Speech by the Free State MEC for Transport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, Mr Dan Kgothule, on the occasion of the tabling of the 2009/10 budget vote

Honourable speaker
Honourable premier
Colleagues in the executive council
Honourable members of the legislature
Executive mayors, mayors and councillors
Representatives of Sport Federations and Arts and Culture Councils
Representatives of Bloemfontein Celtics and Free State Stars soccer legends
Acting head of the department
Chief executive officers of Performing Arts Centre of the Free State and Phakisa
Ladies and gentlemen
Comrades

Sport, arts, culture and recreation determine the tone and quality of any society’s life as a basket of the department’s functions that outlines the range of services that our clients should benefit from. They are integral parts of reconstructing and developing society along lines that governments are mandated by the electorate, and as informed by the election manifesto of the ruling party.

If utilised properly, they can become crucial elements in every single effort made by both the government and the private sector to uplift the quality of life of all South Africans, particularly the historically disadvantaged sector. They have the potential for reconstructing the social fabric of society through the implementation of developmental programmes befitting a developmental world of which our province is an integral part.

In aligning the range of services that my department ought to provide to both honourable president Jacob Zuma’s state of the nation address, as well as honourable premier Ace Magashule’s state of the province address, this August house needs to be fully aware of the following critical success factors in as far as sport, arts, culture and recreation are concerned:

The current and the first year of the fourth term of democratic governance enjoins the department to phase in service delivery plans in its work streams. These service delivery plans must seek to contribute to the creation of an enabling environment that will give best effect to the ANC-led government’s prioritisation of the five key priorities, namely:

* transform the sector with a view to create decent work, sustainable livelihoods, as well as fostering patriotism and social cohesion
* provide universal sector education capacity building opportunities which empowers our people, promotes self development, and enhances the sector’s competitiveness within the global arena
* implement a comprehensive sector rural development strategy that promotes equity and mainstreaming opportunities for all clients within the province
* implement a comprehensive strategy that promotes ‘Fair Play and Fair Life’ practices within the sector as part of its contribution to government’s fight against crime and corruption and
* utilising the sector as a vehicle to promote a healthy nation able to participate in a developing society

That the department in the main relies on the extent of involvement of volunteers, as well as sector structures of civil society to ensure that our democratic gains are safe-guarded in the best interest of the sustainable development of our fledgling democracy’s development and governance requirements.

Recognising that the outlawed and infamous apartheid defined and derived group areas act still determines the way of life for the Free State citizenry, it is important to consider the extent to which the department can contribute to the promotion of social cohesion through its basket of responsive services that should strategically and progressively address the following outcomes:

* consciously erecting our infrastructure projects in a manner that should close buffer-strips created by apartheid to enable our communities to practice sport, arts, culture and recreation activities together
* promoting and sustaining dialogue that strives to articulate a sector framework within which all of the department’s recognised structures and stakeholders can join the government’s transformation agenda

That the department will have to contemplate a paradigm shift and develop a programme implementation parameters in order to successfully execute its sector responsive functions. This execution must be within the framework of the programme of action of the following government clusters:

* Social Protection and Community Development
* Economic and Infrastructure Development and
* Governance, Administration and Security

Speaker, as we table the 2009/10 budget vote of the department of sport, arts, culture and recreation, it will be our pleasure to reflect on the growth and development of the sector in the last financial year. We will also outline in no uncertain terms the future direction of this function through commitments and projects for the 2009/10 financial year.

Programme one: administration

Honourable speaker, the strategic goal of programme one which deals with administration is to provide support to the rest of the department to realise the end goal of promoting, developing and transforming the function of sport, arts, culture and recreation in the province. The major thrust of this end goal is to contribute towards sustainable economic growth and opportunities, social cohesion, good governance and social as well as human capital development.

