Affairs and Sport, W Jacobs, Cape Town
22 May 2006
Mr Speaker,
Allow me to note the presence of the provincial sportswomen of year 2005 Ms
Portia Vries, and in his absence the provincial sportsman of the year,
Jongikhaya Nokwe for their achievements in weightlifting and rugby respectively
as well as the first African woman to win a medal in weightlifting at the 2006
Commonwealth Games recently held in Melbourne, Ms Babalwa
Ndleleni-Ramahlape.
I also want to note the presence of achievers in the Arts and Culture field
who were honoured at our 2005 cultural awards: Mr Phillip Dlabantu for his
contribution to the performing arts, Mr Willie Bester for his contribution to
the visual arts and Mr Hans Rabie for his contribution to museums.
Unfortunately Mr Rabie cannot be here today, as he has taken ill. I wish him
well.
I would like to welcome some distinguished personalities who are sitting in
the gallery today. I refer to individuals and organisations that have made and
continue to make a valuable contribution in the field of Culture, Sport and
Recreation. Amongst us we have Presidents of Sport Federations, CEOs of Arts
and Culture companies and organisations, esteemed sportspersons and
artists.
These artists, sportspersons, administrators and leaders play a very
important voluntarily role in the work of our Department and that of
government.
On 8 May 2006, we celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the adoption of our
Constitution, a very important document in which the ideals enshrined in the
Freedom Charter are firmly embodied.
On 16 June, we will also be celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the
uprisings of the youth of 1976, some of them now occupy senior positions in
society ensuring that the struggles they fought for, and the ideals of the
Freedom Charter are realised.
As we close this year in December, we will be unveiling a memorial for the
first victims of this uprising in the Western Cape, namely Xolile Motse from
Langa who was killed on 11 August 1976 and Christopher Truter from Bonteheuwel
who died on 25 August 1976. This important event will bear testimony of our
resolve to build a 'Home For All' and our endeavour to implement our commitment
at CODESA to build one nation by bringing the memories of both the Langa and
Bonteheuwel communities together. We will celebrate their contributions in the
struggle for freedom and also honour Ashley Kriel and Anton Fransch. The
details of this event will be communicated to you shortly. Siyabulela Lutsha
Siyabulela.
On 8 March, we hosted the launch of the national campaign to commemorate the
50th Anniversary of the Women's march against the oppressive pass laws here in
the Western Cape. Watint' abafazi, watint' imbokotho. Wathint', imbokotho,
watint' abafazi, Uzakufa.
The commemoration of the 1956 march, demonstrates the important role that
women have played and continue to play in the shaping of our nation's
declarations at CODESA and Kliptown, that we will pursue freedom, equality and
security for all irrespective of race, colour or sex, a country free from
discrimination. We will be celebrating the role of women at the forefront of
the struggle for the achievement of a better life for all and for the
advancement of our agenda of building a non-sexist South Africa. Siyabulela bo
- Mama Siyabulela.
Speaker, it is also important to remind everyone that it has only been 15
years ago that we as a nation came together at CODESA, to form a national
consensus about the road ahead. This is indeed a very short time in the history
of any nation. However we have much to celebrate.
This prompted the President to state in his State of the Nation Address that
our people are convinced that we have entered the Age of Hope, and that we have
created the conditions to achieve more rapid progress towards the acceleration
of the advancement towards the goal of a better life for all. Siyabulela
Maqhawe Siyabulela.
As we enter this Age of Hope and celebrate the optimism of our people, with
it comes increased levels of expectation for government to achieve its goals
sooner. The resources allocated therefore need to be increased by the
acceleration of higher economic growth and development.
Programmes to stimulate economic growth
The Department plays a critical part in stimulating local economic growth in
municipalities with the provisioning of sports and cultural facilities,
including libraries and museums. Through this programme of providing
facilities, we are responding to the broad government objectives.
We further contribute towards economic growth through our investment and
contribution to cultural festivals and major sporting events. These events
market our province as a major Sport and Culture destination leading to greater
opportunities for job creation, skills development, and investment. The
promotion of our province through these major events creates opportunities in
tourism and also stimulates the hospitality sector.
