Culture MEC Mr Duma, North West Legislature
22 May 2007
Honourable Speaker
Honourable Premier
Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature of the North West
Honourable Members of Parliament
Leaders of political parties
Executive mayors, mayors, speakers and councillors
Magosi a rona a a tlotlegang
Commissioners
Chairpersons and representatives of our public entities
Business community, sports ambassadors, artists
Cultural activists and experts (intellectuals)
Comrades and distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It always touches my heart when I think of the "African Child" with some
born in squalor and famine. Some born and orphaned before they can learn to say
mom or dad. Some become child soldiers, robbed of their childhood and their
toys. Some head families, tacitly become parents at an early age, some never
survive because of wars in the continent. Some have seen the light and some
never, some have seen the dark and some never, some the blurred vision disturbs
their vision. Some can smile; some can sigh, shy away, turn and toss. Some say
I looked outside and saw the sunrise, developed hope, strength, wisdom,
humility, power, courage, love, trust, belief, obedience, optimism, astuteness,
respect, touch, care, life and peace.
The last one said, I am a Name, a name of myself, given by my mother, who
happens to be the best in the world. No one shall define her except her smile
that I forever will never forget. I shall remain as the child of the soil, me
and my peers shall say "these freedoms we shall fight, side by side, throughout
our lives, until we have won our liberty" as said in the Freedom Charter.
The above mentioned happened because of the inequalities that were created
by the demons of apartheid and colonialism. Our dignity as human beings was
reduced to that of inferior citizens who required documents and permission to
live in some parts of our own country. Some created wars that make us see our
traditional leadership as demons and yet they were demons themselves. Our
languages, culture, beliefs, customs and all other positive practices of our
communities were nullified.
Through mobilisation and the visionary leadership of the African National
Congress (ANC) and other liberation forces, we saw the emergence of democracy.
This democracy saw the birth of the constitution that has a bill of rights.
This led to peace, stability and harmony in our beautiful country.
Motsoga Pele a re, "motho ke motho ka batho bangwe" which in our other
indigenous language says "umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu." We are concerned about
individuals who are perpetually preserving certain institutions as those
belonging to certain societies, classes and cultures. These institutions are
controlled by individuals who believe that certain cultures are more superior
to others than others. They glorify the past as the best society that must be
preserved even in the present. These are people still regard others as
sub-humans and consider themselves as demigods. They regard other cultures as
being inferior and therefore demean and belittle other people's practices. This
heinous notion must be crushed and defeated and be replaced with the more
humane philosophy of Ubuntu/Botho which says "Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu". This
philosophy embraces all humanity with love, respect, fellowship and
dignity.
Having said that Madam Speaker, we are reminded of a speech that was
delivered on 8 January, 10 years ago, by the former President of the Republic,
Dr Nelson Mandela who said "your presence amongst the people who have elected
you must be visible. You have a duty to speak up fearlessly, for those you
represent. But you have a duty to listen carefully to what the communities are
telling you."
In our endeavour to empower our communities to be independent and
successful, we first embarked in a program we termed "The Listening Campaign"
where we went to 20 municipalities of the North West province.
Our visit to municipalities involved interaction with councillors,
departmental officials and arts practitioners in the municipalities. Our
intentions were and continue to be to listen to the needs of our people, so as
to plan accordingly with their inputs borne in mind. This campaign was an eye
opener to all of us in the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and its
managers. A lot was brought to our attention and the remedial actions are
slowly unfolding with a number of commitments, both financially and otherwise.
This exercise brought to our attention the following common challenges:
* lack of integration among various cultural groups
* non existence of forums (sport, arts and culture from ward to municipality
level)
* lack of information centres on DSAC activities
* the need to promote departmental activities
* need to build of multi-purpose centres in all municipalities in the
province
* the need to build sport facilities in all municipalities, especially rural
ones
* the need to upgrade existing sports, arts and culture facilities
* the need for integrated development planning between the department and
municipalities
* the need to support sport, arts and culture groups by government and the
private sector
* the fact that sport, arts and culture activities are neglected in the farm
communities
* insufficient funding for Sport, Arts and Culture programmes by municipalities
and private sector
* exploitation of artists
* defrauding of young artists by persons masquerading as their agents
* inefficient running of sport, arts and culture programs within
municipalities
* improper planning of human settlements which must include sport, arts and
culture facilities.
