Western Cape Department of Sport oversight

Sport, Arts and Culture

01 August 2017
Chairperson: Ms B Dlulane (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Committee conducted a provincial oversight meeting with the Western Cape Department of Sport, the Provincial Sport Confederation, the Provincial Academy, Sport and Recreation (SRSA), and the Department of Basic Education. The issues discussed included provincial sport plans and sport facility development programmes, financial performance and reporting, the provincial academy programme, the Western Cape Provincial Academy and Confederation structures, development programmes and participation in the school sport programme.

The Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS) reported that they had been consistent in receiving qualified audit reports, and that it had a good working relationship with other government departments in implementing sport programmes and encouraging youth and community participation. The Committee was satisfied with the good reports they heard about sports in the Western Cape, with a special focus on uplifting rural and previously disadvantaged communities and incorporating indigenous games into sport competitions.

The Western Cape Provincial Sport Confederation (WCPSC) was a civil society group that followed the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) mandate and was a custodian of sport. The Confederation was elected by the sport sector to administer and promote sport, and work with various role players and stakeholders in order to achieve its objectives. DCAS was the Confederation’s biggest partner, and they were governed by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) whereby DCAS provided funds to the Confederation for their operational costs and projects.

Significant highlights during 2016 and 2017 were:

  • The continuation of the TV show, which aired 400+ federation interviews and had an average viewership of 258 773;
  • The WCPSC website, with a good communication platform;
  • Continuation of the Transformation Monitoring Committee (TMC) scorecard portal;
  • The launch of the online live data portal for federations and districts;
  • District events;
  • Farmworkers’ Day; and
  • Victories at the rural games in Polokwane.

Challenges facing the WCPSC were lack of capacity in dealing with multi-code memberships such as equestrian sports, new federations, demarcation of districts into municipal demarcations as per the Demarcation Act, recognition of the official provincial colours and process, corporate funding, media funding, membership education and ground level transformation.

Challenges facing Sport Academies were their limited budget allocations, and poor nutrition of athletes. WCSA had entered into an agreement with Future Life to provide nutritional diets to athletes so that they could supplement their training with a good diet. 

Meeting report

Opening remarks

The Chairperson welcomed all in attendance, and said that it was important for the national and provincial committees to discuss the use of the Division of Revenue Act (DoRA), the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG), the school sports programmes, their challenges, achievements, financial performance and reporting.

Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport: Presentation

Dr Lyndon Bouah, Chief Director, Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS), said that for the 2016/17 financial year, the financial budget from the Division of Revenue Act (DoRA) was R52.9 million. Most of the budget was allocated to school sport, which received R22.2 million, while conditional grants amounted to R2.7 million, district and provincial academies received R4.2 million, provincial sports councils/confederations received R2.1 million, and Siyadlala Community Sport received R10.4 million. Club development received R10.6 million, and provincial programmes received R2.6 million.

For the 2017/18 financial year, the budget had decreased to R52.7 million. Most of the funding was allocated to school sport, which received R20 million. Siyadlala Community Sport was allocated R8.9 million. The community sport development programme was allocated R9.4 million, while district and provincial academies received R5.7 million.

An academy referred to a range of institutions in South Africa that formed part of a national unified approach, with the main target of developing sporting talent at different levels.

For the 2016/17 financial year, a conditional grant of R2 118 600 had been transferred to the Western Cape Sport Confederation. Funds were allocated in support of project implementation for the six district sport councils as follows:

  • Cape Winelands District Sport Council -- R200 000;
  • Cape Town District Sport Council -- R210 000;
  • West Coast District Sport Council -- R170 000;
  • Central Karoo District Sport Council -- R170 000;
  • Overberg District Sport Council -- R170 000;
  • Eden District Sport Council -- R230 000.

The Western Cape Provincial Sport Confederation (WCPSC) received R368 000, Disability Sport Western Cape (DISWEC) received R500 000, and the Western Cape Farmworkers’ Council received R100 000.

There had been a significant reduction in the conditional grant offered to sport councils for the 2017/18 financial year. R1 581 210 had been transferred to the Western Cape Sport Confederation. All six district sports councils had received R95 000 each. WCPSChad received R471 210, DISWEC R220 000, and the Western Cape Farmworkers’ Council R50 000. Western Cape Federations had received R270 000.

