S Ndebele: Premier's Sports Awards

2 November 2007

Programme director
The Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr Roy Padayachee
The Honourable MEC for Sport and Recreation, Mr A Rajbansi
Other MEC's present The Speaker and Members of the Provincial Legislature
The Chairperson and members of the Portfolio Committee for Sport and Recreation
Mayors and councillors present
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Senior government officials executive and representatives of sports
federations
'Nominees, ladies and gentlemen

Introduction

In KwaZulu-Natal athletes in the last year have toiled while the world
turned. They have worked and they have competed, at home and abroad. Many have
excelled. The Premier's Sports Awards is therefore an appropriate tribute to
them! They have competed on the world's sporting stages this year alone,
including the World Athletics Championships, World Surfing Competition, the
Twenty 20 World Cricket Championships, the Rugby World Cup, the African Cup of
Nations preliminaries and we wait with anticipation our hosting of the 2010
World Cup which has its preliminary draw later this month.

The exploits of Team KwaZulu-Natal at the SA Games where the Province won an
overwhelming 136 medals need to be acknowledged and highlighted. On their way
to dethroning Gauteng as Champions, Team KwaZulu-Natal walked away with 52 gold
medals and 49 silver medals with swimming, women's football, boxing, rugby and
athletics making clean sweeps. This fledgling development programme of the
Department of Sport and Recreation has renewed our pledge, namely a provincial
partnership to build a better life for all.

As the department endeavours to grow the economy through partnerships, our
partnership with the federations, sponsors, other government departments and
municipalities, has ensured that development and transformation in sport is
taking place throughout the length and breadth of our province.

Sport empowers

The awards ceremony will endeavour to give prominence to the achievements of
these fine athletes today's youth tomorrow's stars this is true empowerment.
This is service delivery at its best!

The United Nations considers sport to be a fundamental human right. Sport
and recreation is acknowledged as an essential part of daily living for young
people, in particular and access to, and opportunities for participation should
be available to everybody on an equitable basis.

It is important that the programmes of sport and recreation are aligned to
the policy pronouncements as contained in Government's building Programme of
Action. Sport and recreation has a responsibility to promote national identity
and social cohesion and we hope that the outcome of the 2007 Rugby World Cup in
France will also unite us as a province and spur us onto greater heights. Those
of us who were present at the Springboks Rugby Parade at the Durban City Hall
last Sunday will attest to this. With the nation's euphoria still fresh in our
minds, we can emphatically state that little else unites a country like a
winning national team.

Sports and nation-building

The past couple of weeks have been exciting in South African sport. First,
the Springboks brought glory to the country by winning and bringing home the
coveted William Webb Ellis Rugby World Cup from Paris, France, two weeks ago.
Secondly, a week later the national soccer team, dubbed Bafana Bafana, won the
Council for Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) Cup in a hard
fought and heart-stopping penalty shootout following a goalless 90 minutes of
pulsating football against the formidable Zambian team in Bloemfontein.
Dominating the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region since their
1992, the national soccer team rubber stamped the Springbok win as not having
been a fluke, but the fruit of a hard-working nation set to show its mettle in
all its international games. Then hardly a week later the South African
national cricket team, the Proteas, created history by winning both the test
series and the one-day series in Pakistan a first for a South African cricket
team in the Asian sub-continent since readmission to the international arena
following the advent of democracy.

Indeed, this has been a formidable week for South African sport. Hence it is
fitting that in light of these special achievements, due praise be given to
both the players and sport administrators for their superlative effort to bring
glory to the country. Evidently, sport is playing a crucial role in building
this wonderful nation. It is noteworthy that a number of the world-beating
Springbok players are drawn from the Sharks, the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) provincial
rugby side based here in Durban.

Also, both the Proteas and Bafana Bafana have a number of prominent players
who hail from KZN. KwaZulu-Natal is proud to have already successfully hosted
several international sporting events such as the A1 Grand Prix, the Super 14
Rugby Final and the Twenty 20 Cricket World Cup where we presented the best
team of volunteers. We will continue to offer a number of international
sporting events such as the Dusi Canoe Marathon, the Comrades Marathon, the
Durban July Handicap and many others.