In all our interactions, we did most of the listening when our stakeholders
made inputs on how best we can improve our service delivery process. We gave
our undertaking to remedy some of the ills and shortfalls and intervene on the
situation where there was a dire need to do so as a matter of urgency.
Administration and management
We have continued to uphold good governance by complying with the principles
of Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and other legislation as prescribed by
the constitution. We did so guided by the Batho Pele principles and the Ubuntu
values, which are central to service delivery. In our quest to turn our service
points into centres of efficient and accelerated service delivery points, we
have devolved functions and powers that were performed at head office to the
service points. This is to empower and capacitate our officials in all the
municipalities to work much better and efficiently with our stakeholders and
communities. The process of training and developing officials for the new
responsibilities and the new culture of work is well under way in the
department.
Madame Speaker, there is a political and administrative will from this
department in committing to service point model empowerment and capacity
building. This commitment seeks to promote and enhance service delivery and the
implementation of the programs of the department. The challenges as identified
in the Listening campaign in pages three to four will form key priorities for
the service points and the district management to attend to and resolve. The
latter shall identify barriers that delays service delivery and they shall
provide the necessary strategic leadership, accounting, support in the form of
authorising, approval of budgets, procurement and provision of equipment, event
management and other delivery tools to accelerate service delivery. Surely this
newly adopted service delivery model will gradually eliminate bureaucratic
administrative bottle necks and bungles.
The listening campaigns shall continue as initiated by myself and the
department in the previous financial year. In this instance the District,
Programme and Service Point managers, working together with the local and
district municipalities will now be responsible to develop a structured program
of engagement with communities.
I am sure that this august house will agree that we cannot continue to
determine and take to communities services meant to benefit them without
involving them. Driven by the spirit of social cohesion, Ubuntu/Botho values
and Batho Pele principles, we shall ensure that our communities do not become
passive recipients of government services and programs but active and
influential participants.
It is for this reason Madame Speaker that we are calling upon all the
stakeholders, organised practitioners in the sectors of sport, arts and culture
and the leadership of the Local and District Municipality to engage the
department using our district and service point managers.
We uphold the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) principles and
preferential procurement policies as translated by government. Be that as it
may, I have observed lack of deliberate and consistent efforts to accelerate
the programme of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) in relation to women, youth
and people with disabilities.
On the issue of skills development, the department is continuing to support
both internal and external training in appropriately approved programs in line
with the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa). We have
further approached institutions of Further Education and Training (FET) and
Higher Education (HE) in assisting the department with a program that will
facilitate recognition of prior learning through the compilation of portfolio
of evidence. These institutions among others include Boston College, North West
University (Mafikeng and the Potchefstroom Campuses) and South African
Management Development Institute (SAMDI).
Cultural affairs
There is a generally accepted fact that arts and culture does contribute to
the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the local economies, provincial and
national. The challenge we have in this is that we are unable to quantify the
contribution that arts and culture makes to both provincial and local economies
because of lack of scientific research information. Until such time that we
have such information, we will continue to be unable to plan and strategise
correctly in this sector.
The absence of tested scientific evidence creates constraints in the
planning with definite intended outputs that can change the lives of our
people. To address this challenge, the proposed Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) with institutions of higher learning among others, shall seek to conduct
detailed scientific studies and research that will enable the Department to
develop comprehensive intervention strategies.
In doing the studies, the collective will continue to do comparison and
bench mark against best practices globally.
Priorities in arts and culture 2007/09 Medium Term Expenditure Framework
(MTEF)
The research that we earlier spoke about, Madame Speaker among others must
respond on the following key areas:
* consumer patterns of the arts and culture products
* potential funding from private sector
* arts and culture infrastructure development
* students who have been funded by the department over the few years.
Craft Development Initiative (CDI)
The Craft Development Initiative must play a role that will grow our
crafters from the second to the first economy. This shall happen with the
collaboration between the department, municipalities and the private sector.
Government shall play a facilitating role in mobilising all stakeholders in
this partnership for development. At its most developed form, the CDI
enterprises must be able to produce high quality products which can find their
way in the world markets and can been exhibited during provincial, national and
international exhibitions.
