Chairperson,
Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA), Honourable Mr Gert Oostuizen,
Members of the Provincial Executive Councils (MECs) present here today,
Director General: SRSA, Mr Alec Moemi,
Heads of Provincial Departments of Sport and Recreation present in this gathering led by their respective MECs,
Leadership of the South African Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) under the leadership of Mr Gideon Sam,
Leadership of Boxing South Africa (BSA) and the South African Institute for Drug Free Sports (SAIDS),
Senior managers and officials from the national and provincial departments,
Staff in general,
Ladies and gentlemen.
When we last met on 14 December 2011 on the occasion of the Senior Management Services (SMS) 2011 Strategic Retreat at Magaliesburg in the North West Province. In that strategic retreat we have agreed to come up with the plan that will support the implementation of the National Sport and Recreation Plan (NSRP).
We agreed that the Road Map and the National Sport and Recreation Plan (NSRP) as adopted in November 2011 will direct the work of Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA), the South African Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) together with all the provincial departments of sport and recreation in the implementation of our collective vision.
We informed all the stakeholders that the NSRP provides a strategic direction and marching orders for turning sport and recreation around in the Republic of South Africa. We told you and South Africans that the NSRP provides a platform to transform the department and sport in general into an agile, athlete and responsive institutional architecture, poised to accelerate unity of purpose, social cohesion and nationhood.
This above vision provided us with critical success factors with a new paradigm which strategically guided and directed the new thinking and direction of the sport sector in its totality. It was our firm view that “these imperatives informed and influence our five strategic horizon as outlined in the Road Map and the NSRP” which was to be disaggregated into annual operational frameworks in the short, medium and long term.
We explained to the 2011 SMS Retreat that the NSRP outlines the implementation plan for the sport and recreation policy framework captured in the White Paper. We requested the national department and the provincial departments to align their programmes and develop a clear implementation strategy to roll out the NSRP.
Following the SMS Retreat, the department distributed an action plan with the following matters to be dealt with during 2012/2013:
- A status report on the National Sport and Recreation Indaba (NSRI).
- The Declaration and Resolution adopted at the Indaba.
- The Transformation Charter.
- The finalization, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of the NSRP.
- The alignment of strategic plans.
- Role demarcation and the signing of Service Level Agreements.
- School Sport.
- The Conditional Grant.
We are, therefore, gathered here today to take stock of the road we travelled since the adoption of the NSRP. As we are officially closing the 2013 calendar, we are assembling all our political and senior officials under one roof to reflect on the road we traversed whilst at the same time preparing ourselves for the battles we must confront in 2014.
This year as we are closing the chapter on SRSA’s Strategic Plan 2012 - 2016 and ushering in our Strategic Perspective for 2014-2019, we must review our progress as reported in our Annual Report 2012/2013, which we tabled in Parliament, especially on our achievements and challenges during the second year of the implementation of our NSRP. We must analyse at what extend have we managed to align our NSRP with the National Development Plan (NDP)-vision 2030.
This includes, but, not limited to the structure and staff compliment of SRSA as well as holistic sport development system as suggested in our NSRP. Key among these is transformation and the transformation charter including school sport, the role of academies, sport councils, clubs and geo-political boundaries.
We must do so in order to respond to the expectations of the NSRP and the NDP as part of our national priorities build a new sport and recreation system in South Africa. This excercise should talk to our capacities and capabilities to implement all the objectives of our sport and recreation plan.
In the end, the meeting in their deliberations should be able to answer the following questions. To what extent have we managed to:
- create an enabling environment for equity, equality, participation and excellence.
- roll-out effective and quality school sport system in our country.
- identify and develop talented athletes through the implementation of our sport development continuum.
- Develop talented athletes from our grassroots sport development by providing all our athletes with opportunities to participate and excel in both domestic and international competitions.
- Acknowledge the achievements of individuals and teams within the South African sport and recreation sector through a recognised system, and how to improve that system.
- Improve the performance of athletes, coaches and sport administrators.
- Ensure that South African sport and recreation sector is supported with adequate and well maintained facilities.
Ladies and Gentlemen, in order to respond to most of the matters raised above it is our firm view that school sport programme is a critical area that the sport and recreation system of our country should rest. That is why from 16 – 20 December 2012, SRSA ushered-in the first ever national school sport championships in the Republic of South Africa. It is our firm belief that the successful National School Sports Championship will help our country develop and nurture talent at an earliest convenient time for professional and elite sport in our country.
We identified schools sport as a critical priority and bedrock for identification and development of talent. It brings together young people between the ages of 13 and 18 years to compete for their schools. This is a breeding ground for future champions in sport, people who in future will represent the country in international sport competitions. We want to begin in schools to identify talent and nurture it going forward into elite sport.
We have consciously decided that the focus for 2013/14 financial period will also be on school sport, as we believe that it forms the bedrock of sport development. Therefore it is crucial that we spend considerable resources in capacitating our educators and school and community sport coaches, because it is at this level that we have to work the hardest.
This is an area that has suffered over the last decade. If we can get this sector strengthened and revitalized, we should have no problem in unearthing and developing the vast talent that our country is blessed with. I therefore would like to re-affirm our support for the SA Coaching Framework and LTCD programme.
Equally and in the same vein, SRSA has the vision of “an active and winning nation”. In the long run we cannot be winning if we leave the majority of our nation behind in abject poverty and poor health.
Our best efforts in sport will not be supported by the South African public at large. However, we are in the fortunate position that the South African public has a passion for sport and give us their unwavering support. Sport currently is very visible in the eyes of the South African public, and I think we must ride the wave.
We are all aware of the debilitating effects that the lifestyle diseases such as hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity and respiratory ailments are having on the South African population. It has negative implications for the health of individuals, families, society, the health system and ultimately the economy of our country.