This augurs well for the future of sport in the province of KZN and should
spur our sportsmen and women to achieve even greater things for their own
personal glory and the nation building that comes with these events. Here we
are talking nation building.

Fifa 2010 Soccer World Cup

Sport has been labelled as one of the facilitators and enablers of
unification in the richly diverse South Africa, and will provide the platform
the country needs in the build-up to the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

Plans for the 2010 Soccer World Cup preliminary draw to be held at the
Inkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre (ICC) in Durban from 23 to 25 November
2007 is well on track. KwaZulu-Natal is glad to be the host of this all
important draw, the first official international event associated with the 2010
Fifa Football World Cup, which will see 2 800 international delegates from 205
countries, including a projected 700 international journalists visiting our
shores.

This first official flagship event of the 2010 World Cup will give us in
KwaZulu-Natal the opportunity to showcase our enticing, spectacular,
fascinating and multi-cultural showpiece destination to the rest of the world,
a province with two heritage sites, ten world class beaches and eight different
tourist destinations, each offering its own unique set of experiences. Many
parts of our country will qualify to be base camps or training venues for those
31 countries who will qualify to participate in the World Cup. Our successful
hosting of this preliminary draw will clearly demonstrate that KwaZulu-Natal,
South Africa and Africa are ready to roll out the red carpet for 2010.

2010 will be a major catalyst for further enhancing our image and growing
our economy and tourism potential. As part of 2010, the benefits accruing to
the province include infrastructure development, facilities upgrades, small,
medium and micro enterprises (SMME) and other enterprise development, which
will for generations be legacies of this spectacle. Only next week, this
province will be holding its 2010 Indaba where the state of the province's
readiness will be thoroughly interrogated.

Structures

The KZN Provincial Government recognises that fundamental to the successful
implementation of the provincial strategy are sound working arrangements of all
structures within the provincial government. In addition, these structures have
to cement the working together of the three spheres of government to deliver a
successful 2010 World Cup in the province. For this reason it has been
necessary to create a hierarchical structure of governance and technical task
teams in the province to co-ordinate all activities and aspects related to the
World Cup. The most important governance and co-ordinating in August 2006, the
Premier-in-Cabinet appointed the MEC for Finance and Economic Development, Dr
ZL Mkhize to chair the 2010 Political Oversight Committee (POC), supported by
the MEC for Sport and Recreation, Mr A Rajbansi.

The other MECs in the POC are the MECs for: Transport, Community Safety and
Liaison; Local Government and Traditional Affairs; Education; and Arts, Culture
and Tourism.

The POC's terms of reference include to:

* provide political leadership, direction and interface between the 2010
Local Organising Committee (2010 LOC), the national government and the
municipalities involved in the 2010 World Cup
* oversee the continuous improvement of the 2010 Framework Document of the
province and its implementation
* facilitate and co-ordinate the involvement of external stakeholders
* receive and evaluate all project management reports emanating from the
various technical committees and task teams on all facets of the 2010 World Cup
project
* ensure compliance with Fifa and 2010 LOC requirements
* lead and guide the Technical Committee to ensure successful preparation for
the 2010 World Cup
* report to Cabinet and the Legislature as and when required to do so.

In addition to the provincial political representatives in the political
oversight committee, the Mayor of the host city is invited as a permanent
representative, while it is also the intention to invite the Mayors of the
District Municipalities identified as potential base camps training venues from
time to time as the need arises.

2. Technical Committee

To support and feed into the Political Oversight Committee, there is a
Technical Committee at provincial level, made up of Heads of Departments
represented in the Political Oversight Committee and convened by the
Director-General in the Office of the Premier. Its terms of reference are:

* to provide technical and managerial support to the political oversight
committee particularly as it relates to the implementation of the framework
document for 2010

* to co-ordinate the full implementation of all activities within the
province to prepare for 2010 within guidelines set by the political oversight
committee

* to develop a detailed strategic plan and to determine specific projects
within the department's areas of work together with the attendant budgets. for
instance, the department of transport needs to provide a people movement
strategy within the province and its budget

* to establish and guide various sub-committee or task teams that are
required to oversee work streams emanating from the 2010 framework document

* to provide a realistic timetable for activities that must be finalised in
the short, medium and long-term to ensure compliance with the FIFA and LOC
deadlines.

