President of SASCOC, Mr Gideon Sam;
Deputy President, Ms; Hajirah Kajeeh
Deputy President; Mr Les William
CEO of SASCOC, Mr Tubby Reddy;
All Board Members present here today;
All Federations present;
Sport Councils and delegates;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
It is with a great sense of reverence and veneration for me to address this important gathering this morning especially on the eve of the preparations of the SASCOC Annual General Meeting (AGM) later in the year. We would like to take this opportunity to thank SASCOC for extending an invitation to us to be with you in this august event. As we have said that 2012 is the year of elections and our country stand on the threshold of exciting and challenging times ahead of us. The times ahead calls for strong leadership as everything will stand and fall on leadership during this trying period.
Firstly I would like to take this moment to convey our sincere gratitude to Mr. Oscar ‘The Blade Runner’ Pistorius for his outstanding achievements in sport especially for his continued commitment to his sporting career and for putting the flag of South Africa high in the world sport history.
We are especially grateful and congratulate him for being nominated into two categories of the Laureus Sports Award this year and ultimately winning in the Sportsman of the Year with a Disability award category; we also believe that his achievement yesterday will again assist to place South Africa at a strategic position in the world of sport.
We are particularly impressed by his ability to redefine boundaries and rewriting human discourse in the era of human renaissance and advancement. Congratulations, we are proud of you.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this meeting takes place exactly seventy six (76) days after the National Sport and Recreation Indaba (NSRI) that took place from 21 – 22 November 2011 at Gallagher Estate, Gauteng Province; and it also takes place exactly 53 days after the Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) held its strategic Management Retreat from the 14 to 15 December 2011 at Mount Grace in the North West Province.
As we all know, the NSRI was an inclusive and democratic process which is as the result of the mandate from the Departmental Strategic Planning workshop that took place on 10 to 12 January 2011 where all delegates at the meeting adopted a ‘Road Map to Optimal Performance and Functional Excellence’ document with key strategic priorities; and at the same time agreed to organise a National Sport and Recreation Indaba to, amongst other things, finalise and adopt the first South Africa’s National Sport and Recreation Plan (NSRP).
We appointed a Steering Committee led by the Deputy Minister to oversee the process of organising this sport and recreation Indaba in the Republic of South Africa with the theme: ‘From Policy to Practice’; not just another Indaba.The vibe of the Indaba attracted thousands of South Africans. Organised and non-organised bodies where keen to be part of this historic gathering and made valuable oral and written submissions to the process of the drafting of the well-talked about NSRP.
Key to the contribution of the people to the work of the NSRI and its resolutions was, but not limited to, the adoption of the Transformation Charter as part of the NSRP with its stated Scorecards as the Monitoring and Evaluation tool for Transformation in sport and recreation; and that SRSA and SASCOC will take full responsibility for overseeing transformation with SRSA being at the helm of the process. The Indaba further implored the Ministry of Sport and Recreation South Africa to institute a Transformation Monitoring and Evaluation Committee.
SASCOC will also partner with all Federations to refine the generic scorecard for each specific code of sport for implementation immediately after the Indaba; and this should be underpinned by funding.
In this regard, SRSA together with SASCOC should speed up the process of drafting the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with all the Federations.All targeted Transformation priorities should be included in the Transformation SLAs with all the National Federations (NFs).In this exercise all NFs are expected to set targets to their scorecards in consultation with SASCOC.
Closely linked to this is that the Indaba “acknowledged the limitations of the implementation of the quota system in its current form and the negative effects of this system in deepening racial polarisation. To this end, the Indaba observed the unfortunate and painful stigma imposed on young black athletes and players as a result of the application of this archaic system.In order for us as the country to move forward and achieve redress, we have pronounced and declared without fear of contradiction a well resourced plan that is quantifiable and will be implemented over a period of time based on agreed deliverable frameworks”.
To effect this all Federation where mandated by the Indaba to start providing the Ministry and SASCOC with a detailed development plan of how talent will be identified and nurtured. Both SASCOC and SRSA are expected in this period to develop a clear monitoring and evaluation mechanism that will hold all federations accountable on this matter.
This will require SASCOC and SRSA to update the Charter and Scorecard according to the 2011 NSRI resolutions and at the same time conduct an audit of the national federations to establish the baseline for 2012 as well as requesting all federations to develop and submit transformation action plans.
