Committee Report on KwaZulu-Natal oversight visit

Meeting report

Committee Report on Oversight Visit to Kwazulu-Natal

Mr Teboho Thebehae, Content Adviser, took the Committee through the report.

Discussion and Recommendation

Mr P Moteka (EFF) said the report did not incorporate a point made by UNICEF, which was the issue of sports focus schools. UNICEF made it clear that sports focus schools did not help physically disadvantaged persons but rather prolonged it and that did not speak well in terms of transformation. Also the report missed the information by the Department of Sports and Recreation KZN that the Committee would have the report of the facility counting before it left KZN. The draft report of the committee oversight visit stated only one learner was placed at the PMB Girls High school through the Ministerial Bursary Programme, whereas it should read only one girl was placed and that she had applied for the bursary herself.

Mr Moteka said more information should be added to the findings of the committee on Club development:

• That the provincial development misled the committee by taking them to the wrong school and this led to misuse of public funds.
• That grass root coaches were not taken care of despite producing stars. They remained poor.

On recommendations he added that

• The Minister must deal with the provincial department and municipality for taking the Committee to a wrong institution thereby wasting public funds.
• The Minister should remunerate grass root coaches.

Ms D Manana (ANC) corrected the spelling of Siyadlala and Entheleni. She said that the issue of FIFA legacy facility being built on private land must be taken as a matter of urgency and intervention of the Provincial COGTA was needed.

Mr M Mabika (NFP) said the Department of Sports and Recreation KZN were lagging and need assistance having taken the Committee to a wrong school. Emphasis should be made on the importance of hubs and termination of facilitators’ contract. The Umhlathuze Municipality briefing said the state of facilities was inadequate, whereas there was nothing there at all let alone inadequate. The Sports Council must be looked into, as there seemed to be a problem in that area.

Mr M Malatsi (DA) said the word ‘encourage’ in the recommendation was too soft and should be changed to a stronger word like ‘require’ or ‘must’. Lease agreements for municipal facilities should be addressed as some were overcharged and others undercharged.

The Chairperson said it was not a waste of public funds but an opportunity for the Committee to discover what was going wrong in some areas. The Committee would not have discovered that the MOU was not signed in the school if it were not there.

Mr S Ralegoma (ANC) said care must be taken on how the recommendation was formulated.

Mr Moteka reiterated that the Committee was misled, as the Department was not honest.

Mr Mabika said that was the reason why the Department of Sports and Recreation KZN should be assisted, as they seemed to be ignorant of administrative processes.

Mr LM Ntshayisa said it was not wasteful expenditure.

Mr Malatsi said the Department misled the Committee and it must be painted the way it was.

Mr Moteka said the Minister should assist them.

Mr Malatsi said the Provincial Department lacked clear understanding of some administrative processes required in some programmes.

Mr D Bergman (DA) said he could not comment, as he was not there.

Mr Thebehae said the Committee went there and discovered the wrong. It was not possible for all coaches in community clubs to be paid by the Provincial Government. The Minister did not employ the coaches; he could not be made to pay them. The Federation used the community clubs and benefited from the stars produced.

Mr Moteka thanked Mr Thebehae and the Chairperson for the explanation but stated that it must be put in the report for the Minister to see the problem experienced by coaches.

Mr Ralegoma said that the Federation must be engaged since they benefited from the stars. The Federation must be questioned on why the coaches were not taken care of.

Mr Mabika said that the coach who complained belonged to hubs and hubs are government programmes. The future of the hubs looked uncertain, as the facilitators were uncertain of their fate when their contract ended in October. Government should support hubs and not coaches.

Mr Malatsi said the technical support responsible for training and developing these talents must be taken care of.

The Chairperson said the recommendation must be well couched, as the Minister could not be told that he ‘must’ or ‘should’ do a thing. The relevant organisation would be engaged.

Mr Moteka said he meant the coaches in the hubs and agreed to the suggestion of meeting with the Federation.

Mr Thebehae said it seemed only the coaches in KZN hubs raised this concern.

Mr Mabika disagreed and said it was affecting all the hubs especially the short-term contract of Facilitators.

Mr Moteka said the main aim of raising this issue was to add value to the lives of coaches. The people at the hubs expressed concern of not knowing their fate at the end of October. The hub issue should be reflected in the recommendation.

Mr Malatsi said this issue was common in other provinces.

Mr Thebehae said that the recommendation would reflect the existence of this problem and the Minister should assist.

Members agreed to that.

Ms Manana said that the issue of terminating short-term contracts started since 2011, as government wanted a permanent contract. In her opinion government was strategising.

Adoption of Minutes

Committee Minutes dated 20 October 2015
The Chairperson tabled the document for consideration.

The minutes were approved with no changes.

Committee Minutes dated 27 October 2015

The Chairperson tabled the document for consideration.

Mr Malatsi corrected the spelling of million.

The Chairperson said the DG had highlighted some points, especially his struggle to interact with National Treasury and other Departments. This point was not included in the minutes but should be inserted. The minutes were adopted with that insertion.

Matters arising

Mr Malatsi suggested that the South African Rugby Union (SARU) be invited to the Committee for feedback.

The chairperson said that since the Committee saw them before they left it would be a good idea to call them back for feedback. The Committee represented the public.
 

The meeting was adjourned.