Chairperson, cabinet colleagues, former Minister Dr Ben Ngubane, Members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen: I want to apologise for my late arrival because of reasons beyond our control. It was not intentional; I've always been on time for the Budget Vote on Police. Today, when we were coming here, we experienced mechanical problems with our car which held us up, as well as heavy traffic. As you can see, I'm optimal in terms of attending this session. With due respect to all members, there was no intention to undermine the House.
Today, we have the singular honour of presenting this Budget Vote No 20 of the Department of Sport and Recreation in the presence of sport administrators, coaches and the crown jewel of our country, the players themselves. We salute all and welcome the personalities and luminaries present here in the gallery for gracing this occasion with their presence.
Chairperson, allow me to pay tribute to the late Director-General of Sport and Recreation, Mr Vernie Petersen, whose untimely death robbed us of a dedicated, committed and experienced public servant. As we thrust ahead towards the centenary of the ANC in 2012, reflections on the long road traversed occupy our daily thoughts. It is palpable that those vistas give way to lessons learned and the long road that still lies ahead of us in achieving a better life for all, an inclusive economy and intersocial cohesion. Our zeal for common purpose, our zing for optimal excellence, and our zip for unity of purpose push us ahead and energise us to wake up every morning to do more for a better life for all our people.
Chairperson, allow me at this first Budget Vote after the successful hosting of the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup to pay homage to the extraordinary willpower, fortitude and unity of purpose which was demonstrated by our people, united by the common desire to assail. It opened a window on South Africa and Africa that made the world see us with fresh eyes for the first time. They found in Africa and South Africa a peaceful people, a working infrastructure, spectacular natural scenery, world-class facilities, a vibrant culture, first-class accommodation and a soulful connection with humanity - a celebration of an outstanding African success story.
This excellence resonate the values and virtues of our renewed vision of the Department of Sport and Recreation. This fundamental shift in paradigm is anchored in our overarching strategy, our new road map for optimal performance. This road map, our vision which was developed together with the federations and provincial departments, seeks to reposition our functional efficiencies, accelerate service delivery, enhance organisational excellence, and inject new performance energy.
As you would notice, contrary to ordinary trends, what we present before you is a budget characterised by shrinkage from a staggering R1,225 billion in 2010-11 to R802 million in the 2011-12 financial year. On aggregate, in the 2007-08 financial year it stood at R5 billion, and today it stands at R802 million - an annualised decrease of about 40%.
Of course, the downswing can be attributed to the prior years' budget for the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup. However, maintaining and managing the legacy created, which includes the repositioning of the department, demands in real terms increased expenditure, and not the opposite.
Our budget structure reflects absolute resonance with our strategic priorities in our strategic planning document, as presented to Parliament. The bulk of our budget still goes to mass participation, which seeks to unlock the value of school and community sport.
Our country is still witnessing a sporting environment where there is a skewed picture of sporting facilities and opportunities. It is the responsibility of this government fundamentally to change the status quo and to ensure that South Africa's national teams and amenities are a true reflection of South Africa's population. At the same time, we call upon Parliament and the people of the Republic of South Africa to join hands with us in our campaign to provide a fresh perspective and impetus on transformation, a perspective that posits equality, unity, access and excellence at the centre of our national discourse.
We want to achieve inclusivity and consensus on what each federation or club's contribution is or will be towards the realisation of the priorities of national objectives. In order to ensure that our actions are focused and directed, the department together with the stakeholders have started a process of drawing up a transformation charter which will apply to all sports organisations. The transformation charter will be a product of extensive and wide-ranging consultation and robust debate.
We are finalising a collaborating pact with the Department of Basic Education as our immediate task of reviving school sport, particularly in rural areas and townships. We believe the future of the South African youth lies in positioning schools as incubators and nurseries for talented and professional sportspersons.
One of our football luminaries, Dr Steve Mokone, known as "Kalamazoo", who is the first black professional football player in South Africa, modern England and the Netherlands, wrote to commend us on our programme to prioritise school sports codes. He writes, and I quote: Such an aggressive push is long overdue. Not only will such a development help in improving the standard of play in the different sports, it will also assist in promoting the health of our youth.