School Sport Development (SSD) was aligned to academies – which were sport focus schools. SSD supported the Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) Ministerial Bursary Programme through academies. It promoted synergy with respective federations and sport councils through the WC Provincial Sport Confederation. It promoted indigenous games as school sport disciplines, and facilitated talent identification. It also developed a pathway for further development of learners who are talented in sports.

The DCAS also supported the Western Cape Education Department by assisting during intra-school and inter-school sport leagues. School sport programmes ensured code-specific coach development and promoted synergy with respective federations and sport councils through the provincial sport confederation.

The budget allocation for school sport of R20 million for the 2017/18 financial year would be spent on purchasing equipment and attire for the various schools across the province.

Siyadlala Community Sport hosted community programmes aimed at getting people active. Such programmes included youth camps, indigenous games, and ‘golden games’ which were conducted together with the WC Department of Social Development. Other programmes included big walks, Nelson Mandela Day, National Recreation Day, National Sport Week, and the Ministerial Outreach Programme. Because indigenous games had not previously been as organised as other sporting codes, the Department had training centres for coaches, and focused on organising and developing sport events and building team skills.

The club development programme would be servicing 250 clubs during the 2017/18 financial year through providing transportation, capacity building, support to leagues and the provision of equipment and attire. The number of clubs supported under the programme had been increasing from 365 in 2012/13, to 415 in 2013/14 and 2014/15. In the 2015/16 financial year, the programme had been cut and club participation had decreased to 300, and then to 250 for 2017/18, as a result of the reduction in MIG funding.

The priority sport codes supported were football, netball, rugby, cricket, athletics, hockey, swimming, tennis, basketball, gymnastics, softball, volleyball, goalball, boxing, and chess. The programme offered support to junior and senior divisions within a club. Clubs were kept in the programme for a duration of three years and received transport support to league matches, access to capacity building courses, as well as sport equipment or basic playing attire, depending on the needs of the club. Clubs were situated across the province, and DCAS did not choose which clubs deserved support, but rather the federations nominated clubs which were in need of support.

The DCAS supported the national rural sport development programme. 280 athletes from rural areas across the Western Cape had participated in the Polokwane games during July 2017. Targeted areas within the Western Cape included the Central Karoo and Cape Winelands districts, because these areas had been disadvantaged by virtue of their centralised farming activity. Some beneficiaries of the club development programme included Shane Overmeyer from Bishop Lavis Table Tennis, who won the SA championships in 2016, and Jo-Ane van Dyk, who holds the African youth record for javelin. The programme had also been instrumental in introducing Farmworkers’ Sports Day, which has been held in Swellendam every year since 2008. The DCAS incurs all the financial expenses of hosting the event.

Provincial programmes conducted by the DCAS included ‘Move for Health’ (12 May 2017), ‘67 Minutes for Nelson Mandela’ (18 July 2017), the Knysna Oyster Festival (6-16 July 2017), the Nelson Mandela Sport and Cultural Day, ‘Alcohol Harms’ reduction programmes, as well as various ministerial projects and those supporting Western Cape structures.

An estimated R575.1 million was required to support 114 MIG and SRSA projects. The DCAS had identified three direct SRSA and MIG projects in Beaufort West, the Cederberg and Swellendam, with an estimated total cost of R29.6 million. MIG funding was aimed at ensuring playing fields, community centres, outdoor gyms, tennis and netball courts and swimming pools were maintained up to the standard required for athletes to practise or play matches.

Discussion

Mr D Bergman (DA) appreciated the innovative presentation, and said it was good to have farm workers involved in sports. He asked how the DCAS worked with the Department of Basic Education (DBE) on incorporating schools sports into school hours.

Mr T Mhlongo (DA) asked how much of the allocation was for the ‘Alcohol Harms’ reduction programmes, and sought more details on the farm workers’ sports day.

Ms D Manana (ANC) asked what the particular impact of club development programmes in rural areas had been, and if the Department had been assisting rural clubs in previous years. What level of assistance had been given to township clubs in previous years?

Ms B Abrahams (ANC) asked how many hubs there were in the Western Cape, and where they were situated. What criteria were used to distribute equipment amongst the hubs? Who managed the hubs -- a volunteer or an appointed manager? Was the multipurpose MIG fund the sole source of finance, or was assistance given by other departments?

Mr S Ralegoma (ANC) said that he appreciated the concept of empowering farm workers.  He asked how the Department was intervening in school sports, since support occurred mostly in advantaged areas and not in disadvantaged areas. He wanted to know what the role of the sport councils was, and if a separate presentation would be offered. He said that the DCAS was making allocations directly to federations and that the federations also received allocations from the SRSA. This was something the DCAS needed to discuss with the sport councils.  He noted that the DCAS had a substantial amount allocated for the MIG, and he asked if this implied that they made use of this funding, or if it was just an indication of an estimated budget.

