Oosthuizen, during the Budget Vote debate, NCOP
5 June 2006
Chairperson,
Honourable members,
The legislative programme of our Department will enjoy the attention of both
houses soon. Prominent amongst these are the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Special
Measures Bill that seeks to amend all ânon-moneyâ matters that may impede on
the implementation of government guarantees that were provided in the bidding
phase. The bill currently tagged as a section 75 Bill will have to be amended
to facilitate the delivery of infrastructural projects as well as the signing
of âhost cityâ agreements. The amendments may affect the provinces and local
authorities. It cannot be accommodated in the bill currently because we have to
meet the delivery deadline that we have agreed with FIFA, which is 31 July
2006.
The Safety at Sport and Recreation Events Bill will be put to Cabinet for
consideration shortly. This significant and substantial piece of legislation is
a sequel to the 2001 Ellis Park tragedy and is intended to minimise the risk of
such a disaster occurring again in future.
It compels stadium authorities and event organisers to take responsibility
and be accountable for the safety of participants at sports events both off and
on the field. It also constitutes an important tool in the security
arrangements for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
We also have two Amendment Bills: The Sport and Recreation Amendment Bill
and the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport Amendment Bill. Both bills
have been passed by Cabinet and will serve in this house shortly. The Sport and
Recreation Amendment Bill is aimed at improving the governance of our sports
federations. It gives the Minister the right to intervene where actions of
federations threaten to bring sport into disrepute. The South African Institute
for Drug Free Sport Amendment Bill is aimed at improving the efficiency of the
institute in its efforts to counteract the utilisation of banned performance
enhancement substances by athletes. It will align South Africa with
international best practice!
The standing committee on recreation and education, I understand, had
decided to put a motion to the House to ratify the International Convention
Against Doping in Sport that is being sponsored by the United Nations (UN). The
convention harmonises the anti-doping initiatives of the sports movement as
well as governments. Once a sufficient number of countries have ratified the
convention, governments will be compelled to implement the world anti-doping
code. Failure to do so could result in sanctions that could even impact on the
participation of the offending countryâs athletes in international sporting
events.
Because we as leading nation want to comply with this convention we take the
opportunity to thank the standing committee on recreation and education for
their support in this regard.
Chairperson, despite some progress, we still have a long road to travel in
the sector to achieve the objectives of the White Paper. Sport is still being
trivialised in our country. It is regarded as frivolous and unimportant even
though it is a multi billion Rand industry said to contribute more than two
percent to South Africaâs Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In fact, sport daily
occupies the time of the majority of our people and it forms part of the psyche
of the majority of our countryâs people. Even the UN gave credence to the role
of sport by declaring 2005 âthe international year of physical education and
sportâ. Today the UN speaks of âsport for development and peaceâ.
In particular we must look at the tourism potential of sport and recreation.
We know that the sports tourism industry in South Africa does not match the
international norm of 30 percent of all tourism. Sports tourism in South Africa
is underdeveloped. Being a provincial and local competency and given the small
budgets for the sector in these spheres of government, there is, substantial
room for growth in this sector. Our human resource needs are enormous. At the
entry level of community, mass based sport and recreation we are in need of
suitably trained and skilled people. Eliminating the dearth of qualified people
at this level is important because the foundation is vital to ensure quality at
the top end. Chairperson, we also need quality physical educators in all our
schools not only in the more privileged ones that can afford to have them.
To start with we must restore school sport to the status it enjoyed in the
past, a status that saw the sports fields of our country flooded with learners
especially on a Wednesday afternoon, during inter-house and inter-school
matches. But then we need to understand the difference between physical
education and school sport. The school going youth enjoyed at least two periods
of physical education per week. They donât anymore! Compulsory physical
education will truly massify participation in physical activity in our society
and address the low levels of participation, currently estimated to be
restricted to only 25 percent of our population. Only 11 percent of our women
participate regularly. Just last week a new report indicated that young black
girls are exposed to the greatest health risk in our country at the moment
because of their lack of involvement in physical activity. To promote
participation, we need qualified teachers who will ensure that our young people
are introduced to sport and recreation properly, trusting that it will enhance
life-long participation. If we employ only two qualified physical education
teachers in each of our 27000 schools in South Africa, one for boys and one for
girls, we would have provided more than 54 000 job opportunities. We obviously
need more than two physical education teachers in every school. The rise in
antisocial behaviour amongst our youth, unfortunately, parallels the demise in
school sport and physical education. We have to look no further than to
prioritising the reintroduction of these activities in our schools. The
memorandum of agreement between the Departments of Sport and Recreation and the
Department of Education facilitates this.