For these CDI projects to remain in the market, intensive training in
quality assurance, marketing, branding, colours and trends shall be done on an
ongoing basis. Monitoring and evaluation of this project will be a key feature
in the sustenance of the craft sector. The final by product would be to create
a value chain for African fashion designer, artists and crafters. Through
developmental communications, the community media should play a pivotal role in
the advertising of the products that might not be advertised and promoted in
the commercial media.
Film and video development
This sector is one of the fastest growing industries in the developing
world. As a department we envisage to have a fully fledged film office in order
to create a better life for our communities. The film industry has a potential
of becoming a leader in our local economic development initiative.
As a film is recorded or produced the following are likely to happen:
* increase in the occupancy rate in the accommodation establishments
* boom in the transport sector to ferry artists
* creation of jobs in the fashion and sewing industries for costumes
* commissioning of beauticians for make up
* commissioning of local films
* locally produced artists from parastatals are employed
The spin offs are much more and the salary scales escalate because of the
nature of this industry. Our intention is to also seek investors in this sector
as the North West has an availability of fauna and flora conducive to this
exercise. We also need to see some of our productions being commissioned by the
national broadcaster. We will engage and ask our colleagues in the provincial
Treasury and the Department of Economic Development and Tourism to assist us in
constructing a movie village that will develop into a media city. This will act
as bait for luring international film producers and stars to come and produce
or shoot their movies in these structures. We will set time lines when the
research has been completed.
Performing Arts Sector
The stories and experiences from our villages and townships must be told, in
drama, dance, poetry, music, folk tales, ballet and theatre. The majority of
our North West youth are being trained in these areas at various formal and non
formal institutions across the country. Given the above mentioned we need to
find ways and means which will sustain these young artists, in after care
programmes.
One of the key challenges in the apartheid inclined spatial development plan
is the shortage of community arts centres. Community arts centres will provide
a home for our young artists who are currently destitute and will continue to
be deep into the future. To realise the continuity and sustainability of the
arts and culture sector, we envisage creation of the North West Arts and
Culture Development Agency. This body shall assist in turning the situation
around.
The primary priorities of this agency shall be the following:
* identification of scholars in the arts in various institutions
* placement of these scholars / artists in various art institutions and
communities in the province
* the duration of their training
* the amount of experience acquired
* capturing of the data of all existing performing artists
* the artists' areas of expertise
* negotiate with the public broadcaster for episodes and series
* raise and recommend groups for funding
* approve which groups go to festivals
* approve which groups perform at semi professional and professional
level
* approve the amounts chargeable per discipline for performance
* conduct seminars and workshops
* seek commissioned work from public and private sectors (e.g. HIV and AIDS
awareness campaigns, Guerrilla Theatre).
Creation of a Publishing and Distribution House
The department shall initiate the creation of the publishing and
distribution house. It is the private sector's prime responsibility to run and
manage the institution. Its mandate among others will be to work with the
agency in the following areas:
* seek investors on a BBBEE basis
* engage with other publishers and distributors
* looking into the feasibility of developing a CD manufacturing plant
* assisting in the patenting and protection of music rights
* creating a market for the music industry.
Funding in the Arts and Culture Sector
There is an established and worrying reality that the responsibility of
funding this sector is entirely left to government. Big business and the
international donors should proactively come on board. We shall actively engage
these stakeholders to partner with us in funding and creating an enabling
environment.
On our part, we shall put systems in place that should inform our arts
communities about the cycle of funding. This shall include the availability of
application forms, submission of forms, adjudication and the announcement of
the funded entities. This shall be publicised through community media
houses.
Cultural villages
Bearing in mind the 2010 Federation International Football Association
(FIFA) World Cup, we will seek to identify five key areas where these
structures will be put up throughout the province. These shall become a one
stop shop for the crafters, within the districts where performing arts meet the
creative arts. We will conduct or commission a research and consult with the
same team of architects who can provide us with the architectural layout.
Our district municipalities shall be consulted on availing the land and all
other necessary support required. We shall establish a website which has all
the details pertaining the contents and administration of these centres. We
intend to create a cultural village within the Rustenburg Local Municipality,
our 2010 host city, where our artists shall exhibit, sell and promote their
crafts.
In addition, the village will serve as a rendezvous for showcasing the arts
and culture of the people of the North West province. This shall include the
music, dance, cuisine and the traditional attire.