Human capital development is the centre of service delivery; without the requisite skills we will not be able to deliver on our programme of action commitments as government. To illustrate the department’s commitment, the following 2008/09 financial year achievements can be cited:

* the department spent R292 213 on part time bursaries to ensure development of personnel in various skills
* R671 696 was spent on full time bursaries for external stakeholders
* we have in partnership with Thabo Mofutsanyane district municipality appointed eleven interns who have been placed in various libraries in the Maluti-a-Phofung local municipality. For the current financial year we intend appointing eight more interns in the department

Speaker, the budget for the department for the current 2009/10 financial year is R360 232. It is divided among the programmes as follows:

* administration R36 194 million
* cultural affairs R103 479 million
* library and archive services R77 041 million
* sport and recreation R143 518 million

This budget includes the conditional grant payment of R66 906 million divided as follows:

* library and archives services R40 315 million
* sport and recreation R26 591 million

The total infrastructure budget is R74 740 million and is divided as follows:

* new projects R57 190 million
* rehabilitation/upgrading R14 529 million
* recurrent maintenance R3 021 million

The department will ensure that the available resources are utilised efficiently to achieve the strategic objectives. It is important just to note that last year the department received a South African Institute of Government Auditors award for the best annual report in South Africa and in the Free State.

Speaker, the nature of the range of functions rendered by the department is such that community participation in our programmes is critical. Mass participation cuts across all the programmes in the department. It is therefore incumbent upon us to ensure constant information flow to communities to empower them to participate in our programmes.

It is to this end that we will partner with community radio stations to communicate with our communities. We are in the process of allocating funding of R100 000 to each community radio station within the province to promote communities’ access to information regarding the department’s activities and events in response to the sector’ growth and development needs.

Programme two: arts and cultural affairs

Honourable speaker, we present programme two which deals with arts and cultural affairs against the backdrop of the successful staging of the Mangaung African Cultural Festival (MACUFE) last year. In his state of the province address honourable premier refers to MACUFE as “the biggest pilgrimage of the arts and culture in the Free State”. That this arts and culture pilgrimage was successfully staged and is therefore an indicator of the best things to come in the broader sector.

Starting in the current financial year, and in preparation for the Free State’s participation in the National Conference on Social Cohesion at the International Convention Centre in Durban, scheduled from the 29 to 31 October 2009, the department will:

* convene its preparatory workshop to articulate its contribution and develop its sustainable programme for achieving the objectives of this crucial social dialogue with a view to safeguard our country’s democratic gains
* ensure that its delegation to the conference not only adopt a common approach and stance regarding the progressive achievement of the promotion of social cohesion, nation building and national identity in the democratic South Africa, but also depicts the demography of the Free State province.

Speaker, social cohesion is at the centre of our life as a nation. It constitutes the fabric of our existence. The following issues that will be addressed by this conference speak to the kind of society we want to construct:

* Ubuntu and our humanity as South Africans
* poverty and access to economic opportunities within the arts and culture environment
* promotion of gender equality
* social integration and nation building and
* building of a caring nation

It is the department’s undertaking to sustain this dialogue and to ensure that the programme’s future intervention measures display a bias towards this cited course of transforming the Free State province’s arts and culture landscape.

We are still confronted with an enormous challenge of ensuring that we take the arts to a higher level of development. In recent years we have indeed seen a remarkable shift in the way we implement arts and culture intervention programmes in the province.

Key amongst these is the following:

* The Mangaung Strings programme has been replicated and expanded to the Xhariep district with 60 pupils from five schools learning the violin and an additional 100 learners enrolled in the beginner’s course. The schools involved are Madikgetla primary and P.T. Saunders primary in Trompsburg, Phillipolis primary and Bergmanshoogte primary, in Phillipolis, Vooriutsig primary school in Fauresmith, and the New Apostolic church in Jaggersfontein.

* The Bochabela String Orchestra undertook a successful tour of Belgium from 09 to 24 February 2009 in which all the concerts were sold out and over one million viewers watched them perform on the Laatste Show. As part of the tour the children also performed for live radio broadcasts and were interviewed on both radio and television news programmes.

