was bound together in joy when we won the Rugby World Cup in 1995 and when we won the right to host the 2010 Football World Cup in 2004. Of course we were also in a national solidarity of misery, woe and anger as we lamented being knocked out of the list of nations to participate in the Football World Cup in Germany.

Honourable members, I am reminding most of you of what you already understand. But success for a sport activist does not rely on a periodic remembrance of these facts. It does not rely on merely talking about them. What is important for us is the passion in implementing these ideas. That is the brief and mandate given to our Ministry when the President entrusted me with sport and recreation for our country.

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom.

Section seven (1), participation in sport and recreation is recognised by the United Nations (UN) as a fundamental human right which all governments must access to all their people. As such, access to sport and recreation is a non-derogable right.

In line with these Constitutional imperatives, our President assigned us powers and functions to develop and implement national policies and guidelines for our people and our country. This way we contribute to transforming South Africa into a country that belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity. This way we contribute to the healing of pains caused by an unfortunate dispensation in our country.

Our President also reminds us all the time that our ideals and objectives for the South Africa of our dreams cannot be achieved through spontaneity or mere aspirations. The transformation agenda cannot be left to the whims of the market either. For the President correctly points out “market forces are not sympathetic to the poor.” So we have a responsibility to make sport and recreation unlock its potential in transforming and developing the underdeveloped parts and people of our country.

Both Mr Kofi Anan speaking for the nations of the world and our President for the African nations declared that well designed sport based initiatives are practical and cost effective tools that could help the nations to achieve ether development goals identified in 2000 by the UN. The well-known Millennium Developmental Goals (MDGs). I think we should investigate the extent to which in real terms the continued marginalisation of sport and physical education in a number of countries undermines the success in delivering the MDGs. The underperformance of sportspersons from such countries tends to attest to attitude of seeing sport as mere luxury in society.

Our mass participation programme positions our sector well to make a contribution to human resource development and poverty alleviation. We have trained 353 unemployed young people to run this programme. The little stipend we pay them contributes in feeding an average family of five people per trainee. We have also trained young volunteers in the administration of sport and recreation. 1293 entry-level coaches, 655 referees and more than 450 young people have been trained. The latter number of 450 in events management and first aid.

Some sports federations and other institutions have supported us admirably in these initiatives. Only two weeks ago together with SAFA, SuperSport and the University of Johannesburg, we launched a senior management training course. The benefit of such acquired skills will benefit a number of federations in lifting up their management capacity.

We consciously support these initiatives because we have prioritised the good governance of our federations as a priority. It is true that facilities, physical conditioning, sponsorship etc are important tools in the making of world beaters. But if the management of these tools and the environment are not up to scratch, it is highly unlikely to see success. Unhappy athletes do not perform as well as they could. Good governance should improve the quality of our sport. We are making a humble but important contribution to Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) and Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA).

Our vision is to see the participation in our programmes lead to community clubs. These will in turn be the basic sites of sport development and the building bricks of social cohesion. Together with school sport, community clubs are also where the catchment of players for skills development and transformation will come. This is the rationale for us placing so many premiums in their proper organisation and management. Better mores, a new positive value system that will contribute to a moral regeneration will be born in these close-knit clubs and schools

Madame Speaker and honourable members,

We are not just putting together human beings who must just get fit and entertain us. We hope to transform selfish and money driven players and managers to people of great integrity. Patriots who want to serve our country more than they want to be millionaires (Cf Roland Schoeman’s refusal to swim for Qatar).

The first Minister for Sport and Recreation in our democratic country the late comrade Steve Tshwete always emphasised that; ‘Children do not learn to swim in their cots. They need a swimming pool.’ We jolly agree with that great patriot.

The provisioning of facilities and amenities all South Africans is a sacrosanct imperative for us. As such we regard the accessing of sports infrastructure to rural areas and townships as part and parcel of transformation in sport and in society. This is why, Madame Speaker, the preparation for the FIFA World Cup in 2010 is more than just preparing for a mega sport event. Our preparations for 2010 have to be in synchrony with government plans for the betterment of the lives of our people. This is why we opted for 10 match stadium instead of just eight. That is why we will also build or refurbish practice stadium in smaller areas like Kimberley. The road infrastructure, the technology and business opportunities must have an impact on the lives of our people and on the economy of our country. The mindset of our country must also change. This is why we are building football stadium where they have never been built before. South Africa is not just a rugby and cricket country. Swimming pools and tennis courts are not just for the city.

We hope our municipalities will continue co-operating with us in these plans. We hope they will stop the bad habit of selling public facilities or leasing them to monopolies that exclude our people through exorbitant registration or participation fees. Sport must belong to all. It must be accessible to all. We hope the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) will perform better this year in delivering the much-needed infrastructure. We also believe that the National Lottery funds designated for sport and recreation will be focusing on the needs areas than to date. Honourable members of this House could be catalysts to those aspirations of the people we represent.

Madame Speaker, we also firmly believe in collaborating with other departments as we deliver on our mandate. The departments of housing, education and local governments agree that we should be part of their planning of human settlements, schools etc. Departments of safety and security, social development, health and correctional services agree we have a role to play with them in dealing with health and anti-social behavioural patterns of some of our people. Both departments of defence and foreign affairs as well as the UN agree that sport can contribute in changing the war psychosis of child soldiers. When the guns go silent in Africa, peace must take root for development.

Our transformation agenda cannot be complete without attention to gender and disability issues. I believe, Madame Speaker, that the performance of our paralympians speaks for itself. Some of these great athletes draw tears from the hardest of hearts. The national question as well as gender equity is improving. Both swimming and tennis have responded positively to our calls for integration. Cycling is also getting there. The first African woman won a medal at the Commonwealth Games. This is progress.

On the negative, we have seen an upsurge in doping. This is a serious challenge for our Department and for education. But above all it is a serious challenge to the federations and the sponsors. The African Regional Office in Cape Town is doing sterling work for WADA. South Africa’s voice is taken seriously by the World Anti Doping Bodies. So the upsurge is painful but not intimidating. Dr Manjra of South African Institute of Drug-free Sport (SAIDS) thinks the doping cases are Athletic SAs annus horribilus. Lets hope so.

Success in sport cannot be realised without resources. We appreciate the partnership we have with such entities as the Sports Trust, SuperSport, SCORE and a whole range of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). We also appreciate the seriousness with which sponsors and federations take us. This is real unity in action and it must win. The support of a number of countries for sports entities in our provinces is also highly appreciated. Last but not least; the team must be acknowledged, the Deputy Minister and the Director-General (DG) lead a group of enthusiastic operators.

Please support our budget proposal so that we can help South Africa remain at the top.

Thanks

Issued by: Sport and Recreation South Africa
31 May 2006
   

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