B Creecy tables Gauteng Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation Budget
Vote

5 June 2006

Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation MEC Barbara Creecy tabled the
department’s budget at the Gauteng Legislature on Monday, 5 June 2006.

The R221,2 million budget seeks to directly address challenges of poverty
and underdevelopment, accelerate economic growth, ensure public service
implementation of Batho Pele and sustaining and improving social development
programmes.

This will go a long way in helping the province to move faster, consolidate
gains and redouble its efforts to promote Gauteng as a home for competitive
sport and a home of champions.

Delivering her budget speech, MEC Creecy reiterated in no uncertain terms
the department’s commitment to reduce and eliminate disparities of the past
“which continue even in the arena of sport, arts, culture and recreation.”

“We will leave no stone unturned in the remaining years of this term of
governance to ensure that the creative industries and the sports sectors are
responsive to the needs of all our citizens and that government’s input into
and support towards the creative industries and sport sectors serves to ensure
shared economic growth and development,” she said.

More than R30,869 million has been allocated towards the implementation of
the creative industries strategy. The strategy seeks to explicitly align
government initiatives in the creative industries with the Gauteng Growth and
Development Strategy (GGDS) including providing a co-ordinating framework for
investment and implementation in the province.

R121,792 million has been allocated to sports and recreation involving
preparations for the FIFA 2010 World Cup, implementing the second phase of
upgrading of four identified stadia in the department’s Stadia Legacy Programme
and continuing to implement commitments in the bid book. R1,8 million will go
to the establishment of the 2010 special project unit.

This will also cover development of sports and recreational facilities in
the province’s 20 identified townships, implementation of the competitive sport
strategy, the international challenge including establishing the Gauteng Cup
that targets Gauteng based Premier Soccer League (PSL) teams and supporting a
range of other partnership programmes such as the City to City marathon,
Festive Season Games and Soweto Games.

The Department will be transferring funds to local government libraries in
line with submitted business plans, guided by agreements that will specifically
target the upgrading of services in the 20 townships libraries. R757,800 has
been budgeted for such support interventions.

Further to this, the Department will also provide information resources to
community libraries with the specific intention to narrow the gap between
information poor and information rich libraries. 70 percent of the R3,779
million will be allocated to information poor libraries and 30 percent to
information rich libraries. Another R14,646 million has been allocated towards
library information and archival services.

Budget allocation towards the effective functioning of the Gauteng Arts and
Culture Council (GACC) has also increased by 150 percent from R2 million to R5
million in the current financial year.

“The primary responsibility for the arts and culture sector lies with the
sector itself, whilst the role of government is that of creating and promoting
a sustainable and enabling environment in which the sector can thrive,” said
Creecy.

More than R10,1 million has also been allocated towards the celebrations of
the Constitution, Freedom Day, Human Rights Day, Heritage Day and other
commemorative days.

“We also wish to announce that we are honoured that in this year of the 30
anniversary of the 16 June 1976 Uprising, we will be supporting the development
of the newly created Statutory Gauteng Youth Commission.” R3,8 million has been
allocated to this structure in the current financial year.

Issued by: Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, Gauteng
Provincial Government
5 June 2006