Relationship with local government
A very important partner in the implementation of our work with regards to
the building of facilities and the hosting of major events and the development
of sport and culture are local municipalities. In this regard the Department
will restructure itself to meet our objectives and build a sound and good
working relationship with local authorities to develop the cultural and sport
sector by establishing six district offices in each region of our province.
This new approach will contribute towards making local government work better
and further advance the objective of a better life for all.
Public entities
The Department delivers services through three public entities: the Western
Cape Cultural Commission, the Heritage Western Cape and the Language
Committee.
These public entities have a specific mandate. In the main, they play an
advisory role to the Provincial Minister and the Department within the
framework of the applicable legislation. It is important to note that they are
not part of the Department and as such are not part of the development of the
strategic direction of the Department.
This Government has a specific fundamental mandate from the
electorate:
It is to transform the society, redress the past imbalances, and to create a
better tomorrow.
We have painfully noted that historically, the Department relegated some of
its responsibilities unfairly to these public entities. In this regard I want
to take advantage of this platform and thank them for really going that extra
mile.
To ensure that we deliver on our mandate and take full responsibility, the
Department will review the funding policy. Whilst the review process is
underway, we will administer the awarding of funding to all deserving Arts and
Cultural organisations that are in line with our strategic objectives.
The current cultural policy review processes must assist us to unpack the
role of the public entities and clearly demarcate the boundaries in order for
Government to take its full responsibility to ensure fundamental social
transformation.
The Cultural Commission
An amount of R907 269 has been allocated to the Cultural Commission, which
is currently responsible for registering and deregistering cultural councils,
the managing and marketing of the cultural facilities and the Geographical
Names Committee.
Heritage Western Cape
The Council of Heritage Western Cape is the appointed heritage resource
management authority for the Province. Heritage Western Cape plays a critical
role in the built environment and in the conservation of our heritage
landscape.
An amount of R950 000 has been allocated for its programmes to preserve and
develop the existing heritage sites and resources both tangible and intangible
for future generations.
The major challenge the Department faces in this field is the transformation
thereof. It is well known that the decades of colonialism have been
characterised by the imposition of the beliefs, customs and traditions, culture
and history of the former colonial powers and this is still deeply engraved in
our heritage landscape.
A further challenge of Heritage Western Cape is a shortage of qualified
professionals from the designated groups and this negates the efforts of the
Department to transform the Council and have representative staff in the
sector.
Attempts to redress this weakness are continuous and we are busy looking at
scholarships for candidates from the designated groups to transform the
heritage sector within the foreseeable future.
The Council, until recently, had a huge backlog of applications due to
inadequate staffing. The recent appointment of a CEO will contribute greatly
towards alleviating the workload as we cannot continue to be an obstacle for
the stimulation of higher rates of economic growth and development to create
more wealth. We aim to be a facilitator thereof, whilst preserving our
heritage.
To further enhance this work, we have just held a Provincial Consultative
Heritage Conference on 13 May 2006 to accelerate the transformation of this
sector and to ensure that we deal with the legacy of our past and create a
heritage landscape that reflect the history of all our people further to give
impetus to our declarations at Kliptown and Codesa.
The Language Committee of the Western Cape
In terms of the Language Act, the main role of the Language Committee is to
advise the Provincial Minister on language matters in or affecting the Western
Cape with regard to the three official languages of the province. This includes
monitoring the use of the three official languages by the Provincial
Government, promoting the principle of multilingualism and developing
previously marginalised indigenous languages.
The allocated budget for the Language Committee amounts to R602 000 to
effectively deliver on its mandate.
In February this year, we launched, a multilingualism project targeting
schools in conjunction with the Department of Education at Langa. The project
will focus on teaching different languages to all our children to enable them
to communicate with each other better.
