Programme Director;
Honourable Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation Mr Gert Oosthuizen;
Honourable Members of Parliament;
Businessmen and women;
Community Leaders;
Sports men and women;
Distinguished guests;
Representatives of the Media;
Fellow South Africans;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Good morning to the viewers at home.
On Wednesday, 09 May 2012, the Ministry of Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) together with the Member of Executive Council (MEC) in the Western Cape Administration spent most of our time visiting schools and communities in the Western Cape Province who have made sport and recreation one of the strategic vehicles to create vibrant and sustainable human settlements.
The community members are using schools and communities as ‘bedrocks’ for sport development and conveyor belts towards competitive sport and sport excellence in South Africa to the extent that schools are the centres of community activities and are light houses for community based projects and programmes.
We visited Vuyani Primary School in Gugulethu and Velokhaya Cycling Academy in Khayelitsha with an aim to see for ourselves the conditions of schools and communities as to whether our schools and communities in this province are in a state that can provide both sport and recreation to our youth.
In Vuyani Primary School alone, as a reflection of thousands of other poor schools in the Republic, we found no sport facility. The so-called sport field in the school is a dune of sand that dates back to 1961. However, the learners at this school continue to use this ‘sport field’ as they prepare for the school sport programmes. During winter exams and during windy seasons of the Western Cape, learners continue to be irritated by mud and dust that compromise their focus on the exam paper.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this year marks the 50th Anniversary of Vuyani Primary School, if there is any Samaritan among and elsewhere in South Africa we can appreciate a birthday present for the schools in the form of constructing a proper sport field at this school. Situations like these should not be tolerated and we must take an initiative to reverse the existing skewed distributions of sport and recreation facilities in schools and our communities.
However, the Velokhaya Cycling Academy became a light house for us to acknowledge that it is possible to use what we have at the moment to contribute towards a sustainable programme of grassroots sport development programme. This Academy demonstrated to us a BMX track that it utilises to train young people from schools in Khayelitsha and surrounding communities with necessary cycling skills and other sporting skills. When we arrived in Khayelitsha Township we were welcomed by thousands of school-going age youth who were there to participate in a cycling programme. We were impressed by the organisation of this academy and we donated 18 bicycles to the academy as well as sport equipment and attire for the participants who are members of the Khayelitsha Sport Development Council.
Yesterday we participated in the World Move for Health Day in Langa Township which is the initiative of the World Health Organisation (WHO).We took part in this historic event together with the members of Langa community. We participated in a number of activities including Dance Aerobics as part of our mission to create an ‘active nation’. We want to call on all South Africans to participate in wellness programmes at work and in communities in order to make South Africa as a healthy nation that lives a healthy lifestyle.
These programmes and sites are a living example and a mirror reflection of what needs to be done if we want to be an ‘active and a winning nation’. In twenty years to come South Africa will select athletes and stars from these youngsters and make them to become champions that will represent our country in international sport championships and tournaments. It is therefore prudent if we start to invest today for the future.
These are our future heroes and heroines, let’s build them now! If they succeed and excel in future, the country should accord them with fitting accolades in the form of prizes and awards to reward their excellence, dedication and sportsmanship through a structured project of national Sports Awards.
Ladies and Gentlemen, on the occasion of the re-introduction of the National Sport Awards in August 2011, we declared to South Africa and the sporting fraternity the launch of the Andrew Mlangeni Green Jacket Awards and the Steve Tshwete Lifetime Awards for the first time in the history of South Africa. These Awards were inaugurated as part of a collage of equally significant awards in recognition of the latent talent of our athletes and to celebrate excellence, quality, and success in sport in all its facets. What makes the Andrew Mlangeni Green Jacket and Steve Tshwete Lifetime Achievement Awards special and unique is that the gentlemen in whose name the awards are issued is the personification of humanity and embodiment of hope, justice, equality and fair-play. Through these Awards, we salute these gallant fighters and stalwarts of our struggle; the iZithwalandwe, Seaparankwe, leaders in their own right; I speak of Honourable Andrew Mlangeni and Steve Tshwete.
We will in the current financial year add as part of recognising pockets of excellence and distinction launch the ‘Little Green Book’ to honour the Top 100 Sports Personalities in South Africa.
This we do so cognisant that there are further thousands of other unsung local heroes and heroines in our communities who have demonstrated their selfless time and effort to the development of sport and nurturing young talent. This too is a tribute to them and their efforts and further encouragement for them to do more to ultimately reach the pinnacle of the Top 100.