The Chairperson said that the SA Local Government Association (SALGA) would not be presenting, but they had been invited to the briefing because the Committee was concerned about the MIG allocation to district municipalities and whether the funds were been used to build sport facilities or not. Were municipalities implementing MIG funding as they were mandated to? What was the impact of outcome 14, as well as other departmental allocations? What had the DCAS done in disadvantaged areas to improve facilities and provide equipment? Was it interacting with the hockey team in Langa?

DCAS Response

Mr Paul Hendricks, Director: Sport Development, DCAS, said that in terms of transformation in respect of school sport at low and no fee schools, the Department had implemented the Mass Opportunity and Development (MOD) programme, which provided for mass participation and development growth. MOD entailed having sports during school hours, and had been implemented in 101 schools across the province as a pilot project over the past seven years. Some youngsters who had participated in the programme had now qualified for the senior women’s sub-programme championship, and others had just recently returned from USA after participating in a tournament.

Mr Hendricks said that some youths were disadvantaged by not having a proper nutritional diet and could therefore not participate in national competitions. Others, although they played very well, if they were not at the legal age of 18, could not participate in national competitions without the consent of their parents. DCAS employed mental coaches to assist youths who came from abusive environments, like Lavender Hill in Cape Town, where gang shootings were the order of the day.

Mr C Meyer, Deputy Director: School Sport, DCAS, said that in the education districts, a cluster approach was implemented that ensured that learners were exposed to sports from an early age. There were 134 neighborhood schools, in addition to 184 MOD centres, in a cluster. The allocation for sport from MIG funding was for equipment and facilities.

Mr Hendricks said that the Western Cape Department fully supported indigenous games. The DCAS had sent a database of the schools in the Western Cape to SRSA, and currently for the 2017/18 financial year there were over 1 000 schools.

Ms Manana said that she appreciated the fact that girls were participating in sports.

The Chairperson said she welcomed the fact that sport was being made compulsory and was included during school hours. She asked the DCAS to assist communities near Mbekweni in case the Committee did not receive funds to render assistance like they had previously done.

Dr Bouah said he appreciated all the comments. The DCAS would take up the issue of the Mbekweni facility with the Drakenstein municipality. He said that the ‘Alcohol Harms’ reduction programme was a strategy that the DCAS had developed in order to work with other departments such as Social Development, in order to assist communities that they were involved with. Recreational alternatives had been created on Friday and Saturday evenings so that most youth could rather participate in sport activities, instead of spending their time at shebeens.

Mr Thabo Tutu, Director: Sport Promotion, DCAS, said that with regard to sport participation by farm workers, the DCAS was at the mercy of farm owners to release their workers so that they could be available to participate in the Farmworkers’ Sports Day.

Mr Kent Mkalipi, Assistant Director: Facilities, DCAS said that the department was engaging with municipalities regarding the norms and standards of implementing MIG funding. As far as the MIG value chain was concerned, the DCAS was involved from conception up until ownership was given to the municipality. The DCAS monitored all projects that came from MIG funding. He said that there was work in progress at Mbekweni, and improvements were being made. The problem with multipurpose centres was that the DCAS had to appraise and approve those centres when the Department was not involved.

The Chairperson asked Mr Mkalipi to clarify the issue of the MIG and the DCAS’s involvement.

Ms Manana also asked for clarity with regard to DCAS’s relation with the MIG.

Mr Mkalipi said that the DCAS was involved in the value chain of the MIG. He could vouch that all MIG funding had been spent on sport facilities. The DCAS was on clear and good terms with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA).

Dr Bouah said he would appreciate it if local government was involved on the MIG issue, because the DCAS did not administer it, so they were not in a position to answer on their behalf as to its implementation.

Mr P Macwili, Deputy Director: Recreation, DCAS, said that there were 20 hubs across the province.

Equipment was purchased and offered to centres according to their requirements. There were two coaches in each hub and they were responsible for all games, such as indigenous games, big walks, etc.

Mr Tutu referred to assistance to clubs in disadvantaged areas, and said the club development programme had the main thrust of looking at the various clubs and also assisting dysfunctional clubs with the aim of resuscitating them. The DCAS did not select the clubs to assist, but rather used federations to nominate clubs that needed assistance.

