Speech by the Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation South Africa, Mr Gert Oosthuizen at the SASCOC Annual General Meeting, Orion Safari Lodge, Rustenburg

Programme Director
SASCOC President, Mr Gideon Sam
Members of the SASCOC Executive Board
Presidents of National Federations
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

Thank you for the kind invitation to address you at this Annual General Meeting of South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC).

First of all I would like to thank the leadership of SASCOC and our national federations for the good relationship and cooperation that exists with our department. I value the collaborative working relationship we experience with our sport leaders and this cooperation augers well for the very important phase we enter in determining the future of South African sport.

Your presence at the 2011 SASCOC AGM here in Rustenburg is part of the process to make South African sport more inclusive as we work together on the development of the first ever National Sport and Recreation Plan - briefly referred to as the NSRP.

Yesterday you made important and valuable inputs and contributions to the draft National Sport Plan. I want to thank you for your dedicated efforts to enrich the Plan. It is my belief that the future of sport and recreation in South Africa is not just the responsibility of a single entity, but of all the stakeholders in the sport sector.

We are all part of a process aimed at creating a vibrant sport system that encourages growth and development, and supports South Africans to be world-beaters.

Allow me the opportunity to update you this morning on progress made and the latest developments regarding the development of the National Sport and Recreation Plan and the upcoming National Indaba.

Ladies and gentleman, first of all it is important to realise that to fully benefit from and exploit the social and economic opportunities of sport, especially as experienced during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, it is essential to have an integrated sport system in place that is effectively coordinated, aligned, functional and performance oriented.

I have no doubt that the National Sport and Recreation Plan that is now developed will pave the way for such a sport system. The strategic focus of the Plan is to reconstruct and revitalise the sport and recreation sector for an active and winning nation whilst improving the lives of all South Africans.

Early in 2011 Sport and Recreation South Africa finalised an updated White Paper on sport and recreation and a Road Map outlining priority areas. These documents serve as the basis for the development of Government’s first ever National Sport and Recreation Plan.

In the 2011 State of the Nation Address, President Jacob Zuma, informed the joint sitting of Parliament that: ‘Given the work that must still be done, we decided in 2009 to focus on five priorities, namelyeducation, health, rural development and agrarian reform, taking forward the fight against crime and creating decent work.’

Ladies and gentlemen after perusing the NSRP very carefully, I am comfortable that this Plan will not only pave the way for a well coordinated and vibrant sport system, but it will also allow for the building of a very important case for sport as the activities identified in the Plan will make valuable contributions to the priorities of government. The sport and recreation sector has indeed a very important role to play in the achievement of all government priorities.

Milestones

Some of the important milestones in developing the National Sport and Recreation Plan and building up to the National Indaba include the following:

• At a departmental strategic workshop from 10 – 12 January 2011 delegates agreed to organise a National Sport Indaba to finalise South Africa’s first National Sport and Recreation Plan.
• Following this workshop Minister Fikile Mbalula appointed myself as Chairperson of a Steering Committee. The first meeting of the Steering Committee was held on 4 February 2011. All Provinces, SALGA, SASCOC and identified individual role-players are represented on the Steering Committee.
• The concept of the NSRP and Indaba was launched through the media to stimulate public debate on 5 April.
• Also in April the SRSA website was used to encourage public participation and inputs to the NSRP. This was supplemented by targeting social media.
• The draft NSRP was finalised in May 2011 and distributed for comments and inputs. Together with an Indaba Opinion Piece on the National Indaba was also released to stimulate debate.
• The first draft of the Transformation Charter accompanied by a score card - the only annexure to the NSRP - was finalised in June and distributed for comments and inputs.
• During the consultation process various Reference Documents supplementing the Plan and providing greater insight regarding the NSRP were identified and developed.
• A Project Manager was appointed on 1 June 2011 to assist with the planning and organizing of the National Indaba.

Consultation process

Ladies and gentlemen, you can rest assured that the National Sport and Recreation Plan will be the result of a broad consultative process. The draft NSRP was discussed and debated at regional and district workshops that culminated in Provincial iZindaba that took place as follows:

• Mpumalanga - 23 and 24 July 2011
• Western Cape – 30 July 2011
• Gauteng – 3 August 2011
• KZN – 11 and 12 August 2011
• Cape – 13 August 2011
• Limpopo – 12, 13 and 14 August 2011
• Northern Cape – 19 August 2011
• North West – due to take place on 17 September 2011.

