I thank you for this opportunity to address the National Sport and Recreation Indaba, which is aimed at helping expedite the transformation and reconstruction of the sport and recreation landscape in our country.
Today's National Sport and Recreation Indaba constitutes a broad consultative process that will involve the entire nation in a robust debate on transformation and restructuring of sport.
Hopefully these deliberations will culminate in a clearer transformation framework and strategic sport plan for the country.
As we know sport is an indispensable and treasured social activity amongst humanity dating back to the beginning of human civilisation.
In South Africa sport has a particularly interesting history because of its intimate link with our struggle against segregation and discrimination during the difficult time of apartheid.
It is for this reason that we must celebrate the achievements we have made in sport since South Africa's readmission to the international sporting arena.
In a very short space of time we have managed to win the Rugby World Cups in 1995 and 2007, the Confederation of African Football Cup of Nations in 1996 and successfully hosted the Cricket World Cup in 2003, as well as scoring many commendable achievements during the Olympics' codes.
A large feather in our cap is also that we have managed to convince the world of our abilities to host the world's best tournaments, including the largest sport spectacle, the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup.
All these achievements have gone a long way in uniting the nation behind the project of building a united, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist, just and prosperous society.
Sport thus occupies a special place in the minds and hearts of all South Africans, not only as a form of recreation but also as a core force for uniting our nation.
We have therefore made great strides since 1994 in the development of sporting codes at a national and professional level. However, much more still needs to be done in areas of development and transformation.
Our progress seems to have ground to a halt in some sporting codes such as soccer and Olympics, including that our development has not always been up to scratch.
For instance, much to the amazement of many, we won the Confederation of African Football in 1996 only to start backsliding from then on, till we failed to qualify for any international competition.
The same seems to hold true for the Olympics. Overall our athletes have been successively doing poorly at continental competitions and Olympic level.
Many other challenges remain, such as the lingering lack of transformation in some sporting codes, both in-field and at the level of administration and management.
These remaining struggles in the sporting arena are driven by the vision of Transformation, Unity, and Development.
In addressing these challenges we have to ask ourselves questions about the steps we need to take as a nation to achieve these strategic goals.
We need to ask ourselves whether we share a common understanding of what these challenges mean? Do we have a shared vision and mission for the attainment of these noble principles?
In this regard, we look at this indaba not as just another event but a necessary follow up on the 2008 National Sport Indaba, which was motivated by the same reasons for which we are meeting today.
At the centre of the discussion in the 2008 National Sport Indaba was the issue of transformation in sport. At the time, delegates at the conference recognised the slow pace of change in sport.
The conference believed that the journey to transformation in sport and recreation was still far from over, citing, among others, rugby and cricket as examples of tardy progress towards the vision of fully integrated sport.
In line with this the 2008 National Sport Indaba re-iterated the necessity to transform all sporting codes in the country, reminding both players and administrators that transformation is non-negotiable as it is a constitutional mandate.
It follows then that we are here to further take stock, evaluating and assessing progress made since then as well as devising creative means for speeding up the process for the achievement of these goals.
Among others issues, I am informed that some of the aims of this Indaba are to:
- Retrace the road traversed by the people of South Africa since the death of apartheid and to assess whether we have been able to build non-racial, non-sexist and inclusive sporting landscape;
- Examine what constitutes transformation and how we define transformation;
- Review the instruments, policies, strategies and tactics that have been relied upon over the past 17 years for the transformation of the South Africa sport;
- Examine the efficacy and effectiveness of the relationship between SRSA, SASCOC and Federations. Is the current legislative and regulatory framework designed in such a way that accountability and autonomy are exercised without any conflict arising?
- Explore the possibility of a national sport movement and Olympic movement with a view to build an active nation, healthy nation and a playing nation;
- Explore how sport and recreation can be mainstreamed into the new growth path and other government priorities in general. For instance are we aligned to the National Planning Commission Terms of Reference?
- Explore the role of civil society and private sector in supporting and funding sport and recreation. Do we have a case for sport and what is it?
These are indeed immensely important thematic areas and I trust that these and other objectives of this Indaba predispose the discussions to desirable and effectual outcomes.
Accordingly, I am confident that this indaba will afford an opportunity to all stakeholders to reflect comprehensively on sport and recreation and thus come up with a way forward that will assist with the reconstruction and revitalising of this sector.
With contributions from varied perspectives, I trust that the National Sport and Recreation Plan will benefit enormously and thus become a universally acceptable document that guides our future efforts and in realising these commendable objectives.
This Indaba should be a truly democratic engagement where there are no holds barred in giving vent to our dearly held views about what our nation needs to do to take sport to a higher level in a manner that augments efforts for national unity, reconstruction and development.
It is indeed our national duty as well as our responsibility to both our history and our future, to ensure that we make the most of this historic gathering.
Our efforts should be aimed at creating a South African sport sector where we have, among others:
- an effective and adequately resourced sport system in place that meets the needs of our sportspeople at all levels of participation;
- our transformation agenda is achieved;
- physical education is practiced in all schools resulting in school children broadening the talent pool;
- sufficient and accessible sports facilities are well maintained by Municipalities and fully utilised by communities;
- South Africa is acknowledged as a leader in world sport and recreation;
- the 2010 nation-building spirit is maintained in all major events;
- South Africa is a choice destination for major events and sport tourism and good corporate governance prevails in sport.
On the whole we are a winning nation and so there is nothing case in stone in our stagnation or lack of progress in whatever field of human endeavour.
In conclusion, let me repeat my confidence in the potential of this Indaba to enable the blooming of a hundred flowers of ideas so that the sport and recreation fraternity's strategic priorities are captured in the National Sport and Recreation Plan.
Thank you, very much!