Fellow South Africans, our budget speech today is dedicated to their gallant fighting spirit without which the dream of a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa would not have been realised in our life-time. They and the collective leadership of their generation, in the African National Congress (ANC) and broader democratic movement, adapted to the harsh realities and material conditions of their time and became pathfinders for our generations and posterity.
As we celebrate excellence and achievement by recognising our champions and luminaries, it is befitting for us to equally celebrate and congratulate all families who sacrificed time and enjoyment with their loved ones and gave them to the nation to participate in sport for the benefit of the country in a mission to promote the “Flag” and the vision for “An Active and Winning Nation.” I would like to call everyone in this house to stand up and give applauds to all members of these families and South Africa as country that gave birth to these martyrs.
We take this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude to the pioneers and torch-bearers that have over the past 100 years, since the formation of the oldest liberation movement in Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) actively participated and contributed immensely in the transformation and development of sport and recreation. Thousands of our people were crucified, banished, jailed and killed for their principled opposition to racism and tyranny in sport. For racism and inequality were anathemas to them and to human progress on and off the field. This Chapter of the centenary celebrations will not be complete without a thoroughgoing recollection and exposition of the role and place of sports activists in the past, the present and what lessons can be drawn from our shameful past and present to shape a better life and future for all!
The National Sport Awards initiative is aimed at rewarding our successful sports men and women for their outstanding efforts to make South Africans proud on and off the sporting field and shall also include the recognition of the immense contribution of those sportswomen and men who sacrificed everything in the name of non-racial, non-sexist and democratic sport system in our country. We do this to say thank you to their hard work to keep the enthusiasm of sport alive in the spirits and minds of all South Africans.
As we celebrate the twenty (20) years of South Africa’s remittance back into the international sport community; we further do this to honour and recognise outstanding personalities, individuals and team as well as clubs that have, against all odds, excelled since 1992 whilst in the same token recognising sport excellence amongst young sportswomen and men.
We are hopeful that everyone in South Africa, government, business and civil society, will unwaveringly sponsor and pledge their time and efforts to work together with SRSA to provide a strategic direction to reposition the National Sports Awards and turn the sporting fraternity and; sport and recreation landscape in South Africa for the better and engender systematic efficiencies in a move to encourage functional operations, and accelerated service delivery.
In the end, we believe that these outstanding men and women will also help to provide a compendium to transform the sport and recreation society into fully representative system, and responsive community, poised to accelerate unity of purpose, social cohesion, patriotism and nationhood.
In order to give effect to our decision of escalating efforts to capture our history, our contemporary discourse and future trajectory, we are launching the ‘Think Sport Journal’ which will carry articles written by local and international contributors. Through this Journal we will chronicle the heart and soul of South African sport and recreation and present yet another platform and medium for dialogue and intellectualism on socio-economic, geo-political and scientific topics. The Editorial Board of the ‘Think Sport Journal’ has been drawn from leading academics, sports journalists, sports activists, the private and public sector.
We are mindful of the urgent task to bring about total transformation in all federations and sporting codes to the extent that we will announce the Eminent Persons Group on Transformation in Parliament during our Budget Vote Speech debate at 11h00 this morning.
The Eminent Persons Group will, in broad terms, advise the Ministry of Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) on all matters pertaining to transformation as well as monitoring and evaluation in the sector.
Ladies and Gentlemen, on 13 May 2012, we will be unveiling the Terms of Reference of the Eminent Persons Group to the President’s Council of the South African Sport Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and we will also workshop the Terms of Reference for the stakeholders to ensure consistency and compliance.
I would like to call again on all our partners to support our cause and continue the good work. In the main, I call on reservoir of goodwill especially from the business sector to partner with us in the delivery of an outstanding 2012 National Sports Awards and all other projects of SRSA including the assistance of schools and communities who want to make the lives of all our young people better.
As our teams prepare for the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics we wish them all the best and we want them to know of our unwavering support. We acknowledge our athletes, cyclist, wheelchair basketball players, swimmers and boxers in our mist this morning.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our sponsors and friends who have made this breakfast possible and those who continue to make our efforts in sport and recreation a marvellous success. South Africa will be hosting the Africa Cup of Nations 2013 let us once again rally around our support to the AFCON Organising Committee and Cities that will be hosting this tournament and make this champion another unforgettable experience for our beloved country and continent.
Thank you.