Museums
The Museums Audit of the past year has revealed that there are over 50
museums in the Western Cape, excluding national museums, that collect, research
and document artefacts, specimens and oral histories. These include affiliated
museums, which are aided, and non-affiliated museums that are not aided. The
museums represent means that help our understanding of the past and provide
exhibitions, programmes and publications for learning, and promote tourism by
developing and maintaining high quality museums.
In tandem with the audit process of the past year we are reviewing all
current legislation applicable to museum services in general that will lead to
the process of a new Museums Act for the Province. The objective of the new Act
will be to address the cultural, political and economic divide and to ensure
that our museums depict the history of all our people to advance our strategic
goal of building a non-racial South Africa and a Home for All.
The new legislation will provide a framework for relationships with the
non-affiliated, community museums, and a roll out plan to bring community
museums into the mainstream will be implemented. In this regard, the Department
has been proactive during the past few years, providing assistance to the
Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum, the District Six Museum, the Julius Gordon
African Collection, the Piketberg and Malmesbury Museums and the Oscar Mpetha
Foundation for the Oscar Mpetha House Museum.
In an attempt to transform our museums, we piloted a Scrapbook Project as
part of the Oral History Programme in September last year. The idea was mooted
as a way of collecting and representing community, family and personal
histories.
This project is proving to be very popular with museums because it is a
method of bringing previously marginalised histories into our museums and
allows communities 100 percent control of the representation of their history.
We are allocating an amount of R4,34 million for Museum Services.
This year the International Council of Museums invited museums from all over
the world to celebrate the theme Museums and Young People on International
Museum Day (18 May) a few days ago. The theme of this year was selected to
raise awareness of how young people participate in redefining the mission and
practices of heritage institutions in the 21st century, and how museums can
contribute to shaping tomorrow's society by interacting with young people. Our
outreach programmes with youth will focus on the role young people have played
in our society and will be linked to the 30th anniversary of Youth Day.
Siyabulela Mabhubesi Siyabulela.
Library services
Mr Speaker, the Siyabulela Delivery programme, has seen the delivery of a
brand new library building to the community of Buffelsjag and the hand over of
upgraded library buildings to the Barrydale and Zuurbraak communities
respectively on 3 May 2006.
We will be contributing R1 648 million towards library construction in
Vredendal and Haarlem.
Libraries also play a role in sustainable economic development through the
availability of resources to empower entrepreneurs through 105 business corners
in our libraries. To give practical effect to Accelerated and Shared Growth
Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) and fight underdevelopment in the rural
communities, we will extend the Wheelie wagon service to the following
communities: Molsvlei (West Coast), Stofkraal (West Coast), Koekedouw
(Witzenberg), Klipdale (Cape Agulhas) and Vleiplaas in Laingsburg.
An amount of R29,213million, is available for library stock to be utilised
largely on reading material to inculcate the culture of reading. The funds are
also concentrated on informal material to cater for youth and adults for
individual and community development. We are also working on increasing the
number of isiXhosa books in our libraries.
Archive service
The process to transfer the archive function from national government has
now been completed and since 1 April 2006 the Western Cape Archives and Records
Service is providing a service to preserve our heritage in Roeland Street.
Festivals
The Department funds various festivals in the Western Cape without a clear
defined strategic objective. To ensure that we maximise the social, economic
and political impact of these festivals, we established a Provincial Task Team
to draft a guiding document for Cabinet, taking into account the role of
government in development.
Given our development objectives, we would insist that in future, any
applications for funding must contribute towards the sustainable development of
arts and culture to advance our goal of creating a better life for all.
As mentioned earlier, some of these festivals play an important role in
cultural tourism and the economy of the province. It is therefore essential to
take corrective measures to ensure that the economic impact of these festivals
is broadened.
We have a responsibility to elevate language-based festivals of the
previously marginalised languages. The Xhosa festival piloted at Langa last
year will now become an annual event and we will engage the private sector to
ensure that adequate resources are mobilised to elevate the status of this
festival for the local and international tourism market.