Heritage and museums
Museums are responding to our diverse communities by providing opportunities
to develop knowledge, facilitate access to information and contribute to social
cohesion. This is done through oral history research of heroes and heroines in
the communities. In this regard museums are centres of knowledge in which
children from various communities will learn the history of their localities.
We are continuing to impart research skills to young people in these
communities so that they collectively own the structures. Not only are we
building museums, we are also encouraging communities to identify heritage
sites that people will use for various purposes.
While the department is committed in supporting and funding the
establishment of heritage sites and museums, the issue of community
participation and ownership has emerged as a challenge for sustainability. It
is for these reasons that we are planning to hold an indaba with
municipalities, Traditional leaders, the North West University and other organs
of civil society to produce a comprehensive plan for the sector within this
financial year.
Libraries
Madam Speaker, this department will continue to fulfil its mandate in its
commitment to fight illiteracy. We will do so by continuously strengthening the
capacity of both the personnel and the libraries themselves. This capacity
shall be in the field of appropriate stocking, automation, appointment of
professional and support staff and provision of people with special needs
facilities.
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to announce that the department will use the
National Conditional Grant Allocation of R21 million that it has received to
achieve the above mentioned goals. It will further enable the North West
communities to gain access to knowledge and information that will improve their
social, economic and political situation.
In our approach we shall seek to establish monitoring and evaluation
mechanisms that shall measure the level of impact of our libraries in the
communities.
Priorities for 2007/09 MTEF cycle
Sport and Recreation Infrastructure
In order to improve service delivery in our communities, the department
conducted the sport and recreation infrastructure audit. The findings from the
audit indicate that as is the case in the whole country, there is a huge
backlog of sport and recreation infrastructure. But also preliminary cost
estimation for the construction of such facilities would require huge amounts
of money. We are conscious that we should develop and promote talent in the
communities but may be impeded by lack of appropriate facilities.
Though we may not be able to provide world class facilities the department
will continue to provide facilities that will make identification and
development of talent possible.
Madame Speaker, we need to bear in mind that the vision of government
through sport ad recreation is to:
* promote a healthy lifestyle
* fight against crime, substance abuse and anti social behaviour
* bring about cultural tolerance and promote nation building and
patriotism
* contribute to economic activity and growth.
It is for these reasons that the national, provincial, local and all our
social partners should be committed in the development and promotion of sport
and recreation.
Federations
Federations and associations play a critical role in the development of
sport and recreation in our communities, but there are anomalies identified in
the functioning of these structures. We may not be able to attain developmental
and transformation goals if we do not address these anomalies. The department
is engaging and will continue to engage federations in an attempt to address
the identified challenges. In the past six years the department entered into
Service Level Agreement with the North West Academy of Sport and Federations to
implement a programme of development and transformation. Whilst progress has
been achieved, there is a need to accelerate development and transformation
through increased capacity in the sport excellence and high performance
unit.
In the quest to make this a living reality, four departmental officials are
deployed to the North West sport academy to work with federations in order to
increase capacity and ensure that the transformation charter is carried out to
the fullest.
Priority codes
Madame Speaker, it is important to share with this esteemed house a national
perspective towards the funding of sport and recreation in the country. Twelve
codes have been classified as priority codes by all provinces, soccer, netball,
rugby, cricket, athletics, swimming, gymnastics, hockey, boxing, volleyball,
disabled sport and lawn tennis.
The attempt here is to build a consensus as a country around sporting codes
that we must prioritise as a country in order to solidify nation building, mass
participation and national unity. It is not by accident that these codes are
prioritised for the mass participation program. At a provincial level,
provision has been made for assistance, development and promotion of all other
codes that have not been classified as priority codes.
Club development
Madame Speaker, it is indeed important to mention that anyone who wants to
participate in competitive sport must belong to a club. These clubs should be
homes to the budding and bursting of talent across all ages in the communities.
Having said that, clubs themselves should be organised, recognised and
affiliated to local structures registered with credible, accredited code
specific governance bodies. Any form of support and assistance will not be
channelled to individual clubs but to the credible, recognised and accredited
governance bodies.
There are people masquerading as schools of excellence or academies who
claim to be identifying, nurturing, developing and promoting talent. Such
individuals and / or groups of people we will continue as a department to
regard them as fly by nights who want to make a quick buck and disappear from
the scene. Our communities must be vigilant by refusing to associate, work and
co-operate with these people.
