The Minister of Sport and Recreation, Mr Fikile Mbalula, released his year long program that will shape and characterise the work of the department. Minister Mbalula released the document “Road Map to Optimal Performance and Functional Excellence”, to the audience that included - Minister of Arts and Culture; Mr Paul Mashatile, Presidents of South African Sports Confederations and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), Cricket SA and Netball South Africa Gideon Sam, Mtutuzeli Nyoka and Mimi Mthethwa respectively and other personalities at the Crown Plaza Hotel - Rosebank.
The document emerged from a 3-day Sport and Recreation Lekgotla, attended by MECs, federations and various stakeholders from sport. The Lekgotla emerged with an integrated and comprehensive plan to take sport and recreation to greater horizons.“This is a plan for the department, both in its strategic operations and impact to the broader society. It is an instructive campus that will aid the department to navigate, typical and atypical topographies in its quest for wholesale transformation of sports and recreation. It will direct the department’s programmes, priorities, delivery framework and the White Paper processes.” explained Minister Mbalula.
The Road Map provides a strategic direction to reposition and turn the department around, and engender systemic efficiencies, whilst raising the bar on functional operations, and accelerated service delivery. “It provides a compendium to transform the department into an agile, athletic and responsive institutional architecture, poised to accelerate unity of purpose, social cohesion and nationhood.” added Minister Mbalula.
The renewed zing and zest by all (as displayed at the Strategic Planning Session) to work together signifies the zeal to dislodge all elements of counter-transformation in every sphere of life, and in sport in particular, and replace them with paradigms and people who are imbued with the resurgent culture of service, civic duty and voluntarism.
The plan as adopted at the strategy workshop delineates six (6) key strategic areas of focus which translate into action our overriding theme of Optimal Performance and Functional Excellence. These areas are:
Transformation
Our strategic outlook on transformation is loud and clear: Adapt or die! As per the plan we must develop a transformation perspective and a framework, coupled with a national transformation policy that will incorporate transformation action plans and programmes by 30 March 2011 and finalise the transformation audit by 30 April 2011, in order to a get clear picture of transformation progress. After the two we should produce a draft Transformation Charter with clear deliverables and milestones by end June 2011.
School Sport
School sport is the bedrock for sport mass participation, social cohesion and one crucial anti-juvenile delinquency measures. SRSA will take charge of school sport, and draft a joint programme of action with the Department of Basic Education by end of March 2011, in order to make schools accessible for participation and development in sport. This exercise will also assist in clarifying the role of teachers with regards to extra mural activities and ensure that school sport is a compulsory offer to all schools.
Institutional Mechanisms - Facilities, Sport Councils, and Sport Academies have been prioritised as pivotal institutional measures for schools and communities to have adequate access to sport development.
Commission national facilities audit to ensure proper planning and optimal use of facilities, and approval ofNational Facilities Plan by 30 June 2011, which will also include the updated national facilities data base.
On Sports Councils, our objective is to increase participation and coordination of grass-root sports structures and activities, by strengthening local, regional, provincial and national recognised civil society structures in Sport and Recreation. The structure will also enhance the capacity of sport and recreation civil society structures to properly constitute themselves into South African National Sport Council (SANSCO) by December 2011, and develop guidelines and regulatory mechanism.
On Sport Academies, which remain the integral part of sport development, a review will be conducted on the current infrastructure and practices, which will assist to Regulate academies, including private academies. This process will also involve the amendment of Sport and Recreation Act in this regard, and should be completed by end of 2012.
Recreation
The application of recreation has been undervalued and under-represented in the application of our policy measures. There is a resolve to strengthening this leg of our core mandate, hence the department resolution to embark on the following:
- To vigorously mobilise all resources from local companies, multi-national companies and foreign aid to build multi-purpose Centers in 2011/12.
- To unlock resources within MIG to address the collapsing and absent facilities an infrastructure for recreation in most communities, especially rural areas.
- To appoint a ministerial committee comprising of experts, academics and practitioners in the field of Recreation to advise on conceptual perspective of this field and appropriate interventions by July 2011.
Funding
There is a lack of a proper model and coordination of sport and recreation on funding resources. There are huge disparities in the distribution and disbursement of sport and recreation lottery funding to different stakeholders. In the main, funding for sport and recreation in the republic comes from government, the private sector and the international donor community. It is notable that funding for sport programmes from government is very limited as compared to other national priorities.
Whence, we in the department will work tirelessly to ensure that the funding and allocations made available to sport and recreation at national and provincial level is increased for the financial year 2012/13.
Funding of provincial, district and local sport and recreation federations and clubs should be allotted in consultation with provinces, and we will ensure that this measures is in place by June this year.
The applications for Lotto funding will be centralised through provincial coordination. Equally, we will engage with the Department of Trade and Industry to ensure that sport and recreation people are represented in the Lotto Distribution Agency.
In May 2011, all the roads will be leading to the Sport and Recreation Indaba. The ministry will embark on a rolling-consultation process with all stakeholders and role-players in sport and recreation aimed at sharpening and enriching our shared and collective vision. It is expected that all role players will converge and chart a collective resolve on improving delivery and performance of sport and recreation in South Africa.
We are also announcing that the Ministry is planning to host and hold the Annual Sports Award Ceremonies in recognition and honour of those sports persons who display excellence and optimal performance. We have already agreed with all the MECs for Sport and Recreation to set in motion similar ceremonies from local, district and provincial spheres.
These critical success factors provide a new paradigm that will guide and direct the new thinking and thesis of the department in its total functionality. These imperatives will inform and influence our five year strategic horizon, which is disaggregated into annual operational frameworks in the short, medium and long term.
There is limited doubt that there is a need for a considerable departure from the current paradigms on the application of transformation prescripts and practices. Both in geo-sociological content and eco-political form, transformation denotes to a complete and fundamental change which radically affects the nature of something, especially for the better. These are the ethos we shall engender as we improve and transform the profile our sport and recreation in South Africa.
Sport Economy
Both in our conception and practice denotes a scientific and practical delineation on the contribution of sport to the economy; how sports assist in real domestic and off-shore investments; tourism upswings; trade, and investment-perception changes; as well as enterprise development and allocation of economic resources which are sport related and their impact on the gross domestic product.
Also, the development sport facilities as infrastructure improvement measures opens extensive work opportunities for many outside the labour market fold, and local entrepreneurship.
“The success of these six (6) critical success factors will depend on two symbiotic fundamentals, namely, the “outer-imperatives” and “intra-imperatives”. The outer imperatives denote stakeholders to work closely and forge a solid social compact of shared destiny.” clarified Minister Mbalula.
Meanwhile Minister Mbalula, also launched the Magnificent Fridays in promoting patriotism amongst South Africans to rally and support the Proteas, Amantombazani and Die Bokke during their respective World Glory.The minister stated that the most important thing is the face of a South African in Protea colours during the Proteas’ India invasion, the same in Singapore when Amantombazani will be doing the country proud and lastly when as the World Champions the Die Bokke will again be celebrating the hoisting of the flag. “We are going to be 100% Pure Proteas come February/March” stated Minister Mbalula.Let’s celebrate the Pure Protea Fridays from now until end of the ICC World Cup when the Magnificent Fridays continue with both Rugby and Netball teams.
For comments please contact:
Paena Galane
Cell: 079 509 9833