Initiation schools
I want to take advantage of this platform to pronounce on the erection of a
permanent initiation school in Drift-sands. I am against the idea of a
permanent building but support the idea of identifying initiation sites and to
regulate them.
We are indeed sitting with a time bomb that could explode in our faces
anytime if we fail to take decisive actions.
This is a very sensitive issue that must be treated with utmost care and due
consideration for the people that are affected. We must consider ourselves,
fortunate thus far, as we have not yet experienced tragedies of the scales of
Limpopo, North West, Eastern Cape and other provinces. However, this past
December eight initiates were hospitalised and in December 2004, we were
shocked by the death of three initiates in separate areas of the Province.
I will be appointing a team that will deal with this sensitive matter in
consultation with all relevant role players. This team will take into account
kukho amaXhosa, Amamfengu, amaHlubi nabeSuthu. The team will ensure that there
is proper consultation so that these stakeholders can take ownership of the
process.
Integration of culture and sport
The Social Capital Incubator Programme launched in the presidential nodal
areas has succeeded to integrate culture and sport components for improved
service delivery. The programme is aimed at the deployment of sport and culture
assistants in identified areas where an intervention is required to build
social and human capital. The focus of these assistants is the development of
sport and culture and to work closely with the relevant organisations to
achieve these objectives. This programme will also be expanded to include other
areas.
Sport and recreation
Speaker, sport has played a very significant role in our country as a
strategy for liberation from apartheid and tool for nation building and a means
towards reconstruction and development. Whereas sport was used as a strategy to
divide and deny certain privileges to some and grant opportunities to a few, it
is today used to unity our people so that South Africa truly belongs to all who
live in it. More and more, albeit at a slow pace, our sporting landscape is
being integrated and is beginning to reflect the true demographics of our
country and province.
I must however thank those federations that are doing their utmost to speed
up transformation.
Sport has become a vehicle that can change the lives of successful athletes
and the communities they live in. Many of our successful athletes are an
inspiration and role models to the youth in the communities from where they
come. Notwithstanding the recent gang activity in Hanover Park, the majority of
young soccer players there aspire to become successful soccer players such as
Benny. These athletes have used sport to change their lives for the better.
This contributed to our strategy of building social capital in these
communities by providing alternatives to drug abuse, teenage pregnancy and
gangsterism.
Programmes
The Department will facilitate numerous programmes to ensure mass
participation in sport and recreation as well as to unearth talent and develop
it to meet our objective, "From Grass Roots to Glory".
Siyadladla Mass Participation Programme
In order to give effect to the Siyadlala Mass Participation Programme, and
to add value to the Western Cape's social capital formation strategy, the
Department is implementing the Community and School Sport Mass Participation
Programme as a mechanism of building a culture of integrated sport and
recreation through structured mass participation. A total of R12, 1 million has
been made available through the contribution of National Government for both
these programmes.
To ensure that sport and recreation contributes to the develop initiatives,
we have taken giant strides this year to increase the hubs for Siyadlala Mass
participation from 11 to 32 hubs as a vehicle to mobilise communities towards
sport and recreation.
National games
In preparation for Team Western Cape's participation in the 2007 South
African Games, and our participation in the National Indigenous Games in
August, we will commence with the selection and training of our teams in June
this year.
Sport school
The process of establishing a school sport is at an advance stage. I want to
acknowledge in particular the collaboration with the Department of Education in
making this a reality. Advertisements for the first intake in 2007 were placed
in the media with minimum selection criteria, inviting prospective pupils who
have special academic and sporting talents to apply. The Department of
Education is busy finalising the curriculum for Grade 8 and will also be
instrumental in the final selection process. It is envisaged that the school
will open in January 2007.
School sport
Mr Speaker, on 25 January we launched a school sport programme. The
significance of this school sport programme is that it is aimed at the
reintroduction of Wednesday as the school sport day throughout the Province and
in particular in the Metro. This is our intervention to ensure the revival of
school sport.
The priority codes for schools are: football, netball, rugby, cricket,
volleyball and athletics. Codes such as baseball, gymnastics, softball,
basketball, drum majorettes, tennis, table tennis, hockey and chess also enjoy
a high profile and are catered for in the national schools programme.