As directed by Cabinet, the Technical Committee is convened by the
Director-General, who is also responsible for overall coordination of 2010
preparations within the provincial government. The Director-General (DG)
reports directly to the Political Oversight Committee. In addition, the DG uses
this Committee to facilitate the bringing together of all relevant
stakeholders, including the Municipal Manager of eThekwini and the targeted
District Municipalities, so that the province has an integrated approach in all
matters related to 2010.

3. Provincial Co-ordinator

The Office of the Premier has contracted a full-time co-ordinator to manage
the football development programme in KZN. In addition, a contract post at the
level of Chief Director has been filled to co-ordinate all 2010-related
activities within the provincial government, reporting to the Deputy Director
General (DDG): Special projects and Director-General the Office of the
Premier.

The establishment of a full-time provincial 2010 Office headed by the
provincial co-ordinator is regarded as critical to the successful
implementation of the provincial 2010 Western Cape strategy. The co-ordinator
is a custodian of the Provincial Strategic Framework, both from a context and
content point of view. To this end the Coordinator will create a provincial
link levels. As such the co-ordinator will drive the technical work streams,
which prepare work that is finalised by the Technical Committee.

Municipal technical committees

At municipal level, in the eThekwini Metro and in the four district
municipalities which receive provincial infrastructure grant funding to prepare
for 2010, similar technical committees to coordinate activities within that
municipality.

Programmes

Consolidating a provincial 2010 business plan, incorporating the
work/projects of government departments and the identified municipalities. The
province is also working on a Provincial Marketing Strategy to help position
KZN as a world-class tourist destination and to influence decisions by
qualifying teams to set up base camps in the province.

On 7 and 8 November the province will host the second Provincial 2010 Indaba
at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli ICC. Durban will host the 2010 Football World Cup
Preliminary Draw on 25 November this year, drawing over 3 000 delegates and
journalists from 204 confirmed countries. This will afford us an opportunity to
position and showcase ourselves from the tourism and investment point of view.
The presence of 200 international journalists means the event will be beamed
live across the globe, providing a huge marketing opportunity for us as a
province.

Soccerex

Soccerex is an international soccer exhibition to be held in Johannesburg
from 26 to 28 November, and KZN will participate in this, another opportunity
to market the province to an international audience. KZN is already engaging a
number of top foot-balling countries to convince them to set up base camps in
the province, the most recent being Germany. 2010 will be the first Fifa
Football World Cup event in the African continent hosted by KZN.

All this goes to prove that the 2010 Football World Cup showcase will not
just be a frivolous money-gobbling exercise, but will bring about unprecedented
economic and social benefits to provide a rich legacy for generations to come.
What has emerged is that everyone as stakeholders in the province, are eager to
contribute towards a successful World Cup, and as President Mbeki has promised
the world, the best World Cup ever staged, all in the name of the whole of the
African continent.

Sports generally

We are committed to promoting greater involvement of marginalised groups
such as women, people with disabilities, people living in rural communities and
the youth in sport and recreation. Youth empowerment remains a central feature
of our developmental focus in serving as a bridge between the first and second
economies. The implementation of the Siyadlala Mass Participation Programme has
seen the establishment of 65 hubs (Community Recreation Centres), which are run
by the youth.

The primary objective of the programme is getting South Africa active with a
view to reducing lifestyle diseases such as high blood pressure, heart diseases
and diabetes, as well as combating anti-social behaviour such as crime. It also
seeks to reduce levels of poverty by employing youth aged between 18 to 35
years.

Daily programmes offered by the hubs that exist in all 61 municipalities
include aerobics, recreational sports such as fun athletics, action soccer,
volley ball, learn to swim, dance as well as variety of indigenous games, first
aid and basic life skills support. The 650 youth employed have undergone
intensive training in basic sport and recreation administration, life skills,
recreational sport, indigenous games and first aid. This stipend they receive,
in some cases, is the only income being generated in a family. A total budget
of R16,3 million has been earmarked for 2007/08 and R25 million for
2008/09.

School Sport Mass Participation Programme

The School Sport Mass Participation Programme has provided sporting
opportunities to 321 schools. 343 unemployed youth from the communities are
employed to assist with the delivery of the programme.