As the Indaba mandated, we expect all federations to inform us as part of the sports plan on the number of players that will be included in the codes as of March 2012 to March 2020 on an incremental basis. We will therefore through the monitoring and evaluation framework review yearly all progress made in this regard.
Ladies and Gentlemen, of strategic importance in this regard is for all federations including SASCOC and provinces to align all plans to the 2020 vision of the national sport and recreation plan with the proviso that the strategic plans of all the federations should be aligned to the strategic plan of the department to make the NSRP a success.
SRSA will then align our vision 2020 to the New Growth Path (NGP) and vision 2030 of the National Planning Commission (NPC).
Hence we believe that one of the strategic issues of national importance when dealing with transformation and change in sport today is commitment to transparency and good corporate governance and the Indaba have already sent a very strong message to all in our sport system and sporting fraternity that the country will not tolerate door-keeping, corruption and monopoly.We believe that Sport and Recreation are national assets that must be nurtured and developed for the sustenance of our people.
Thus the Indaba observed that some of the problems confronting our sport and recreation system emanate from the ambivalence and intransigence of some in the leadership and administration within the sport and recreation ecosystem.This fallout in some of the boardrooms of our sport system needs to be drastically altered to be in line with our national goals.We believe that we need to hit hard on issues necessitating speedy change and reconfiguration of these boardrooms and rest our case on good governance, transparency and a willingness to serve sport and the nation.
Hence this gathering should also follow suit in committing itself to rid the South African Sport DNA of all the ills that hinder change, especially the reluctance of some sport administrators and sport leadership to total transformation as well as systemic gate keeping in relation to participation in sport and to decision-making, access to facilities and upward mobility of our athletes and players including skills development and appraisal.
We want to repeat that we are not prepared to preside over a system that was designed to denigrate and deny the majority of our people access to sport and recreation and facilities; a system that only appraise and appreciate the few at the expense of the majority and a broadened participation at all levels and spheres.
Our intervention in Cricket South Africa (CSA) through the establishment of the Committee of Enquiry led by Retired Judge Chris Nicholson is based on such principles and commitment that South Africans should see that we are all serious about our Values of accountability, integrity, transparency, dedication, teamwork, etc.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Foreword of the SRSA Short Guide to Sports Ethics articulates that:
“Sport has always been linked, romantically, to positive social values and, as such, is a vehicle for actualising the ‘ideal society’, from an ethical point of view.In recent years, however, this role of sport has been tarnished.This unfortunate tendency, unwelcomed in the eyes of many, closely parallels the commercialisation of the institution.In particular, the substantial, (sometimes outrageous,) material rewards associated with participation at the highest levels has been identified as the foremost contributor to “winning (and benefiting) at all costs” becoming the overriding disposition”.
South Africans expect of us to rid the sport institution of such a tendency and apply values that are acceptable to the majority of our people.We can not allow the behaviour of some individuals to be a threat to the life of sport in the Republic. We believe that the interests of sport and sport loving South Africans should become first and not be suppressed in favour of personal interests.
As the Foreword continues to articulate “Sport, it is feared, stands on the threshold of losing its role in the moral education of our youth for whom mimicking the misdemeanours of their role models could become fashionable”.
We therefore still expect everyone to cooperate with the Judge Nicholson Committee of Enquiry, to give it space to do its work with diligence and submit its report to the Ministry.
This will demonstrate to society that we are serious about sport issues.The public should not suspect and accuse us of double-standard in the way we resolve issues. The precedence we set on our intervention strategies should be consistent and transparent. Our processes should be seen and perceived to be free and fair. We must always show our people that we will not tolerate ‘no go areas’ and ‘untouchables’ in sport and recreation in our country.
In the same vein, the reported conflicts in the Powerboat, Swimming, Karate, Football and in Cycling South Africa warrants the immediate attention of the SASCOC Board; and should and must not be orchestrated by an individual or a group of individuals. We must avoid the temptation by any individual or a group of individual from just out-of-the-blew decides on an investigation without the express mandate of the Board. This is a recipe for disaster on a notion of good corporate governance. We should not allow spaces and perceptions to be created around certain individuals to be considered to be larger than the organisation and are conducting themselves in a manner that is questionable. Our conduct should always be in keeping with our constitutions and codes of conduct. We must always uphold and respect the rules of engagement in our service to the nation.