We have embarked on a road show to establish the Provincial Co-ordinating
Committee (PROCOC) in line with the national process to ensure the effective
coordination and management of school sport. The launch of the PROCOC is
scheduled for the end of June as part of the Youth Month Celebrations.
Siyabulela Lutsha Siyabulela
The budget for school sport is R17,918 million inclusive of the Division of
Revenue Grant of R4,85 million to be used for the introduction of the school
sport mass participation. To illustrate our contribution to job creation, 140
sport assistants will be trained and placed at schools to assist educators in
the quest to revive school sport. Sport assistants will receive training in
Sport administration, training as coaches, technical officials and umpires in
at least five codes of sport. In addition, training on event management and
indigenous games are also afforded to the sport assistants.
The Sports Stepping Stones programme remains the flagship programme of the
Department and 150 sport assistants will graduate through the learnership
programme in August this year. At least 50 sport assistants will be permanently
employed within the education and sport and recreation sector. We will have a
School Sport Summit later in the year, to develop practical strategies to
revive school sport.
In line with our skills development strategy in the sport sector, we will
run a series of workshops for the teachers, equipping them with administrative,
coaching and technical skills. This intervention will empower teachers with
skills needed to properly manage and administer sport in our schools.
International sports events and funding
The Department receives annual requests amounting to more than R3 million
for international participation of which the budget allocation is only R300
000.
We are finding it increasingly difficult to entertain funding requests
emanating from international invitations. The question is whether we will be
able to sustain this given the increasing performances and achievements of
schools from the Western Cape at a national level.
Sports federations
The Department has sound relationships with all major sports federations of
our province. This relationship is fundamentally based on an understanding that
we will support and assist all federations that are committed to the
implementation of the strategic objectives of Government as it relates to
transformation. Federations receive an amount of R5million per annum for sport
development, capacity building and hosting of major events. Members will agree
with me that this is not enough.
I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate the South African Football
Association (SAFA) regions with the progress that they have made with the
realignment of the football structures. We hope that they will soon launch the
Provincial structure and we remain committed in assisting SAFA to launch this
structure.
The Christmas Tinto Under-15 Soccer tournament
The Christmas, Tinto Under-15 Soccer tournament launched last year in Langa
will now be rolled out to the entire Western Cape. The Tinto tournament is
developmental in nature for the following reasons:
* The professional football clubs in Cape Town both in the Premier Soccer
League (PSL) and in the Mvela League have agreed to select promising players
from this tournament to be taken up in their respective academies.
* The Farouk Abrahams Goalkeeping Academy is part of this programme.
* This tournament intends leaving a legacy by improving existing football
facilities.
Sports infrastructure developments
I am happy to announce that R1,5million has been set for the development of
Langa stadium as part of the Christmas Tinto Under 15 Tournament's legacy. In
addition, the Department will be making R500 000.00 per facility available to 4
rural regions. This is aimed at farming communities in particular, the farm
worker development project. Siyabulela Marshalla Siyabulela
The Department is also involved with a joint venture with ABSA-Barclays Bank
to develop a multipurpose sports facility in Gansbaai to the value of R3
million.
The Bayhill Premier Cup
The Department has the responsibility of assisting with the organisation of
the annual Bayhill Under-19 Premier Cup. This international youth tournament is
a well-established and important platform to unearth future Bafana Bafana
stars. It is well known that players such as Benny McCarthy and Moeneeb Josephs
were discovered at this tournament. The event also presents an opportunity for
the private sector to come on board as it is currently without a major
sponsor.
Football Club Development Programme
The national Department in conjunction with the Department has identified a
development programme that will give practical expression to our endeavours to
develop football. This programme will strategically identify two clubs per
region to be included in an incubator football development programme. In each
region, these teams will consist of a boys and girls team. These clubs will be
assisted with capacity building courses consisting of:
* administration
* football clinics benefiting approximately 500 players
* referees courses benefiting 36 referees
* coaching courses benefiting 36 coaches
Netball development
We are also adopting a minimum of two netball clubs in each of the six
regions. These clubs will be afforded basically everything to equip them for
competitiveness.
