Sport and Recreation Committee Legacy Report

Sport, Arts and Culture

05 March 2019
Chairperson: Mr S Ralegoma (ANC) (Acting)
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Meeting Summary

The Committee met to discuss the Legacy Report covering the achievements during their tenure for the past five years of the Fifth Parliament.

The Committee Content Advisor led the Members through the report page by page whilst elaborating on some of the issues.  Members were given an opportunity to ask questions, present their views as well as assist with the corrections.

The importance of recreation as a component of sport was emphasised throughout the meeting. The Committee also agreed on the necessity of following up especially when in relation to vital partnerships. The issue of time management was also touched upon; however, the overall presentation and organisation of the report was commended.

Following the review and adoption of the report, the Committee worked on the adoption of the minutes.

Meeting report

Sports and Recreation Committee Legacy Report

The first few pages of the report dealt with the highlights and recommendations made by the previous portfolio committees that were achieved by the current Committee. This was followed by the key highlights and challenges faced by the Committee. Next, the report then went into detail about the entities reporting to the portfolio committee, the functions as well as the Members of the Committee. There was also a section on legislation and oversight trips undertaken. Finally, the report concluded with issues that need to be followed up in the 6th Parliament.

The Acting Chairperson thanked the Content Advisor for presenting the report to the Committee and emphasised how important it is for the Committee to hand it over to those who are incoming, so that they can use it as their foundation. He then asked the committee whether they wanted to interrogate the report, page by page or take comments.

The Acting Chairperson then invited Members to comment on the report.

Ms B Abrahams (ANC) firstly thanked the support staff for compiling a good legacy report but pointed out a minor grammatical error on the last page. She further suggested that a section on the improvement of the tracking system be included in the report as the Committee had not done well with implementing it. Therefore, it should be added to the report for the next committee to work on. She then raised a concern about the reporting on sporting events attendance. Not only did the report not mention all the sporting events that the Committee had attended, it often excluded the attendance of support staff. She highlighted the importance of mentioning the support staff’s attendance as it would encourage the incoming support staff to attend events as well. 

Mr S Mmusi (ANC) questioned the wording of the first two points in the report. He said the first point about administration did not make sense to him and could perhaps benefit from being reworded. The second point about the implementation of the National Sport and Recreation Plan (NSRP), although worded correctly, was vague about what exactly had been achieved; therefore he requested more clarity on that.

Concerning the matter about the NRSP, the Acting Chairperson agreed that it should not say “achieved” but rather “partially achieved” as it was never fully funded. He also indicated that it should be reported that the Committee dealt with the non-compliance of the South African Football Association (SAFA) on gender.

Mr Mmusi expressed concern about the lack of follow up, stating that there is a section about requesting funding however, the Committee seems to have not followed up on why the National Lotteries Commission (NLC), an important organisation for funding, did not attend last week’s meeting. This was also true for the international tours, as it seems no one followed up on the reasons why the committee was denied certain international tours.

The Acting Chairperson agreed that the issue of the NLC and other federations should be followed up as they no longer come to the sittings. However, he clarified that the NLC did apologise and asked to reschedule the meeting however, there was no longer any time to give them a new date. He also suggested that the Content Advisor note that the Committee is disappointed that they could not attend any tour be it in Africa or elsewhere.

The Acting Chairperson further commented on the lack of consistency when reporting on federations. He said the report should not only mention the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) but rather mention SASCOC and other federations such as Sports Trust and Love Life and state that they are all key stakeholders. Also, the report should give a background on where the federations originate from and which acts they were established under so that the new administration better understand what these federations do as well as the departments associated with them.

Both Mr Mmusi and Mr L Ntshayisa (AIC) spoke on the issue of recreation and how the Department needed to start focusing more on it. Mr Mmusi questioned what the Fifth Parliament had done about recreation; why is it written that recreation will be dealt with by the sixth parliament. Mr Ntshayisa on the other hand wanted to know what kind of jobs the Department can create when it comes to recreation.

The Acting Chairperson recommended that perhaps the report should not say there are no legislations in the Fifth Parliament about recreation but rather that there was not enough time to deal with it. He went on to elaborate on the issue of timing because although the Department went to eight provinces, the reports did not make it to the National Assembly. He emphasised the necessity of all reports being debated in the House so that there is a resolution and the report itself is given more weight.

Mr Mmusi requested that the Content Advisor expand more on the relationship between sports and the Fourth Industrial Revolution as it sounded very interesting.

The Content Advisor explained that the the Fourth Industrial Revolution is something we are currently experiencing and how sports will be involved should be an ongoing debate. However, he will send Mr Mmusi a page or two detailing the relationship between the two.

The Acting Chairperson requested that the Content Advisor work on the report so that next week it can be re-tabled and adopted.

Mr M Mabika (NFP) expressed his appreciation for the way in which the report had been done. He was okay with the report being re-tabled after being corrected however preferred that it be adopted with amendments today.

The Acting Chairperson agreed and asked the Content Advisor to send the report to Members once it had been corrected. He then asked for someone to move for the adoption.

The report was adopted with amendments.

Consideration and adoption of minutes

4 December 2018 meeting minutes

The Acting Chairperson took the Members through the documents, page by page.

The minutes were adopted.

12 February 2019 meeting minutes

The Acting Chairperson took the Members through the documents, page by page.

Ms Abrahams noted that the Chairperson did a press release in support of Caster Semenya on behalf of the Committee and that should be added.

The minutes were adopted with minor amendments.  

19 February 2019 meeting minutes

The Acting Chairperson took the Members through the documents, page by page.

Ms Abraham noted a minor grammatical error.

The minutes were adopted with minor amendments

26 February 2019 meeting minutes

The Acting Chairperson took the Members through the documents, page by page.

Mr T Mhlongo (DA) noted that minutes need to indicate that there were apologies from the Minister, Deputy Minister and NLC for their absences. 

The minutes were adopted with minor amendments

The Acting Chairperson thanked the Members but clarified that the Chairperson will call for a meeting to deal with today’s minutes. Therefore, he cannot say that the work of the Committee is done because the Chairperson is absent and there are still outstanding minutes.

The meeting was adjourned.

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