We in the Ministry of Sport and Recreation have stated our position clearly in relation to the urgent need to run the confederation, federations and sport in all its facets transparently, openly, fairly and democratically.In doing so, all of us have an obligation to observe maximum discipline and to promote good corporate. To this end our commitment is unflinching and we will leave no stone unturned to ensure accountability and strong leadership in sport and recreation.We put all responsibility at the door-step of SASCOC to provide strong leadership and promote good corporative governance at all times.
If you do so you have our blessings and our unconditional support.We are your best ally as we hold no brief from anyone or any quarter within the sporting fraternity. We will use all means within our own regulations and the constitutional framework including other pieces of legislation to root-out crime and corruption as well as maladministration in sport and recreation even if it means for us attending court cases. We will be there to ensure that justice is done; and our people should see that justice is being done. If your actions and conduct are inspired by vengeance and settling scores as well as being anti-transformation and good corporate governance we will in the same vein following suit and go to and oppose you.
We will do this to all the federations that show leadership weakness and lack of decisiveness including Judo and Motor Industry.
The National Sport and Recreation Act no. 110 of 1998, section 13 refers to dispute resolution mechanisms in instances where there are conflicts within a Federation or Federations. I have asked my office to work together to find mechanisms of ensuring that we have the requisite capacity within or outside the Department and SASCOC to render this service to us. We are doing so informed by our understanding that the mandate of government is development and transformation. That mandate should not be diluted by self-seeking individuals who are hell-bent on disrupting sport in our country for their own and family needs at the expense of national interest.
We call on the South African Football Association (SAFA) to put its house to order. We are making this call armed by the cries of the nation in the aftermaths of the recent performances of our national teams especially Bafana Bafana. We welcome the recent strategy workshop of SAFA and coaches; and experts to look at international good practice in the conduct of football and to develop modern techniques to build our teams and boost their morale and turn them into winning teams.
However, we would also not tolerate the infightings amongst and between top leadership which at the end of the day compromises the performances of our teams and the moral fibre of our football. We want SAFA to implement all the decisions and resolutions of their recent strategy meeting to rid the association and sport of all the ills that makes it not to deliver as expected by the nation.
We have been provided a copy of the Report on AFCON 2012 Qualification by Match between South Africa and Sierra Leone by the CEO of SASCOC. My appeal to SASCOC is that the contents of the report must be closely scrutinised and that a report be presented to me on how this conundrum which was a source of embarrassment to the nation will be resolved. We need the Report before the end of February so that we can focus strategies to turn football around in South Africa.
On our part we have also written a letter to the President of SAFA requesting a meeting to really deal with a number of outstanding matters including the disbursement of funds from the FIFA Legacy Trust for the purposes for which the funds were earmarked.
We also want SASCOC to assist in ensuring that the hosting of international events such as the 2013 CAF and 2014 by SAFA is done accordance with the guidelines for bidding and hosting of international events. We need SASCOC to support us in also ensuring that SAFA as a Federation have taken all the necessary steps to ensure that all stakeholders including government are fully briefed on the financial implications and the criteria and process of selecting the stadiums where the Games will be played.
We would like to congratulate Banyana Banyana for qualifying to represent South Africa in upcoming 2012 Olympics in London. We are proud of you, thank you for making us so proud.
While the picture that is painted above probably reflects a bad and dysfunctional sport and recreation system many federations and sports loving people of the Republic still subscribe to and practice positive values associated with sport and still subscribe to the Code of Ethics in Sport and Recreation. We believe that through the NSRP we will speedily resolve all our challenges and get this vehicle moving forward for the benefit of all South Africans.
However, we would like to register our concern on the media wrangling in relation to the upcoming SASCOC elective Conference.We are disappointed that people chooses to use the media to fight their own personal battles when it comes to organisational and leadership questions. We did call on everyone to discuss all matters relating to organisational and leadership scenarios in SASCOC in the appropriate forums that are guaranteed by the Constitution of SASCOC. We doubt that these continued battles will assist us to realise our stated objectives.
We call on everyone in SASCOC and elsewhere in the country to concentrate on the upcoming 2012 Olympics in London. South Africans want medals, not muffins.
This behaviour is threatening the ability of our sport and recreation system to deliver quality athletes that are respected and recognised internationally.
The fact is that in the year 2011 South Africa participated in international competitions. They participated in the Netball World Championships and the Cricket and the Rugby World Cup representing the country in these very important sports meetings. We mobilised society behind our teams; the country was united behind these teams and gave courage to them to win. The fact remains that none of our teams came back to the country with any trophy. South Africans expect no less than trophies and wins; and they deserve no less!