* And the revival of MACUFE. MACUFE 2008 was bigger and better. This event was preceded by the district festivals that identified 1000 performing artist to take in the Homebrew Programme. MACUFE 2008 had international, national and local performers in four outdoor and seven indoor events which included three new programmes being MACUFE Wordfest; MACUFE Comedy and MACUFE Ons Konsert sponsored by Volksblad newspaper.

Speaker, MACUFE 2009 will be hosted in October, and after the department’s staging of the OR Tambo Games and Memorial Lecture and Social Gala Dinner for the province’s youth involved in competitive sport. We will certainly build on the positive developments of last year and address whatever challenges we have identified.

The Sesotho soccer terminology has progressed well and will be launched towards the end of this year to be ready for use before next 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. So far, all 1 132 soccer terminologies have been collected and defined from the planned 1 000 terminologies.

Under the Multilingual Initiative Development project (MIDP IV), a project undertaken in partnership with the University of the Free State, and funded by the Antwerp province of Belgium, six interpreter trainees have been enrolled with the university and will complete their training at the end of this academic year, and they will commence on first of August 2009 until the end of August 2010 doing in-service training within the department.

The draft provincial language policy has been accepted by executive council, and in this current financial year it will further be consulted with departments to prepare for its implementation.

The first ever sport museum in South Africa will be built this year at the Free State Sport Science Institute and it will be completed before the FIFA 2010 World Cup. The museum will start by depicting the history of soccer and include other sporting codes as it grows. The museum will also have a hall of fame where sport heroes, heroines and legends in the province will be honoured.

The 2009 heritage month programme will be celebrated under the theme ‘Celebrating South African Craft–Our Heritage’ this theme has been informed by, amongst others, sector consideration of the following realities:

* Nature of the variety of products that reflect various aspects of South Africa’s economic, social and cultural traditions
* The use of natural resources and recycled products that reflects creativity, innovation and resourcefulness of South African crafters and
* The fact that whilst the industry is estimated to have more than 1, 2 million entrepreneurs and employees, estimated to be worth R3,4 billion per annum, and the fact that it has huge potential for creating sustainable jobs within rural and peri-urban communities, it is still an unregulated market, and we still do not have reliable statistics on the contribution of craft to the gross domestic product (GDP)

In preparing for Free State’s participation in the national event, and preparing for provincial events, the department will seek to put mechanisms and programmes in place to find scientific answers to the above cited problems.

Speaker, it is also important to note that the national heritage month will also coincide with the launch of the women and children’s ministry that will focus on addressing the plight of women and children in present-day South African society.

In his state of the province address honourable premier Magashule stressed that we need to capacitate The Performing Arts Centre of the Free State (PACOFS) for it to fulfil its responsibilities. This is in recognition of the fact that art is a language that people are able speak and understand each other, regardless of boundaries, it is a way through which we are able to appreciate humanity deeper and in a more universal way.

PACOFS is one of the instruments at our disposal to appreciate art in this way.
Its mandate is to present, develop and promote performing arts. This is further informed by access and distribution of resources not only to one community in the Free State, but in which the diverse communities of the entire province and beyond benefit from its artistic activities.

There is a critical and symbiotic relationship between PACOFS and all institutions that further cultural and artistic objectives. The Department of Sport Art Culture and Recreation is not only one of those institutions, but also an important partner that plays a crucial role in leading art in the province. We are therefore, bound by this tapestry of artistic activities in the province to pursue the objective of opening doors of culture to all. This means that to achieve this objective all of us have to play an active role.

The department needs to partner with PACOFS in transforming and developing the artistic landscape in the province. This cooperation of the two state institutions should be based on continuous assessment on key national priorities such as job creation and promotion of arts and culture through creating of enabling platform for the practice.

My understanding is that PACOFS’ key strategic objectives are not strange to priorities of government at the national, provincial or local level. What we therefore need to do, the department and PACOFS, is to realign our strategic objectives so that we all move in unison to promote and develop a diversified art and culture environment in the province.