The sport movement has a vital role to play in reversing these negative trends. We know that through the medium of physical activity we can make a huge contribution. Thus sport and quality physical education must be a priority in our educational institutions. We have to lay the foundation in our children and youth to lead active and healthy lifestyles.
Any amount of talking alone will not achieve this. We have to ensure that we have competent educators and coaches who can do what it takes to bring about behaviour modification. This would involve adequate physical exercises, proper dietary habits, adequate rest and sleep, abstinence from harmful substances and drugs, amongst others.
With the help of the initiatives like the National Development Plan (NDP) and many more, we are carefully sure that the NSRP will assist the country to reconstruct, and revitalize the sport and recreation sector in South Africa for an active, healthy, productive and winning nation while at the same time improving the quality of life of all South Africans especially the poor and destitute.
In keeping with the pace of robustness, decisiveness, dynamism and vibrancy of the sport and recreation section in the NDP that is aimed at supporting the NSRP, we are sure that this initiative and many others as articulated above will translate into the achievement of the NSRI objectives and be a fitting commitment towards the broader community of sport people.
As we are all aware the NSRI adopted the transformation charter and its scorecards in November last year, as a result, we have appointed an Eminent Persons Group on Transformation in sport and recreation in South Africa, in May 2012, to among others advise on the adequacy and efficacy of the current instruments being driven to set transformation goals and transformation outcomes thereof, to also advise on the design of a short-term, medium and long-term transformation strategy within the context of the 2020 Vision of SRSA.
To further advise on the design of a transparent and democratic tool for monitoring and designing public reporting system for all federations and sporting and recreation bodies with a view to measure the success or failure for the implementation of transformation values and targets, and lastly to monitor and advise the Ministry on incentives and punitive measures that must be taken on Federations and sport bodies that are not driving transformation to its logical conclusion.
Hence, it is imperative for this meeting to draw up a plan and a suitable mechanism for report back on progress made on all the aforementioned issues and what to be done next.
In the same vein, in June 2012, we further appointed a Ministerial Advisory Committee on Recreation in South Africa to, among others, conduct qualitative and quantitative research on the international best practice in recreation and the delivery of recreation which will include the norms and standards of delivery, management and maintenance of recreational facilities as well as advising the Ministry on the best way to administer and manage both sport and recreation activities in South Africa in line with the revised SRSA Facilities Framework document.
This gathering should also be expected devise a process for processing of progress reports to the Ministry for consideration and to the Department for implementation.
Ladies and Gentlemen, as part of our work on 28 - 29 May 2012, SRSA together with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) hosted the national Municipal Conference on Sport and Recreation.
This conference was aimed at canvassing all the Municipalities to support the Outcome 12 Delivery Agreement and the Implementation of the NSRP, strive to use the Sport Plan as a tool towards building social capital, provide opportunities to overcome social barriers and empower our communities and people.
We felt it necessary to work together with Local Government to use the NSRP to increase social cohesion, and provide much needed opportunities for engagement in community life and foster healthy lifestyles as well as moulding healthy children and individual development, teaching positive values and life skills, reducing conflict and criminal behaviour through education and sport.
We’ve realized that if we work together these activities will go a long way in assisting government to empower and promote an inclusive society by also integrating all the historically disadvantaged groups especially youth, women, children and people with disabilities into the socio-economic mainstream of society.
We agreed with municipalities that the successful implementation of the NSRP and the subsequent achievement of its goals depend on the availability and accessibility of Sport and Recreation Facilities at local level. Therefore, what are our successes and failures in this area of our work? What strategies are necessary to unlock the blockages for delivery in this important, if any?
We further confirmed that the National Sport and Recreation Plan identified development as a basic building block for transformation in sport including school sport, access to facilities, training, coaching and equipment. Success in sport in South Africa particularly school sport is dependent on the access to sport and recreation facilities.
There is no question that for our plan to work, it must be supported by a variety of facilities in both urban and rural areas. We further agreed that the provision of accessible community sport and recreation facilities is one of the key pillars of the National Sport and Recreation Plan and is a critical matter for sport success in South Africa.
Therefore this Sport and Recreation Sector Retreat should reflect on all the matters raised above and translate them into a Programme of Action of the sport and recreation movement going forward.
We must be able to go out there with a clear understanding of our strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats as we take stock and plan for the years ahead. We must be able to go out there having clear bench-marks for achieving the re-alignment of programmes and activities. We should be able to go back to all our structures speaking in one voice on many contentious matters including policy matters that should drive change in sport and recreation as mandated by the National Sport and Recreation Plan.
As we have concluded in our 2011 Strategic Retreat “our approach in this regard should not lose sight that SRSA should continue to contribute towards transformation, rural development, job creation, a healthy life style, peace and economic growth. However the most significant contribution remains within the sphere of social cohesion.
As a signatory to the Outcome 12(b) Delivery Agreement, under the leadership of the Department of Public Services and Administration, we have committed ourselves to be involved in the direct delivery process of producing mutually agreed-upon outputs which in turn will contribute to achieving Outcome 12(b): “An Empowered, Fair and Inclusive Citizenship”.
“From May 2010 onwards, the Department participated regularly in the relevant coordinating structures, including the Working Group and the Implementation Forum to keep abreast of changes and remain updated regarding the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Outcomes Approach.
During these interactions sport has been elevated in the Programme of Action from an activity to a specific sub-output and it is now recognized as a formidable tool to build social capital”.
In conclusion, let us continue to explore some solutions to make our work more successful and our work should be implemented predominately in partnership with provinces, SASCOC, NGOs and Public Entities especially as we resolve matters that hamper progress in the full implementation of the NSRP.
Thank you!