We are also grateful for the initiative of the Premier Soccer League, the PSL, and Supersport in the school sport programme. The PSL and Supersport together with Sport and Recreation South Africa, the SRSA, will be launching a tailored programme of twinning schools with PSL teams. The project will be launched in May to coincide with the launch of the school sport programme.
We are partnering with the SA Rugby Union to revive rugby on a national scale. We also want to take this opportunity to congratulate the University of Cape Town team for winning the Rugby Varsity Cup. Accordingly, we salute the Rugby Sevens as a strategic platform for development, and their sterling performance of winning no fewer than two World Cup series.
By the same token, we wish to congratulate Zanele Situ from Mthatha who won the gold medal in javelin in the Paralympics in Sydney as a disabled person in a wheelchair.
Our collaboration with the Congress of Traditional Leaders, Contralesa, is beginning to yield results. Together with Contralesa, we have identified rural communities where we will be directing our mass participation programme initiative on a national scale. The department will be launching one such programme in Mqanduli in the Eastern Cape over the Easter holidays.
Equally, we are working with Sascoc to carry out the responsibility of building a boxing multipurpose centre in Mdantsane, the mecca of boxing in South Africa.
The glaring absence of sport and recreation facilities in our schools and communities can no longer be tolerated, and 16 years into our democracy, we have to break this dreadful infrastructure backlog, particularly in disadvantaged communities. To address this anomaly, we are engaged with the Department of Human Settlements and the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs to ensure the seamless roll-out of school and community sport and recreation facilities.
Recreation remains an epicentre to cultural identity, community development and social integration. We will be lifting and escalating and raising the focus on this functional area. In the same vein, we will also be streamlining recreational associations and appointing a ministerial advisory committee to advise and assist in detailed conceptualisation of this field.
The advancement of sport and recreation development in our country does not only rely on public funding, but also on various stakeholders, including nongovernmental entities and foreign donor funding. Inspired by this reality, Sport and Recreation South Africa continues to maintain and strengthen its relations with the European Union and the German government.
As a result of these relations, during the next financial year, we will receive a total amount of more than E6,4 million, which will be allocated to three areas, as follows.
Firstly, a total amount of E1,6 million is allocated for youth development through football earmarked strictly for South Africa. Secondly, a total amount of E330 000 is allocated for youth development through football earmarked for the rest of Africa. Lastly, an amount of E1,5 million is allocated for Youth Development Against Violence through Sport.
We are escalating our campaign to mobilise more resources from the private sector and the international donor community to support our fledgling youth camps programme and talent development programmes.
Achieving and unlocking the value and potential of our mandate and priorities demand that the baseline allocation to the Department of Sport and Recreation be increased and augmented in the immediate future, and we will be engaging National Treasury in this regard. We view this proposition with the outmost importance.
In our brief time in office we have engaged with most of the federations, and we will continue these engagements with others we have not met.
We must state unambiguously that we are not going to allow the Ministry to be turned into a fire-fighting brigade by individuals within the federations who have no national interest or pride. We are guided by principles of transparency, fairness and good corporate governance. We will work, as we do, with any organisation or individual that stands by these principles. Federations must get their houses in order, and we will continue supporting them with every possible resource we have at our disposal.
Federations and individuals are cautioned to desist from binding themselves and committing to hosting major events before getting Sascoc and government approval. Procedures, guidelines and rules on bidding must be followed. Those who do not comply with these prescripts will have to face the consequences.
We owe it to all South Africans to ensure that the R800 million allocated by Fifa to the Fifa Legacy Trust is utilised for sport development, especially in rural areas and townships. We have appointed the most senior official from our department to ensure that we achieve this objective and that there is transparency and accountability to the nation and government on the disbursement and utilisation of the funds. We have just completed a report on the social cohesion and nation-building impact of the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup. The findings indeed confirm that the World Cup notched up and had a significant positive impact on social cohesion and nationhood, social integration and sustainable livelihoods. We will be requesting the Speaker of the National Assembly to allow a debate on the lessons drawn from this report.