It is therefore further imperative that PACOFS is repositioned to maximally accommodate all theatre practitioners and communities from across the province. To make sure that this happens, we need to prepare a framework wherein formal ties are established between PACOFS and the department, with special focus on capacity building of institutions of cultural practices, such as our cultural centres. Skills development is a reality that we must seriously address as key role players. For this reason, the provincial government has made provision to assist PACOFS in addressing this focus and it is therefore logical that PACOFS would draw a revised resource pattern and plans to assist in further promoting the appreciation of art.

Programme three: library and archive services

Honourable speaker, today we are living in a knowledge economy and society which requires a totally different set of skills and knowledge than that of a mere decade ago. But what is remaining a constant in this fast-changing, demanding environment, is the basic skill of reading. Reading is the empowering skill that makes all learning possible. Libraries with their collections of reading materials in printed and electronic formats are the gateway to the opportunities of the 21st century knowledge economy.

We therefore have the responsibility to ensure that our citizens can read and read well, and that they have access to the knowledge resources required for survival in the transformed and transforming society we are living in. Libraries have the potential to open the doors of learning to all and community libraries must be developed, cherished and protected as the cornerstone of a democratic knowledge society where the skills of literacy, reading and independent thinking can be developed and nurtured.

Against the backdrop of successful implementation of the programmes of Conditional Grants for Community Libraries, the department will:

* focus more on the adoption and implementation of the nationally adopted transformation charter to transform urban and rural community library infrastructure, facilities and services with a distinct bias towards previously disadvantaged communities
* embark on a deliberate paradigm shift to develop and implement comprehensive multi-purpose infrastructure that will address not only the space and access factors, but also ensure that the content that the department continues to invest in addresses all the needs of the South African democratic and developmental state

My department is, therefore, committed to the continuous development and upgrading of community library services in the province to ensure that our libraries are serving the community as centres of reading, literacy and learning. As we do all these things we must do them in the memory of our fallen heroes without whose contribution to the liberation struggle we will not be where we are. It is for that reasons such libraries as the one in Refengkgotso was named after our struggle hero, Ntai Mokoena.

It is against this background that I am happy to outline the following milestones realised through the library services sub-programme:

firstly, two new libraries were completed and opened to the public. These are Selosesha public library in Thaba Nchu and the Ntai Mokoena library in Refengkgotso, Deneysville. These libraries have well-developed collections of information resources in a variety of formats and also an information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure which provides online access to electronic information to the public

secondly, the conditional grant for the Community Library Recapitalisation programme amounted to R31 million during 2008/09 and was used as follows:

* 55 libraries were provided with computers and online connectivity bringing the total number of libraries with an ICT infrastructure to 120. This project serves to bridge the digital divide by bringing modern technologies to even the remotest rural areas such as Oppermansdorp, Thaba Patchoa, Cornelia and rural areas in QwaQwa. Facilities such as online internet access and e-mail communication are now available at community libraries
* 61 libraries were provided with photocopiers
* approximately 50 000 new books were bought and will be distributed to libraries over the next few weeks. Books in indigenous languages, African authors, and study and literacy materials form the core of the collection development programme
* staff was appointed at 40 libraries, enabling these libraries to keep libraries open for longer hours and improving service delivery
* security was upgraded at 10 libraries with security fences and burglar proofing
* a number of training programmes was presented to improve staff capacity and 20 bursaries for study in library science and information technology were awarded. The bursary programme will contribute to alleviating the shortage of professionally qualified librarians.

thirdly, a multi-year reading programme called A Re Ithuteng, which is aimed at improving literacy and a culture of reading was launched during 2008/09 at 15 libraries. This programme supports the national Kha ri Gude literacy programme and will continue in the new financial year. This programme aims at involving people spanning all age groups, from babies with their parents to the elderly in exciting reading and storytelling programmes

fourthly, 2010 information desks were established at libraries to keep communities informed about the FIFA Confederation Cup and World Cup events. A writers’ competition with soccer as theme was launched during April 2009 and the winners will be announced during September 2009

Honourable speaker, the archive services component promotes accountability and transparency in government by ensuring that public records are professionally organised and safely stored to be available for public use. To broaden the representivity of the archival collection, the archives component embarked upon a research and oral history programme with struggle heroes such as Fezile Dabi and Thabo Mofutsanyane as focus. A publisher agreed to publish a series of books on Free State heroes which will be made available in community libraries.