We are now implementing the provisions of the agreement. The Department of
Education share our concern about the absence of physical education in the
schools.
They tell us that it is now being reintroduced and the movement component
comprises 33 percent of their compulsory life orientation curriculum. That
translates into 40 minutes of activity per week. Although it equates the
recommended daily exercise requirement to remain healthy, we would like to see
more time for physical education weekly. Sport Recreation South Africa (SRSA)
too has introduced programmes that now see our youth competing more regularly
and on more equal grounds. During the course of this year we will see 798
schools participating in 56 clusters comprising schools in close proximity to
one another that will facilitate regular interaction between them. It will
involve more than 200 000 learners to start off with. The lack of sufficient
financial resources currently constitutes the only impediment to a more
expansive programme. Our aim is to see that all 27 000 schools in our country
are involved in the project.
School sport has to be fully funded so that no learner is prevented from
participating because of personal financial constraints. This programme will
require the involvement of large numbers of teachers, volunteers and even
learners. Of course, chairperson, these best plans of âmice and men,â will come
to naught if the infrastructure for launching them is not available. Of these
appropriate facilities at schools are absolutely essential if the memorandum of
agreement between education and ourselves is going to mean anything. What it
practically means is that sports facilities should be a norm when we build or
upgrade a school.
As we all know; the sports facility project, âbuilding for sport and
recreation,â has been transferred to the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG)
of the Department of Provincial and Local Government. We are not happy with the
consequences thereof.
Apart from the fact that we are not delivering the same number of facilities
that we used to with the Building for Sport and Recreation Programme (BSRP), we
perceive that the sport and recreation departments in the provinces no longer
feel that they own the project.
The fact that local authorities are no longer prioritising sport and
recreation facilities compounds the problem. We are in discussion with the
Department of Provincial and Local Government about getting the facility
development programme back on track because without facilities it is impossible
to realise our higher level objectives of representivity in our sports teams at
all levels. Not to mention the much needed social cohesion. The local
authorities must be encouraged to include sport and recreation facilities in
their Integrated Development Programmes (IDPs) and I appeal to this House,
honourable members; when you work in your constituencies persuade local
authorities to do so. Our challenge is to ensure that there is congruency
between SRSA, the provinces, our schools and the local authorities with regard
to sport and recreation facility provision.
We receive hundreds if not thousands of requests annually from schools,
clubs and communities for sport and recreation facilities. In addressing this
we have been in touch with the Department of Housing to ensure adequate open
spaces and sport and recreation facilities in their âsustainable human
settlements policy.â It has always been our contention that human settlements
could never be complete without adequate provision for amenities in which
people especially the youth could adequately exercise their âright to playâ. We
are happy to see that the Department of Housing has heeded our call in this
regard by rectifying this shortcoming.
As a Department we have the smallest budget of all national departments.
With our budget we can never make a sustainable contribution to participation
rates in sport and recreation, but participation can have an impact on the
budgets of many other sectors in government.
Sport can substantially reduce the health budget and we are excited about
the âVuka South Africa, move for your healthâ programme that the Department of
Health has introduced. The savings that we can make on the Justice bill as with
many other budgets can be as, if not more, significant. We have always said
that âa child in sport is a child out of court.â Last week was designated Child
Protection Week. I want to contend that sport if properly organised, supervised
and run constitutes one of the best ways to ensure that our children are
protected. If our children are constructively engaged in activities outside of
schools there is no reason why they will or can become caught up in the
influences of antisocial tendencies.
If we say all these things and we agree with it; we have to be bold and say
that we must increase the budget for sport and recreation to ensure that more
people become physically active, more often!
Thank you!
Issued by: Ministry of Sport and Recreation
5 June 2006