We need to get reasons for this dismal failure.We need answers from the leadership. Of course, we did well in the all Africa Games and we commend SASCOC and Federations for the good work done. This is what needs to pre-occupy our minds, not positions of power.
But the question remains what went wrong in the African Cup of Nations qualifier, Rugby World Cup, Cricket World Cup as well as the Netball World Championships. It can not be taken as ‘business as usual’ when our national teams fail dismally to perform on the international stage whereas the country has invested so much to the welfare and readiness of these athletes and sportspeople.
In this context we would like to call upon SASCOC to work closely with SRSA in the delivery of our Schools Sport programme. Our intention is to extend the tenure of the current Lotto Distribution Agency on Sport and Recreation in order to afford further opportunity to allocate and transfer and expedite the allocation towards the schools sport programme which is being rolled-out on 18 February 2012.
We must all mobilise resources from government and private sector companies and business as well as civil society to join hands with us in the Schools Sport programme roll-out plan to make all our schools in South Africa to be incubators and nurseries for sport development and talent identification. We want to use schools sport as a platform to encourage social integration and integrated social inclusion. We would like you all to put your valuable time to assist all our young athletes especially in schools and our educators with the necessary coaching and officiating skills using the ‘Coaching Framework’ as well as sport administration and management, among other things.
There should be no funds returned to the Treasury; I have already requested my colleague the Minister of Trade and Industry to extend the term of office of the National Distribution Agency by two months in order to allow for the allocation and the disbursement of the remaining funds. This will also allow us to finalise the appointment of the new Board Members within that time frame.
We need SASCOC to join hands with us in the implementation of the resolutions of the NSRI more so on the Schools Sport programme and transformation.
Through the National Sport and Recreation Plan we want to deliberately close the disparities between the world of those who live in conditions of affluence and abundance, on the one side, and those who live in conditions of abject poverty and plunder, on the other side.
Hence the issue of grassroots sport development has become one of highlights of 2012 through schools and community sports; and the Indaba also recognised the need to fast track mass participation and development sport at all levels of participation including in all schools of the republic. The Indaba reasserted the importance of schools sport; especially the matter of compulsory physical education and activities in all schools of the Republic of South Africa. The issue of local, regional, provincial and national schools sport competitions is placed high on our agenda going forward.
Since the advent of the NSRP all of us have been engaged in the process of re-prioritisation of all programmes and activities. This warranted a strategic shift towards the Schools Sport programme and making schools sport the ‘bedrock’ of South African Sports Strategy and being key to laying the foundation for both an active and a winning nation.
Together we have set ourselves a time horizon of 20 years to realise the true results of the investment we are currently making into the South African sport and recreation system.
It is therefore imperative of all of us to reposition ourselves and re-engineer our organisation of sport and recreation to enable it to meet the demands of this new and fresh plan and strategy.
On our side as SRSA, we have begun the process of changing the institutional culture to ensure a stable and conducive working environment to enable us to achieve the goal of the plan. Part of this work include introducing measures to achieve the following: promote professionalism and excellence; recognising and rewarding performance and excellence; providing support to employees to excel and succeed in their work; ensuring effective management; and addressing systemic and procedural inefficiencies and ineffectiveness within the department.
In the nutshell, the Department has already begun the process of restructuring itself in order to achieve all the expectation of the National Sport and Recreation Indaba and all the goals of the National Sport and Recreation Plan.
We have begun a journey of change for the better and we are confident of the bright future and look forward to leaving a lasting legacy and a foundation for sound sports development in the Republic.
We therefore urge SASCOC and all the Federations as well as Sport Councils to follow suit and participate fully in the process of change and help SRSA to become an excellent organisation that achieves its targets by cooperating with the department to fully deliver on its mandate as well as ensuring that together we achieve our desired state of being the best sport organisation in South Africa.
We will after all this exercise table the NSRP to Cabinet and hope this plan will find resolute support from all in our political leadership and spheres of government. We invite you to comment and engage us on the assumptions and pronouncements we have made so that we can find each and move forwards.
We are here to work with you and we should have the same game plan and strategy going forward.
Thank you.
End!
Input of the Minister of Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA), Honourable Mr FA Mbalula (MP), on the occasion of The Board Meeting of the South African Sports and Confederation Olympic Committee (SASCOC), Olympic House, Gauteng Province, Republic of S