As you can recall the intentions to develop a National Sport and Recreation Plan and to host a National Indaba were communicated at your General Meeting in East London on 16 April 2011. The interactions at this AGM provided all recognised NFs with the opportunity to make inputs on the National Sport and Recreation Plan.

A briefing session on the National Sport and Recreation Plan was held with the staff of Sport and Recreation South Africa on 15 August 2011.

A presentation on the NSRP was done to the Portfolio Committee on 23 August 2011. Some of the main comments of the Portfolio Committee were the following:

• Elevating the status of sport within Government is important for the successful implementation of the NSRP.
• The NSRP has the potential to uplift South African sport and recreation and it is critical that the document is resourced and properly implemented.
• The transformation of the sport sector is at the heart of the NSRP and the Department must ensure that the necessary mechanisms are deployed to determine the transformation status quo and to monitor progress. It must also be realised that transformation will only succeed if the required resources are made available.
• School sport remains a key factor to a successful sport system making the relationship between SRSA and DBE critical.
• The provision of facilities is central to the development of sport and recreation.
• The NSRP must assist with a clear role demarcation of the key role-players in sport and recreation.
• A functional personnel structure for the sector is required to ensure the proper implementation of the NSRP.
• The funding of sport must be reviewed to ensure a better utilisation of resources.

Evaluation and drafting sub-committee

At the meeting of the Steering Committee of 1 August 2011 representatives from the following institutions were appointed to serve on the Evaluation and Drafting Sub-Committee:

• Sport and Recreation South Africa
• The Ministry
• Provincial Government
• SALGA; and SASCOC.

The main purpose of the Evaluation and Drafting Sub-Committee is to critically interrogate and evaluate all the remarks, proposed amendments, inputs and recommendations received with a view of compiling a final draft National Sport and Recreation Plan.

Focus areas

I don’t want to deliberate on the National Sport and Recreation Plan too much as I know that you spent a lot of time yesterday in discussing the Plan. Save to say that, as far as I am concerned, various critical issues are addressed in the Plan that will have a serious impact on the future of our sport sector.

Issues such as:

• the importance of school sport
• grassroots sports programmes such as modified sport with the focus on fun and njoyment, for example the “Bakers Mini Cricket” and “Bulletjies Rugby”
• the new concept of Youth camps
• a new focus on recreation
• strengthening the delivery system through Sport Councils
• geater cooperation between SRSA, the Police, Defense Force and Correctional Services to enhance sport
• mechanisms that will improve our international sport successes
• establishing South Africa as a world leader in global initiatives of the United Nations regarding sport for peace and development
• tThe thorny issue of professionalism in sport
• the importance of an international sports calendar
• the exiting concept of a Sports House
• And a funding model for South African sport.

Planning, Monitoring and budgeting cycles

Although the National Sport and Recreation Plan will be monitored and evaluated annually, the targets and deliverables will align with the Medium Term Expenditure Framework to encourage financial sustainability and with Government’s Medium Term Strategic Framework to support Government priorities.

In conjunction with National Treasury, SRSA will ensure that the implementation of the NSRP will adhere to the regulated budgetary and planning cycles. SRSA will develop an action plan outlining the alignment process in a chronologically and ordered manner across four financial years, namely 2010/11 to 2013/14.

Legal Framework

Ladies and gentlemen, although different stakeholders are allocated responsibilities in the NSRP, the Minister will remain the custodian of sport and recreation in South Africa. The Minister has the legislative powers to oversee the development and management of sport and recreation in the country. The Minister is therefore the principal authority of Government with regards to all sport and recreation matters. This, however, does not negate his right to enter into Service Level Agreements with delivery agents identified in the NSRP.

Collaborative agreements

Following the finalisation of the National Sport and Recreation Plan it is envisaged that the Minister will sign Collaborative Agreements with identified stakeholders to support the delivery of the NSRP.The Collaborative Agreement will be signed with the supreme delivery partners, for example the Minister is signing with the Provincial Governments and SASCOC. The supreme delivery partner will then need to take responsibility for cascading the responsibility further, for example Provincial Government signs agreements with local government and SASCOC with its National Federations. In this way we will ensure that all role-players are working towards the same goals and objectives.