A netball tournament will be held in August in honour of all girls and women
who have been victims of domestic violence. This tournament is part of the
Department's contribution in highlighting the fight against children, girls and
women's abuse and the fight against domestic violence.
Siyabulela bo Mama Siyabulela.
Major sports events
To contribute towards the stimulation of the economy and marketing of the
Province as mentioned before, the Department will continue to support the
hosting of major sports events. In addition to the annual events and in
conjunction with Boland athletics we will be hosting the first athletics test
between South Africa and the United States of America, in November.
Football stadia
Speaker let me take this opportunity to congratulate Sinethemba High School
of Phillipi, on winning the national Coca Cola championship three weeks ago in
Durban. You have done us proud.
It is also appropriate that I congratulate the Hanover Park Football club
with their achievements over the past season. Not only did they reach the
quarter final of the ABSA Cup, but they are currently in the process of
campaigning to compete in the Mvela league next season. I want to wish them
well and I am convinced that they would do the people of Hanover Park, Cape
Town and Western Cape proud by competing in the Mvela League next season.
Speaker, allow me to welcome to Cape Town and the Western Cape, Manning
Rangers from KwaZulu-Natal, and thank them for choosing to relocate to Paarl
effectively boosting football in the province by also competing in the Mvela
league.
On Saturday 13 May 2006, Vasco Da Gama took a giant step towards
qualification to play in the PSL by beating Bush Bucks 2-0. I wish them well
with the rest of their campaign to play in the PSL next season.
We must also congratulate Santos for finishing in the top eight of the
league and wish them success in the coming season.
To Ajax Cape Town, I know you can do much better and I wish them well for
the coming season. In order for these professional teams to do well they need
our support. The Football summit planned for later this year will serve as a
platform to begin discussing the type of support we can afford them.
The success and progress of our local football clubs are also putting more
pressure on us to deal with the availability of football stadia, for these
teams to compete in. Currently, Athlone stadium is under construction and
cannot host big matches, as only the main stand can be used. The imminent
commencement of construction at the Green Point stadium will also make it
unavailable in the near future.
The upgrade of the Philippi stadium should therefore be expedited to ensure
that these clubs are not forced to play big matches in other cities. The
impasse with the utilisation of Newlands stadium as an interim alternative
should be resolved.
These are all positive pointers about the prospects of establishing Cape
Town as a force to be reckoned with in the soccer fraternity despite our lack
of football facilities.
World Cup 2010
Speaker, I am happy to announce that the processes, in preparation for the
hosting of the 2010 Federation International Football Association (FIFA) world
cup are progressing rapidly. The Environmental Impact Assessment process,
currently in progress should be concluded shortly.
The design process will be completed in mid June for submission of the first
draft to National Treasury by 30 June 2006. The design and development team to
manage this process has been appointed.
A final proposal will be submitted to National Treasury at the end of
October 2006, which will allow for the tender process to commence and we hope
that the construction of the stadium will start at the end of January 2007 and
be completed in 2008.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Minister Brown and her Department
for their contribution towards the establishment of a Special Purpose Vehicle
to drive and manage this process. The draft legislation that will be submitted
to Cabinet soon, will enable the establishment of this structure. The process
for public comment will commence in the second week of July 2006 and I wish to
urge members to cooperate in ensuring that we expedite this process.
Conclusion
Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to present this budget to this house
today, with the knowledge that the Department is geared towards the strategic
objectives as presented by our President in his state of the nation address,
amongst others to achieve more rapid progress towards the acceleration of the
advancement towards the goal of a better life for all.
I thank you
Enquiries:
Mandla Yeki
Spokesperson for Ministry
Tel: (021) 483 9804
Fax: (021) 483 9801
Cell: 082 553 3477
Issued by: Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, Western Cape Provincial
Government
19 May 2006
