Hon Minister, I see that they have given you three more minutes to make it eight minutes. I call upon the hon Minister to respond.
Hon Chairperson, you are giving me eight minutes, but they are putting the time on seven minutes.
I want to acknowledge the presence of the president of the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee, Sascoc, Mr Gideon Sam, and the evergreen rugby coach, Mr Peter de Villiers. He said: "There is no appeal for stupidity." [Laughter.] I want to acknowledge the CEO of Sascoc, Mr Tubby Reddy; the CEOs and presidents of various federations; the project manager of GIZ, Mr Gerald Guskowski; Makhaya Ntini and other athletes and players of cricket, netball, hockey, boxing, wrestling, canoeing, jukskei, etc; the CEO of the SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport, Saids; the CEO of Boxing South Africa, Mr Mtya; and the African representative of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Wada, Mr Rodney Swigelaar.
I also acknowledge sports coaches and administrators; the business sector; the MECs of North West and Limpopo; provincial sports representatives; the media; the victorious University of Cape Town, also known as the Ikeys, who have just won the Varsity Cup; representatives of Ajax and Cape Town Santos; and representatives of Swimming South Africa.
Hon J J van der Linde, thank you for reading my mind. School sport is our daily bread and we will not rest until the problems are resolved. We are taking the following measures: We are finalising school sport delivery frameworks and will launch the programme in May.
Unlike other Ministers, we apply what the philosopher says: Others have theorised about the world, our responsibility is to change it. If other people have theorised about school sport, our responsibility is to implement it and that is what we are going to do. We will work with all the stakeholders. We have already met with the Department of Sport and Recreation and we will sign agreements with federations. We want school sport to be played in every school on every Wednesday and every Saturday. This is what we want and we shall be walking the talk.
In many ways, you will understand the structural problems in the economy that we have: We have no fee schools and well-off schools. All of us who are seated here as middle class, as black capitalists or as the bourgeoisie, will know that in the advanced, elite schools that our children attend, sport is not negotiable. We pay for it. If your child was dull and did not do anything before, once he attends the elite school, he will come to you and say that he is doing karate at school because it is compulsory. Finish and "klaar". No negotiation.
However, in no fee schools, we don't have facilities and we don't have dedicated teachers to do this. That is why, in terms of development, we have a problem in this country. If you have African players in cricket or rugby, all of them come from the elite schools, because we pay for that. If it was not for Steve Tshwete, Makhaya Ntini would never have been in the cricket side today. [Applause.]
I am saying, in remembrance of Steve Tshwete, in dedication to our sport and the advancement of transformation, in respect of the national cricket side of this country for the next Cricket World Cup, it must not only be Lonwabo Tsotsobe, the only African player on the national side - there must be more of them in the team. [Applause.] So, we are saying to the federations: When we go to the indaba, let's all have a dialogue in this country. The problem is not with the players; the problem is with us, the administrators and the people who are supposed to implement a development plan in this country. [Applause.]
People are not willing. All they do, once you put them in positions, is to hire their first girlfriend as a personal assistant. Then they are fine and thereafter they fight about the budget and the resources. What about transformation?
When we select a lily-white side for any other competition, they blame those players. It is a reflection of our work. When we blame the players, you forget about the administrators. What did they do all the time? Why do we have a lily-white side when the majority of South Africa's 48 million people are Africans and when there are black people in this country who play all sorts of sports? Why do we have a lily-white side? It is because we, who have been entrusted with the responsibility to lead, are not leading.
That is why I defended this cricket team. I know that this cricket team has done its best to achieve the best for this country. [Applause.] It is easy for all who were not there, to criticise. It is easy to criticise when you were not in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. We beat India in their backyard - we defeated them convincingly. We defeated Bangladesh. That is why they were against us, as if we were playing against them, when we were beaten by New Zealand. We only surprised ourselves. We could have won.
I was with the cricket team and I was crying with them. I encouraged them and I lost with them. I saw their determination and the love for their country. When they lost, I saw them in the dressing room. I saw them when they lost and I saw that they are patriots. That is the only reason why I stuck with the team.
The weaknesses of that team are our common responsibility. Peasants, politicians, bureaucrats, come to the indaba with all your thoughts. Give us the national sports plan for South Africa. Australia was in our position, England was in our position: South Africa can survive. We are a winning nation. We are spoilt because we have won the Rugby World Cup twice. We have hosted the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup. It is has been played here. Many nations who play football have never hosted the World Cup. We have hosted the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup. Thank you to Nelson Mandela and freedom. [Applause.]
In the last minutes, I just want to say that we have many challenges in sport, and I am inviting everybody to come to the party. There is agreement on the lottery. It must be redefined. We will deal with the question of interest, the board, and the legislation, as well as the question of talking with the Minister.
On the issue of loveLife, unfortunately you may think that the money should not go there, but these decisions were taken previously by the Treasury. We have said that our competency is sports and to implement sports in this country, and nobody can do that on our behalf. I agree absolutely with hon members - you have read my mind - that the money that goes to loveLife should go to the federations. I agree with you in that regard. Finish and "klaar"! [Applause.] We want your support with regard to that.
These federations must deliver development facilities. School sport is not negotiable. Even in advanced countries such as England, when people have actually failed, the only thing that made parents toyi-toyi against cutbacks was the cutting back of school sport. I think we are one in that regard. I am saying to the hon Holomisa that he must not give up. We must continue to build a case for sport in this country.
Today when we talk about sport we have the same budget as the Police and Defence. What is our interest? We want money to go to Defence and the Police because it is our priority. Crime is a problem. At the same time we say no, these things are interconnected. If we win the war with regard to our social responsibility through sport, we are reducing crime and at the same time we don't need an expanded Defence Force. Sport is the way to go. Let's build a winning nation and build social cohesion. We have proven it in the past. Forward ever, backward never. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
When you said that the first thing people do in positions is to hire a girlfriend, I saw you glancing my way and I thought, I have not hired a girlfriend.
Debate concluded.