I am also very aware of the importance to ensure that requisite resources must be made available to support the implementation of the Collaborative Agreements.

Roles and responsibilities

The NSRP must include a clear role demarcation which eliminates “turf battles”.

In finalising the NSRP there is broad consensus that there should be only two macro drivers of sport and recreation in the country, namely Government - all three tiers - and one NGO - SASCOC. Following the approval of the NSRP the National Sport and Recreation Amendment Act of 2007, as well as the constitution of SASCOC, will need to be amended to ensure that the delivery of sport and recreation is supported by relevant legislation.

It is envisaged that the mandate of SASCOC will need to be expanded to include more than high performance sport.

I am also of the opinion that it will be in the interest of all relevant parties that the leadership of SRSA meets with the Executive of SASCOC and with the provinces before the National Indaba to reach consensus on contentious issues.

MIG Funding

The National Sport and Recreation Plan promotes mass participation in sport at local level through the establishment of sporting hubs in municipalities which is fundamental for creating social cohesion and producing a healthy and productive nation. There are, however, challenges with regards to the maintenance of these infrastructure hubs as there is currently inadequate funding allocated for maintenance costs by municipalities.

Significant steps have been made to address the shortage of municipal sport infrastructure through the ring-fencing of 15% of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant towards building sport facilities in rural areas. However, the funding mechanism does not take into consideration the significant funds needed for the maintenance costs of these. The utilisation of the MIG for municipalities and schools to share facilities therefore also poses maintenance related challenges which could result in unrealistic costs for local government.

The sector should, therefore consider a long term funding mechanism of sport infrastructure development to take the form of a conditional grant to the provinces rather than the current MIG ring- fencing of 15%.

National Sport Indaba

The NSRP will be finalised at a National Indaba scheduled for November 2011. This Indaba will be the culmination of nine Provincial iZindaba and workshops at regional and district levels.

The main objectives of the Indaba are to:

• Action the policy directives emanating from the revised White Paper – from the “what” to the “how”
• Integrate the six priority areas identified in the SRSA 2011 Road Map into the NSRP
• Consider feedback received from the Provinces; SASCOC; NFs and other inputs received
• Fast-track a transformation charter and delivery mechanisms for all sectors and role-players involved in sport and recreation
• Facilitate collective buy-in from all stakeholders to the NSRP
• Streamline implementation towards common objectives. 

The envisaged theme of the National Indaba is from “From policy to practice” and the tagline: “More than just playing”.

Areas for further discussion in Indaba Commissions

Working through the inputs thus far it appears if there are still important issues that may need further deliberations at the National Indaba.

These issues include:

• The geo-political constitutional boundaries (national, provincial, local) vs sport federation boundaries.
• The issue of amateur versus professional sport and young people who are contracted at academies.
• The concept of a Sports House that can become an important factor in supporting our National and even International Federations.
• Line of reporting for provincial federations to National Federation and/or Provincial Sport Councils)

Futere actions

Following the approval of the National Sport and Recreation Plan important follow-up actions will be required such as:

• Updating the Case for Sport
• Production of coffee table book with the history of the development of the National Sport and Recreation Plan with agreements and photos
• Update the National Strategic Frameworks of the National and Provincial Departments of Sport
• Alignment of the strategic documentation of all role-players with the National Sport and Recreation Plan
• The development of a generic Charter for South African Sport and Recreation.

Conclusion

Upon approval of the National Sport and Recreation Plan South Africa will have for the first time:

• A single NSRP with specific activities.
• A well designed and operational development continuum supported by skilled human resources.
• A clear demarcation of roles and responsibilities.
• Transformation addressed in a holistic way.
• A unified funding mechanism.
• All role-players working towards the same objectives.

Without a coordinated, integrated and aligned national sport system within which all component parts are focused towards a common set of goals and objectives, the potential value of sport to the South African society cannot be fully realised.All sectors must buy-in and commit to the strategic direction that will emerge from the National Indaba.

The department has embarked on genuine and constructive debates in its quest to transform South African sport for the better. I have no doubt that we can count on the 100% commitment and cooperation of SASCOC and every NF to complete this race successfully.

I thank you.