To this end, as we announced earlier on, we shall stage a football extravaganza between the world champions, Spain and Africa XI, in July 2011. This football extravaganza is organised in all humility to thank the people of Africa and all fellow patriots who were involved in this event of local and international significance.
Allow me once again to bring to us and the broader South African populace our collective memory of those who died at Ellis Park on 11 April 2001. Ten years on, we should bow our heads and remember those 43 people who came to watch a great game and were met with this unfortunate event. Let their memory never fade. Sport and Recreation South Africa has formulated guidelines on the safe hosting of these events, and the Safety at Sports and Recreational Events Act was promulgated in August 2010.
I am happy to announce that the updated White Paper on Sport and Recreation has been finalised. The purpose of this White Paper is to pronounce on government's policy regarding sport and recreation in South Africa.
As we all know, there is a significant need for a revised central and unified sport and recreation policy framework, encompassing new initiatives and co-operation within a wider network of role-players.
The year 2011 has been, and will be, another exciting year of international sporting events for Team South Africa. The national netball team will be travelling to Singapore to participate in the international championships in July. We must continue in the spirit of Magnificent Friday to support Amantombazana during their quest to lift the trophy and make us proud.
The mighty Springboks will travel to New Zealand to defend their 2007 World Cup title. With the good mix of new youthful talent and experience in the Springbok team, I am confident that if they stick to the structure that brought them success against England in 2007, they have all the potential to reach the semifinals and finals, and triumph.
Banyana banyana, the national women's football team, are two victories away from qualifying for the Olympic Games in London in 2012.
The All Africa Games will take place in September 2011 in Mozambique.
South Africa is on the road to the London Olympic Games in 2012 and we will triumph.
We will continue working with Sascoc for the successful hosting of the 123rd International Olympic Committee General Assembly Session in Durban from 1 to 9 July 2011. This event will also be an opportunity to put South Africa and our perspective on the world map in areas of sport development, and will be attended by several heads of state, royal families, sport personalities and administrators from around the world. This will further be an opportunity for the three cities bidding to host the 2018 Winter Games to present their bids to the International Olympic Committee, the IOC. The winning city will be announced via a live broadcast during the conference.
These major events contributed tremendously to the economic output of our country. Sport economy, as a matter of fact, contributes enormously to the country's gross domestic product, and continues to grow, with downstream employment creation, entrepreneurship and economic integration.
We will continue to turn around the operational mode on how we conduct our business as a department and portfolio of sport and recreation, and to realign our outputs to our strategic national outcomes. This we do, fully aware that it will be a long, arduous struggle which will require vision, determination and commitment. It is incumbent upon us to work in unison, to construct a social compact with all stakeholders that will harness our collective resolve, underpinned by our shared values and common vision. As the Japanese proverb goes, and I quote:
A vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.
Hon members, finally, I would like to thank the Deputy Minister, Mr Gert Oosthuizen, the acting Director-General, Ms Sumaya Khan, and all those senior managers who ensure that the grinding mill produces the products and supply. To the department I say: We must always remember our central drive of this year of action, making government work faster, harder and smarter, with less hindrance - and I am not quoting a bank slogan.
I thank the Portfolio Committee on Sport and Recreation and Mr Butana Komphela for his leadership in the portfolio committee, and we look forward to the committee's continued constructive oversight role. I thank the staff in the Ministry for their commitment and support and going beyond the call of duty for the Ministry to stay ahead of the game. Last but not least, I thank my beloved wife and my two daughters for their undying support and understanding of my ever busy schedule. We are combat-ready to join all South Africans in the battle trenches for a nonracial, nonsexist, democratic, accessible, integrated and united sport and recreation system in 2011 and beyond.
I also want to congratulate Mr Charl Schwartzel for winning the Masters Golf tournament in the United States of America. [Applause.]
Hon members, we therefore present to the House Budget Vote No 20, the Budget Vote of the Department of Sport and Recreation. I thank you very much and once more apologise for arriving late. [Applause.]