One thousand seven hundred and thirty-four (1 734) educators and volunteers
in the six prioritised codes of sport has been completed and training of 171
contract employees in event management, life skills and first aid has provided
skills to the youth. Cluster Co-ordinators and School Sports Assistants have
also been trained in monitoring and evaluation of programmes. Strategic links
with United Kingdom schools have been established to ensure professional growth
and development through the sharing of areas of good practice. One hundred and
fifty thousand (150 000) learners are involved in ongoing intra-school and
inter-school leagues culminating in major cluster festivals.

These numbers are increasing at an average of 15 000 per month. We have
already enjoyed a fair measure of success in these programmes with a small
percentage of youth gaining permanent employment within the fitness industry,
municipalities, as sports development officers in sports federations, as
governing body employees at schools and within the department itself.

Principals, educators and learners from the most rural schools have had the
opportunity to travel overseas through the United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa
initiative and have greatly benefited through partnerships with UK Sports
colleges. Young men and women from our hubs, all in rural areas, had the
opportunity to participate in the International Gymnaestrada in Austria this
year.

Developing skills

These initiatives at a grass roots level will lay a solid foundation for the
development of skills, the identification of talented athletes and the
progression of athletes into the club development programme and the high
performance programme of the various sports federations with the support of the
Provincial Academy of Sport.

Despite a limited budget, the delivery of Sport and Recreation to all parts
of the province, mainly the rural and poorest, has grown in leaps and bounds
and more people now have access to sport and recreation programmes than ever
before.

Currently, approximately 57 000 youth are actively involved in the sporting
activities organised by the relevant structures. The collaboration protocol
signed by with the Department of Education also outlines the roles and
responsibilities of each Department in ensuring learners are provided with the
necessary skills, opportunities to participate in intra and inter schools
competitions and to represent the provincial at a national level.

Referees

Aligned to the national and overall provincial 2010 Soccer World Cup
strategy, the Department's focus has been on team preparation and support in
improving the standard of football in the province, leaving a legacy of
infrastructure development by the provision of appropriate facilities,
equipment and support services and providing assistance with structural
transformation.

Four hundred and fifty seven (457) Referees were trained with the basic
referee's qualification and 120 coaches were qualified according to South
African Football Association (SAFA) introductory coaching certificate. Sixty
SAFA level one coaches were qualified at a course conducted by SAFA
national.

One hundred and fifty (150) administrators from the numerous local football
associations were trained in sports administration. The department also
embarked on an innovative programme of providing training equipment and aid to
formerly disadvantaged clubs. The department, in partnership with the
Provincial Academy of Sport and sports federations is actively involved with,
and has trained and qualified coaches, administrators, technical officials and
administrators in football, athletics, cricket, rugby, volleyball, aquatics,
boxing, netball, hockey, table tennis, golf, boxing, and dance sport. A number
of coaching clinics were held for all district structures.

Women and girls

The department aims to mobilise and increase the number of women and girls
participating in sports. The Department's Equity Programme targets active
involvement of women and the disabled in sporting activities. We salute our
achievers this evening for their untold sacrifice and commitment on the sports
fields which have brought us immense. Our nominees for the awards come from a
wide range of sport from rugby, athletics, gymnastics, swimming, women's
football, wheelchair basketball, volleyball, table tennis and equestrian
sport.

Our nominees have represented the province and country at many national and
international sports events and have notched outstanding achievements. Many are
holding national and international records. We also salute our community
builders who work tirelessly to lay the foundation from which our talented
athletes are identified and channelled into the high performance arena.

Conclusion

We pay tribute tonight to our sports administrators, coaches and technical
officials who for time immemorial have given of themselves for the love of the
game, to oversee the smooth operations, for imparting the skills and strategies
to our athletes and for taking charge of the game on the field
respectively.

Well done to all our finalists. In a short while our winners will be
announced, but the fact that you are here tonight as a finalist at this
prestigious event is an achievement in itself. To all the nominees and the
winners here tonight, we wish you all future success in your chosen sporting
codes and careers. To those who did not quite make it tonight, this is not the
end of the world, but should spur you on to work harder to conquer next time
around. Your turn will come. The world is waiting for you to conquer.

I thank you.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
2 November 2007