For the 2009/10 financial year we commit to undertaking the following eight main projects through the library and archive service programme.

First project: we will continue with the recapitalisation of community libraries programme. R40 315 million was allocated for this purpose and will be used as follows:

* 59 libraries will be provided with computers and online access. By 31 March 2010 all community libraries in the province will have ICT facilities making our communities part of the global society
* 30 libraries will receive photocopiers
* 50 000 new books and other materials will be bought. The focus will still be on materials in indigenous languages, African literature in general, African and South African history, literacy materials and study materials for learners on all levels. The acquisition programme will make collections in libraries representative of the diverse cultures of the province and country. The National Library of South Africa reprinted a series of classical literature in indigenous languages which will be distributed to all community libraries in the province. The official hand-over of publications will take place in September where after the books will be distributed to libraries
* for the first time, community libraries will be provided with access to books in electronic format through a subscription to e-publications. This will assist especially tertiary students because expensive handbooks will be available electronically
* 52 libraries will be supported with additional staff. The appointment of more staff at libraries improves access to services as libraries can be kept open for longer hours and at hours convenient for the public. Service delivery is also improved with more staff to attend to library users. In addition, the project also makes a contribution to job creation as the department is focusing on appointing young unemployed people and assisting them with training and skills development programmes
* the training programme for library staff will continue with workshops while bursaries allocated in 2008/09 will be maintained
* eight library buildings will be renovated and security at libraries will be upgraded with security fences, burglar alarms and security guarding services The Infrastructure programme contributes to job creation and skills development as projects are executes as part of the contractor development programme

Second project: the planned library building for Edenville will be completed during this financial year to an estimated amount of R8 million.

Third project: during this and next financial year libraries will present a national symbols awareness programme to teach young children about all the national symbols.

Fourth project: the project to digitise valuable records will be completed during the financial year. The digital records will be available for public use in order to save the valuable but frail paper records. The focus will be on electronic records management and the implementation of the Electronic Records Management policy.

Fifth project: three books on Free State struggle heroes will be published before the end of this financial year. The heroes include Fezile Dabi, Thabo Mofutsanyane and Albert Nzula. After publication the books will be made available at community libraries.

Sixth and last project: the archives sub-directorate will continue with its oral history programme which aims at redressing imbalances in archival collections. During this financial year the programme will focus on traditional leaders.

It must be noted that the following continue to remain as challenges that we need to address in our library and archive services programme:

* establishing partnerships with municipalities with service level agreements
* dealing with increased security risks at libraries and
* obtaining the cooperation of communities to care for libraries and books as precious community assets

Programme four: sport and recreation

Honourable speaker, ladies and gentlemen, as we report on programme four which deals with sport and recreation it should be noted that we table this budget vote against the backdrop of the successful staging of the 2009 FIFA Confederation Cup. Through this tournament we have proved to all and sundry that we have what it takes to stage important national and international sporting events.

Sport and recreation remains an appropriate vehicle for nation building, economic development and a pivot around which national pride could easily be achieved as we measure ourselves against formidable nations in our quest to attain medals, the ultimate glory in competition.