There was a sub-programme called the ‘anti-gang’ programme within the club development programme which identified areas that had gang problems -- such as Nyanga, Khayelitsha and Samora Machel -- in order to provide street football, reading groups, cleaning groups, etc, so that children were not influenced by gang activity.

Langa hockey club had been in the club development programme for four years, and then they were exited. The club had requested re-entry into the programme, but due to the cutting of the MIG allocation, the programme had faced budgetary constraints and could therefore not keep clubs that had been in the programme for more than the required duration.

Mr Tutu said that the Western Cape boxing amateur wing had never submitted their financial statements to the DCAS since he joined the Department. In 2015 he had facilitated the ‘Boxing is Back’ programme, with professional boxing. The challenge was that professional boxing was run by boxing promoters and they had their own profit goals.

Ms Abrahams asked what criteria were used to determine which schools qualified to receive equipment.

Mr S Mmusi (ANC) asked if the list of the various hubs could be made available to the Committee. He asked whether the 280 learners who had participated in the Polokwane games were from the 20 hubs in the Western Cape. He said that the ‘anti-gang’ programme did not seem to be properly coordinated because his understanding of gangs was that they were intrinsically related to drugs.

Ms Manana said that each province had more than 5 000 participating clubs, and asked how the DCAS assisted clubs that produced athletes who participated in national games.

The Chairperson said that the Committee needed to call Boxing South Africa (BSA) and the South African National Boxing organisation (SANABO), because she was not happy about the report given about boxing in the Western Cape. She asked whether the DCAS was reporting to SRSA that the boxing federation in the Western Cape was not accounting to them, and also what measures were in place to rectify the issue. She also asked about the development of tennis and golf in rural communities.

Dr Bouah said that the DCAS had an excellent relationship with other departments, and they engaged regularly with departments like Social Development and Community Safety on their anti-drug campaigns.

With regard to outcome 14, the DCAS had a good relationship with the University of Western Cape (UWC), which offered short courses and training.

He said that the list of hubs would made available to the Committee Secretary.

Mr Hendricks said that Mbekweni formed part of the department’s MOD and schools’ programmes.

Mr Meyer said that the DCAS provided conditional grants to 131 schools, and they tried to assist schools that were really in need.

Mr Tutu said that three boys in the ‘anti-gang’ programme had been identified by the Ajax Cape Town football club has having the potential to play professionally. He welcomed the suggestion made by the Chairperson to invite the DCAS when BSA and SANABO presented to the Committee. The Langa hockey club made use of an astro-turf pitch which the DCAS had built, and they were also in control of the kiosk on the premises from which they generated income.

Mr Tutu said that in rural communities, there were no facilities for golf. Such facilities were common in so-called “white areas”. The DCAS was still waiting for feedback from the City of Cape Town about developing more tennis facilities in rural areas.

Mr Mmusi said that he was not satisfied with the answer from Mr Tutu with regard to the hubs and the 280 athletes, as he had been asking if DCAS had athletes from those areas or not.

Mr Tutu said that Mr Macwili was the person dealing with the hubs.

Mr Macwili said that he needed to research the number of people that had gone to the games in Polokwane and where they were from, and he would then make that information available to the Committee.

Provincial Sport Confederation: Presentation

Mr JP Naudé, President, Western Cape Provincial Sport Confederation (WCPSC) described the organisational structure of the confederation. He said it was a civil society group that followed the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) mandate and was a custodian of sport. The Confederation was elected by the sport sector to administer and promote sport, and work with various role players and stakeholders in order to achieve their objectives. The DCAS was its biggest partner, and they were governed by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) whereby the DCAS provided funds to the Confederation for their operational costs and projects.

The WCPSC had commissions established to deal with transformation and monitoring, women and girls, coaching, high performance, colours, farmworkers, and Disability Sport Western Cape (DISWEC).

The Confederation had received R2.1 million for the 2016/17 financial year. The conditional grant had been distributed to the WCPSC (R368 600), DISWEC (R500 000), WC Farmworkers (R100 000), Cape Winelands (R200 000), Cape Town SC (R210 000), Eden SC (R230 000), West Coast SC (R170 000), Overberg SC (R170 000) and Central Karoo SC (R170 000).

SASCOC required WCPSC to meet the requirements with regard to constitutional compliance, meeting attendance, commission objectives and deliverables, and membership growth structure and monitoring.

