Programme Director;
Minister of Basic Education, Ms. Angie Motshekga;
Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation, Mr. Gert Oosthuizen;
Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Mr. Envy Surty;
Premier of the Eastern Cape, Ms. Kiviet;
MEC of Sport and Recreation, Ms. Tom;
MEC of Basic Education,
Members of the Legislature present here;
Councilors;
Chiefs present here;
Chairperson of the Adopt A Child Foundation (ACF), Mr. Luvuyo Mphambani;
School Principals and educators;
Members of the School Governing Bodies;
Sports Leadership present here;
Learners;
Distinguished Guests;
Fellow South Africans;
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a great honour and privilege for me to come here and be with you today on the occasion of the Sport and Recreation intervention programme here eNgqushwa.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today also celebrating the 93rd Birthday of the stalwart of our struggle for liberty and freedom, mama Albertina Nontsikelelo Sisulu. Born in 1918 in this province of the Eastern Cape, for most of her life, mama Sisulu fought tirelessly fought for a ‘better life for South Africans’. Until her death, she fought for the rights of all the people particularly vulnerable people especially those from rural areas.
In the same vein we are assembled here to pay homage and fitting tribute to O.R Tambo and all other who fought the brutal apartheid system and others even paid through their lives. We want to say their blood did not spill in vain and that what they fought for is not a lost war.
We say to these gallant fighters, it is not a lost war because, their movement, the ANC is today charged with a responsibility to “build more united, non-racial, integrated communities and sustainable rural communities. The government they jealously fought for is “improving services for all our people and seized with a task to broaden access for all”. The democratic state they fought for is working with all spheres of government and people to build more effective, accountable and clean local government. We say to them together with the developmental state; we will continue to strengthen community participation at all levels of our government.
Thus, on the 07th of June 2011, the President of the Republic of South Africa, his Excellency President Jacob Zuma led a delegation of Ministers and Deputy Ministers in a visit to the province of the Eastern Cape.
Our visit in this province was to look at the state of education and conduct monitoring and evaluation at the level of service delivery to communities of the Eastern Cape Province. The Presidency identified ten (10) schools for visitation by the Presidential delegation to listen to the people and devise immediate intervention strategies to deal with the challenges that are faced by our people at the local level, especially in villages. The Ministry of Sport and Recreation was therefore given a responsibility to lead a part of the delegation of Ministers, Deputy Ministers and MECs to this part of the Republic.
We visited four schools here at Nobumba Village; the schools we visited are Minenkulu Senior Secondary, Sobantu Senior Secondary, Ntloko Primary and other related schools.We had several meetings with the parents, learners and the broader community. In those meetings you raised many pressing issues that the schools and education in general is faced with in your village. You raise issues that spoke directory to service delivery that include road infrastructure, teenage pregnancy, crime and criminality, rural development issues and many other issues that are of importance to your livelihood.
However, you knew that the Presidents’ visit was about education. In line with education; you’ve raised issues pertaining to teacher-pupil rations, lack of school facilities, limited classrooms and etc. I believe my colleague; the Minister of Basic Education is suitably qualified to respond to.
You’ve also raised many other pressing matters that relates to sport and recreation South Africa.You said, Minister, in order for us to deal with all the ills of society including crime and criminality, increasing our pass rate, living a healthy lifestyle, fighting against drugs and alcohol abuse, fighting the scourge of teenage pregnancy and HIV/AIDS we want to be active in sport and recreation.
You said, Minister, we need sport equipment!You said we need sport attire!You said, we need sport facilities so as to move away from the streets. You wanted to play sport at school and after school.
You even became specific about what you need; you said, we want soccer, rugby, netball and cricket equipment.You went further to say, we want soccer, rugby, netball and cricket attire. You even emphasised that, Minister; we want a sports field that will accommodate all these sporting codes we talk about.
Thus today we are here to donate to all of you the following:
- Sport equipment.
- Sport attire.
- We will also construct a sport field next to this school.
In the same token, Minenkulu Senior Secondary School made a special request for a Computer Lab. We went all around South Africa searching for sponsors to support your dream.
We found an institution called Adopt A Child Foundation and requested them to partner with us in this initiative. Without any hesitation, the Adopt A Child Foundation came on board and sponsored computers to the school. They even assisted in designing and refurbishing the old classroom and turned it into this beautiful computer lab. SRSA would like to take this opportunity to officially thank ACF for its sterling work especially its Chairperson, Mr Luvuyo Mphambani for his dedication in pushing back the frontiers of poverty, underdevelopment and ignorance. Well done!Nangamso!
This government wants you to participate freely in all sporting codes in this country without hindrances.
Bantu bakuthi, singuRhulumente sifuna namhlanje niqhubekele phambili ukubadlala oopuca, iindolotyi, amacetywa, imidlalo yentonga njalo njalo.
Ladies and gentlemen, the obvious absence of sport and recreation facilities in our schools and our communities can no longer be over-emphasised, seventeen years after the 1994 elections; we have to push back the frontiers of infrastructure backlog, especially in rural communities and in townships.
To deal with this huge challenge, our Department is engaged with the Departments for Human Settlement and of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs respectively to redirect the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) to Sport and Recreation to ensure seamless roll-out of schools and community sport and recreation facilities.
Recreation is still an epicenter to cultural identity, community development, social integration, and is a self-esteem generator. We are lifting and escalating recreation to higher levels, and raising the focus on this functional area.
Ladies and gentlemen, the historical reality of South Africa is that sport and recreation have been racialised and politicised, defined through racial, demographic and class through utilising apartheid laws of separate development.
Africans, coloureds, Indians and Whites as different national groups played sport separately and enjoyed different amenities.
It is therefore the responsibility of all of us to change this. We will succeed to change this by changing the outlook of our schools sport and community. We must make sport and recreation fashionable in our villages and townships. We must integrate physical education in all schools in South Africa and we must make every Wednesday and Saturday a sport day. With that spirit, we will make life very dull and miserable for those who chose not to participate in sport and recreation. We must make healthy life style and exercise a norm and culture among our young and old.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is true that the narrative of playing sport under the atrocious stare of the apartheid colonial government mirrored pain, hurt and immeasurable shattered talents.
However our people and sport loving individuals showed resilience under poor playing conditions in the name of the love of the game. This was the symbol of unmitigated love for sport and recreation, the absolute ecstasy of playing even under systematic humiliation.
This is the similar spirit we should emulate, however, in the context of the non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, prosperous and united sport and recreation landscape in South Africa today in order to impart a spirit of Olympism and comradeship amongst our people.
I thank you!
ENKOSI BANTU BAKUTHI! SIYABULELA!