Recreation and mass participation

Under the recreation and mass participation programme the department will continue to implement the three sports and recreation conditional grants, namely: Siyadlala mass participation programme; School Sport mass participation programme, and Legacy mass participation programme. The department will further consider the review of the implementation of these programmes to determine the following outcomes:

* firstly, the extent to which the community mass participation programme can be rolled-out programmatically to ensure that the range of reach can be aligned to the province’s municipal boundaries and thereby gradually begin to benefit all the communities of the Free State in the 84 towns, as opposed to the current 33 community sites that are currently benefiting from this programme
* secondly, the extent to which the School Sport mass participation programme can also be strategically implemented to benefit more than the current 146 participating schools, taking into account that there is a total number of plus or minus 1 700 schools that should participate meaningfully in this programme
* thirdly, review in particular the legacy conditional grant business plan to translate into more tangible and lasting legacies that engender transformation of the Free State sport and recreation landscape

Speaker, in terms of sport development, the department will also continue to operate within the framework of the turn-around strategy for sport and recreation that has been adopted during the tenure of the honourable premier Magashule as MEC for the then sport development:

Mr Speaker, the Free State Sport Science Institute (FSSSI) continues to be one of our service delivery units whose performance continues to improve.

During the year nine provincial teams utilised the FSSSI conditioning facility while, 26 national athletes were assisted with sport science services

Other teams supported during 2008/09 are Warwickshire cricket team and Lesotho national soccer team.

The FSSSI also established its high performance capacity training division and was able to organise an international ‘Game Sense Approach’ workshop in collaboration with the Victorian Institute of Sport in Melbourne, Australia from 17 to 24 January 2008 in all the districts of the Free State province. A total number of 164 first team coaches of secondary school teams attended the workshop. The high performance capacity building programme assisted in training of 38 level one netball coaches in the Motheo district.

One of the major challenges to the department is to make sport science services accessible to sporting community in the Free State. The FSSSI embarked on the development in collaboration with district and local municipalities to establish district high performance satellites and local talent development centres. These facilities will also assist with the implementation of the talent development strategy of the department.

For the previous financial year the department completed the Thabo Mofutsanyane district high performance satellite and the Maluti-A-Phofung talent development centre on 17 March 2009. The facility was completed to an amount of R3, 369,613.87 million and will be launched by the end of the year.

Mr Speaker, for the department to be effective we root our services delivery strategy on all the stages of the sports development continuum, also known as the performance pyramid being the foundation, participation, performance and excellence stages. The basic philosophy of the department towards sport and recreation is to encouraging more people to participate in sport and therefore widening the base of the pyramid at the foundation stage that will result in more people getting to the excellence stage.

To be able to realise this objective the department will re-organise its current service delivery division to the following:

* directorate: school sport and youth development with main purpose to ensure proper team delivery to inter-provincial school sport competitions and promote active mass participation of all learners that will lead to the identification of talented athletes for a sustainable sport and recreation environment
* directorate: recreation and mass participation that will focus to oversee the development of multi purpose sport and recreation facilities and to provide sustainable recreation / mass participation programmes and structure as well as creating opportunities to all sporting communities across the age spectra in order to live a physically active life style and
* the Free State Sport Confederation which will act as ‘Free State provincial sport controlling body’ representing all affiliated sport codes to ensure excellence in sport in collaboration with the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee and Provincial Schools Co-ordinating Structure The institution will be responsible:

* to provide sport development and capacity building programmes as well as high performance sport services inline with the specific needs of the athletes, coaches and federations
* to ensure effective and proactive partnerships with federations, schools, tertiary institutions, volunteers, sponsors lotto and government
* to ensure proper ‘team Free State’ preparation that’s representing the Free State province on national level

The Free State Sport Confederation (FSSCO) will be the amalgamation of the current Free State Sport Science Institute, Free State Academy of Sport and Free State Sport and Recreation Council. The current FSSSI facility will be outsourced the new established FSSCO and will be utilised to generate income for sport in the Free State.

Mr Speaker, our department together with the district and local municipalities embarked on a building for sport and recreation programme in the 2009/10 financial year. The programme consists of the provision of the following sport facilities:

Parys stadium R33 million, Free State sport museum R10 million, facility forms part of the 2010 legacy project and will be completed during 2010.