Significant highlights during 2016 and 2017 were:

  • The continuation of the TV show, which aired 400+ federation interviews and had an average viewership of 258 773;
  • The WCPSC website, with a good communication platform;
  • Continuation of the TMC scorecard portal;
  • The launch of the online live data portal for federations and districts;
  • District events;
  • Farmworkers Day; and
  • Victories at the rural games in Polokwane.

Challenges facing the WCPSC were lack of capacity in dealing with multi-code memberships such as equestrian sports, new federations, demarcation of districts into municipal demarcations as per the demarcation act, recognition of the official provincial colours and process, corporate funding, media funding, membership education, and ground level transformation.

Sport Academy System: Presentation

A member of the Sport Academy System said that the system was informed by the government’s sport policies, which included the White Paper, SRSA’s action plan and the academy framework which had been established by SASCOC and SRSA. Its policies referred to a range of institutions that looked at a unified approach of looking after talented athletes and coaches in SA. Academies were aimed at giving support to athletes who had never been given opportunities to hone their talent.

The first academy to be established had been the Western Cape Sports Academy (WCSA), followed by six district academies as per the district demarcation in the Western Cape. The WCSA system looked after the other six district academies, and what happened at the district level was informed by what was happening at the provincial level, which in turn fitted in with SASCOC’s mandate.

For the 2017/18 financial year, the budget had grown from previous years. The four areas of expenditure were the training of coaches, athletes and support staff, the leasing of academies and equipment, athlete support programmes, which focused on a holistic approach, and remuneration for services.

Sport focus schools were focused on sport development as a core component. Those schools had now been taken over by sport academies. Key stakeholders of sport academies included federations, schools, clubs, sport councils, local municipalities, and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), which allowed sport academies to use some of their facilities.

Some of the challenges facing sport academies were their limited budget allocations, and poor nutrition of athletes. WCSA had entered into an agreement with Future Life to provide nutritional diets to athletes so that they could supplement their training with a good diet.

Talent identification occurred in three phases, in conjunction with federations. The first phase was the testing selection process, the second phase was the criteria which were informed by sport science specialists, and the third phase was development into the academy programme. The WCSA programme was informed by SASCOC.

WCSA had the responsibility of providing nutritional, psychological and medical support to teams competed outside the province. Not all athletes could form part of the academy system, because WCSA did not have the capacity. What it did was to identify athletes with potential and then outsource service providers such as the Sport Science Institute, or the Exercise and Training Academy.

Discussion

Ms Manana said that she appreciated the Provincial Sport Academy system for acknowledging their challenges, and asked if they worked together the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport

(SAIDS).

Ms Abrahams said that she wished Mr Naudé well in his position as President of the Provincial Sport Confederation. She had “Googled” and found that everything Mr Naudé had mentioned in his presentation was what he was currently doing, and commended him and asked that he share his secret with the other provincial confederations. She asked how many rural athletes were involved in academies.

Mr Ralegoma asked which organisations were not working with the Confederation with regard to school sport. He said he had a sense that the Academy was in line with the national department (SRSA), rather than with the provincial confederation.

Mr Mmusi said that programmes for those with disability should be emphasised and not just treated as a way of having them listed for budget allocations.

Sport Academy Response

The Sport Academy said it worked well with SAIDS. It had run workshops with them to educate athletes about the consequences of using banned substances.

Mr Naudé said he could not give a list of all the specific federations that could not get school sports aligned, and there were a myriad of complaints during meetings. He would provide all this information to the Committee once an audit had been conducted.

He had dealt with other provincial presidents enquiring how the Western Cape was successfully managing their Confederation. He said that it would be easier if each province had its own local community channel. Transformation needed to be measured from the ground up -- from the district level, and not from the national level.

Mr Naudé said that they were slowly winning the geopolitical battle, but acknowledged that they were facing challenges with clubs playing over municipal boundaries.

Mr Macwili said that LoveLife was involved in municipal programmes. At the hubs, groundbreakers facilitated some of the programmes that the province had. LoveLife was also involved in educating young people.

Dr Bouah said that the DCAS had a very strong relationship with disabled athletes. It provided funding to the disabled federation for the revamping of sport facilities for disabled athletes, and provided hygiene services so that athletes could shower on the premises once they had finished practicing. He said that most of the athletes who participated in the Paralympic Games came from the Western Cape.

Mr Ralegoma thanked the delegation for their presentations and said he hoped to see everything that had been presented being implemented on the ground when the Committee conducted its oversight visit.

The meeting was adjourned.

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