The department and South African Football Association (SAFA) in the province
will make a joint announcement soon on how to strengthen the development of
soccer in the province. This programme will focus on four areas namely:
* support for teams campaigning in the Vodacom and Mvela Golden
Leagues
* the establishment of the junior league in the following categories; Under,
10, 12, 16
* raising the standard of coaching for all soccer teams in the province
* improving the standard of officiating, management and administration of all
soccer teams in the province through capacity building.
The department will soon meet with Athletics North West to develop a
strategy that must produce a comprehensive plan that will lead to high
performance and increased representation of North West athletes at national and
international participation. These athletes will be expected to bring gold to
the country and the province.
Building of local structures
The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture is encouraging our stakeholders to
organise themselves into local associations, arts and culture forums and sport
councils. These will be developed with the sharp skills from the professional
bodies and the mentorship from the department. In an effort to promote the
integrated development planning, officials of the department and a member of
the Mayoral Committee responsible for sport arts and culture shall develop
systems for community participation, accounting and reporting.
2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup
As we await the great soccer world cup spectacle, we do so with full
confidence that our province and country will fulfil the promise of hosting the
best ever world cup. We know that we will defeat the prophets of doom and afro
pessimists, who still think that nothing good comes out of Africa. We have in
this province created organisational infrastructure to take forward the
preparations for hosting of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup.
Organisational preparatory work is carried out by the following
committees/pillars.
1. Host city
Rustenburg is the official hosting city in the province with Royal Bafokeng
Sport Palace as official match venue. Preparations for hosting are in full
swing and the City together with the Royal Bafokeng Administration are ready to
host the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
2. Tourism and marketing
This pillar is charged with the responsibility of marketing the province and
preparing to receive the tourists.
3. Empowerment and Creative industries
This pillar is responsible for taking and sustaining economic advantages
brought about by the spin offs of hosting an event of that magnitude. At the
end of the world cup, the creative industries shall have given a true
reflection of Africa to the world.
4. Roads and infrastructure
As a result of hosting the world cup, our communities must reap the benefits
of well developed infrastructure that will remain as a legacy long after the
world cup has passed.
5. Safety and security
The fight against crime is an important pillar in our democracy. If crime is
rampant, it will undermine our democracy and the gains of our freedoms. This
pillar is ready to deal with hooliganism which is an international problem.
6. Health, environment and sanitation
One of our key priorities is a clean environment and a healthy nation. This
pillar must ensure that these priorities are achieved and sustained.
7. Sports legacy project
We must consolidate the unity of Africa through hosting of the 2010 FIFA
World. In this context, the North West province will strengthen its economic
and social ties with the people of Namibia and Botswana through working with
the National Government. The values of social cohesion, nation building, and
Ubuntu / Botho principles must find expression before, during and beyond the
2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup.
8. Communications and stakeholders management
This pillar is charged with the responsibility to ensure that we realise our
messages of:
* patriotism and nation building
* social cohesion and national unity
* unity of Africa and its development.
Talent search, nurturing and development
In conclusion, Madame Speaker, we remain committed to these ideals and
dreams, safe in the knowledge that Africa shall rise and take her rightful
position among nations of the world. And as Africa rises so shall Africa raise
her children to be proud citizens of the world, children who will:
"Hold fast to their dreams
For if dreams die
Life will be a broken winged bird
That cannot fly
Children who will hold fast to the dreams
For, if dreams go
Life will be a barren field
Frozen with snow"
As the African American poet Langston Hughes so succinctly reminds us in
this poem, we dare not fail our children, our people, our communities and our
nation.
Mmusa Kgotla, le ntlo e e tlotlegang, ke lebogela tshono e le mphileng yone
go bua ka go tokafatsa matshelo a batho ba rona. Ke leboge gape le baeng botlhe
go tswa dikgaolong tsotlhe tsa bokone bophirima go tleng ga lona mo pitsong go
dira democracy ya rona motlotlo. Basha le bagolo, kana pilediwa e a lwelwa, ke
nnete, lo e lwetse. Mme kea leboga.
Mangibonge abaholi bendabuko, ngithi kini nonke, bayethe ebukhosini.
Kea leboga
Ngiyabonga
Baie dankie
I thank you
Issued by: Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, North West Provincial
Government
22 May 2007
Source: North West Provincial Government (http://www.nwpg.gov.za)
