On Sunday, 10 April 2011, at Augusta – Georgia in the United States of America (USA), a South African by the name of Charl Shwartzel, became the third South African after Gary Player and Trevor Immelman to win a United States Masters green jacket. On the day, interestingly marking the 50th Anniversary since Gary Player, his countryman, won the Masters.
We are grateful to the achievement of the young golfer from Gauteng for flying the South African flag higher at the US Masters. Golf is an important sport, the fact that we have about five South Africans in the Top 50 official world golf rankings, is a positive outlook as we have above us, in terms of the number of players, we are number three in the world after USA (boasting 18) and England (boasting six).
This magnificent achievement should remind us of the need to join hands with corporate South Africa to increase participation and access to disadvantaged communities. We need development and we need urgent directed programmes for talent built and nurturing future golfers.
A young man born in 1984 is a clear proof that with necessary resources South Africa will produce more players in the calibre of Bobby Locke, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Louis Oosthuizen and all those who came to represent our country and made us proud. Charl Shwartzel’s win is taking place during the month of April when the South African youth are celebrating the life of a young martyr, a doyen of the struggle, a youth whose ‘blood nourishes the tree that bears the fruits of freedom’ – Solomon “Kalushi” Mahlangu.
Tomorrow morning, the Department of Sport and Recreation, will be presenting the budget vote number 20 before the Extended Public Committee on Sport and Recreation. This is the first debate on the department’s budget vote, since the successful hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup held in South Africa.
We are grateful and thankful to all South Africans who helped us profile the image of our country internationally. We were faced with scathing attacks about our ability to host events of such magnitude, we have proven beyond reasonable doubt that as South Africans we can work together to build a better place and world for all. Congratulations to all those 32 teams that participated in the World Cup.
Congratulations again to those volunteers who ensured that the event became memorable with the lyrical genius of Shakira and R Kelly respectively collaborating with our own Freshly Ground and Soweto Gospel Choir. Who will forget the Vuvuzela blazing off our roof tops after Spain’s Andreas Iniesta’s 116th minute goal sealed it all against Netherlands at the Soccer City.
The warmth the fans received from the hospitality of our country was amazing, with a television audience of more than 750 million – mofuthu o! That was a confirmation to the world that “We are the children of Nelson Mandela”, that is why the event was an extra-ordinary global affair.
When we took over the affairs of Sport and Recreation SA, we made no secrets about our intention that “there will be vibe and a movement – A big movement, above all, the unity of our people”. We are living by this dictum, by using Sport and Recreation is a machination to unite the country in flying the South African flag high and promoting social cohesion. As part of the programmatic shape up for the year, the ministry and provinces, designed a road map for functional excellence and optimal Performance. For us to achieve this, we need resources, financial and otherwise.
As part of the razzmatazz to give sport and recreation size and shape, we have taken a baby step by launching the national Sports Indaba. The Indaba which will take place in August 2011 and will be preceded by Provincial Indaba in July. The main aim of the National Indaba, is to produce a National Sports Plan for the country which will assist us in taking the portfolio to greater visible heights. We are encouraged that our sports men and women, sponsors and role players et al will help in the process to have this engagement succeed.
The Road Map document, has really given us a path and a signal that we are really moving in the correct direction. Through the directive of the document, we managed to launch the Magnificent Fridays which saw us partnering with the Department of Arts and Culture to galvanise support throughout provinces for our teams participating in various World glory hunting, cricket, netball and rugby. This is a legacy from the 2010 Soccer World Cup after that Magical Football Fridays.
We started off with the 100% Pure Protea Fridays for our boys in the sub-continent (India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh). We have seen our team bowing-out of the sub-continent in the quarter finals making the Magnificent Friday a Sad Friday. We might have lost to the Allan Donald-trained bowlers, but we are encouraged that South Africans made a positive impact in the tournament. We are happy that in one game, SA v/s Bangladesh, we fielded five Black players, Hashim Amla, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, JP Duminy, Robin Petersen and Imran Tahir (a naturalised South African).
We are also happy that after the Cricket World Cup 2011 our players were selected as amongst the best bowlers and batsmen in the World of Cricket. Congratulations to Gary Kirsten for winning the ICC World Cup. Hope the investment in him and Allan Donald can be better used in South Africa one day.
South Africa this year alone will be hosting more than 50 international events. The most recognisable one is the 123rd General Assembly of the International Olympic Committee. For the first time on the African soil, the Assembly will be held in South Africa. During the Assembly, to be held in Durban, three competing cities to host the 2018 Winter Olympic games will be waiting to be announced as the winner or host city. Once again the global eyes and ears will be in the South, when, Munich (Germany), Annecy (France) and Pyeongchang (South Korea) will be waiting with anticipation to be announced as the Host City.
Sport and Recreation are national assets that must be nurtured and developed for the sustenance of our people. We have met with the Department of Basic Education on School Sport programme. This is an important vehicle that has to deal with the important issues of transformation and talent identification for community and high performance. We are happy to announce the reshaping of school sport will be launched in May.
We are also grateful to the investment to the programme by the Premier Soccer League (PSL) and Supersport, by availing a programme of twinning schools with PSL teams. The project will also be launched in May. We are also happy with the Rugby Varsity Cup, also taking place with South African Rugby Union and Supersport.
These are just, but, important strides we have seen and undertaken so far to ensure those necessary noises have action. The spending focus over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period will continue to be on promoting mass participation in sport and recreation, mainly through the mass sport and recreation participation programme grant, and on the development of sport at various levels by supporting school sport, club development and sport federations. We furthermore state that the transformation charter should be completed in order to roll out institutional mechanisms projects. These include facilities, academies, sport councils and coaching.
The funding in this fiscal year will also be utilised to increased support to national sport federations, talent development through scientific support services, new office accommodation and increased operational costs at Boxing SA. Although some of these strategic goals could be pursued through voted funds and the conditional grant and increase in the baseline allocation to SRSA is required to achieve all the strategic goals.
There have been commitments from various funders, specifically the German Government and European Union (EU), which has invested 10.5 million euros on youth development through football and youth development against violence through sport.
Sport and Recreation plays an economic role within our municipalities. The greatest value of the mass participation programme for local communities lies with the generation of human and social capital. Most of the activity coordinators, hub coordinators in communities and cluster coordinators in schools are unemployed youth. The programme is a major boost on poverty alleviation as it contributes in the subsistence survival of destitute families. Some have found permanent employment within Federations and Provincial sports and recreation departments.
Sport remains an epicentre in the real economic activity in our country. Its contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) is enormous, including downstream labour market absorption and entrepreneurship. Hence, as the department we are synthesising the concept of sport economy, and it scientific analysis and impact in the economy of our country.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to take this opportunity to thank all staff members at the Sports and Recreation for the work done so far in ensuring our department is performing to their ultimate best to better the lives of our people. We also thank members of the media for the positive criticism of the department to ensure we work harder for the economy of this country using sport as a tool.
I thank you.
Enquires:
Paena Galane
Ministry's Spokesperson
Cell: 079 509 9833