Provincial Talent Development Centre for Boxing R2 million. This facility forms part of the 2010 legacy project and will be completed during 2010.

Lejweleputswa District High Performance Satellite and Metsimaholo Talent Development Centre, R2 345 million.

District and Local municipalities are contributing to the project upgrade of Fezile Dabi Lejweleputswa District High Performance Satellite and Metsimaholo Talent Development Centre, R2 345 million.

District and local municipalities are contributing to the project upgrade of the Free State Sport Confederation facility R2 499 million. The facility will accommodate all the service delivery division of sport and recreation of the department as well as offices and high performance sport science and talent development facilities of FSSCO

Speaker, with regard to Phakisa we have witnessed a major turn around with regard to the role and function of this institution. Our tabling of this budget vote here at Phakisa is part of our conscious effort to bring this institution under the spotlight and erase the many years of its neglect. It must be emphasised that motor sport continues to be the key responsibility of Phakisa. Opportunities with regard to this form of sport must continue to be maximised given the global trends and the positioning of Phakisa.

As already mentioned, initially Phakisa was established to accommodate motor racing events only, but under the new mandate from the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, Phakisa now promotes and stages major sporting events around the province.

Since the change in its mandate Phakisa has so far successfully staged the following major sporting events:

* Phakisa Soccer Cup, featuring Bloemfontein Celtic, Free State Stars, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs in Sasolburg
* International Boxing Tournament in Sasolburg
* Persian Soccer Tour featuring Kaizer Chiefs and Iran national team in Bloemfontein
* Staging of 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup public viewing areas in Welkom and QwaQwa

* Regional and national motor cars and motorcycles championships at Phakisa
* International A1 driver testing at Phakisa

Some of the events that are still forthcoming are:

* world’s National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing motor racing series
* national Wesbank Super Series championship
* 32-School 2010 Mini-World Cup tournament
* Go-Kart Development Series from underprivileged kids (boys and girls)
* national Spin Masters and Drag Racing Events
* international Trans-Mohokare Sport, Art and Culture Festival at Ladybrand/Maseru
* annual Music and Culture Festival
* Mountain Trails Marathon at Clarens
* Hand Ball Development
* national Powerboat championship
* 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup public viewing areas in the province.

The department will be funding the Gariep Easter Festival to be hosted in March 2010 at the Gariep dam. This is a festival of sport, arts culture and recreation which will feature powerboat races, craft markets and a non-racial music festival. This is one of our efforts to bring access to events and platforms for sport, arts and culture practitioners of the Xhariep district to exhibit their talents and make a living. The event will be hosted under the auspices of Phakisa.

Conclusion

Honourable speaker, a careful consideration of the paradigm shift contemplated by the department is indicative of the role that the department plays and still needs to play to secure the following critical outcomes for our fledging democracy and within a developmental state. Such a consideration delineates parameters within which:

* the department should create an enabling environment for the promotion of sport, arts, culture and recreation with a view to engender social cohesion, nation building and lasting transformation
* the sector social dialogue that should inform the social transformation charter that the department will be championing within the Free State as we strive during this fourth democratic term of government, as we gear ourselves towards creating a caring, socially cohesive society that the Free State is part of
*is suggestive of the partnership with all relevant stakeholders that the department has to forge in order to adequately raise the profile of sport, arts, culture and recreation in the Free State.

In our quest to achieve all outcomes as illustrated in this, my maiden policy speech, we need to pause and ask ourselves how we want to define ourselves. “Do we still want to identify ourselves along colonial lines that have proven to be divisive along the lines of racial affiliation, or are we unequivocally striving towards forging a common provincial and national identity as Africans bound by a common destiny that has been entrenched in the Freedom Charter?”

Speaker, as an ANC MEC entrusted with the custodianship of sport, arts, culture and recreation, I hold the view that the department should focus on the pursuit of the ideals of the Freedom Charter.

I thank you.

 

Province

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