Order, order! [Laughter.] Chairperson, that is what a general does!
Hon Minister and Deputy Minister, hon members and honoured guests, in my three minute allocation, I would like to start by saying that the UDM supports Budget Vote No 20. I agree with my colleagues: Roaming the streets of South Africa are talented young stars who have failed to reach their true potential owing to the unavailability of the basic sports facilities required to harness their talent.
We have been following the positive statements made by the hon Minister about the department's plans to improve sport in general. However, your predecessors also made similar promises in the past, but later came back to this House complaining about the inadequate budget allocation for the needs of the department. So, we wish you all the best. In some cases, where money had been spent to develop or improve basic sport facilities, some of the facilities have either been left incomplete, or are unused or vandalised.
The truth of the matter is that this department has, for a long time, been struggling because of a severe lack of leadership. This lack of leadership caused the portfolio committee to feel that, at times, it was doing the department's work, where it had to intervene in the problems faced by the different sports codes. The department should be the one that seeks proactively to address the challenges faced by different sports codes, rather than shifting the responsibility to Parliament.
An efficient department would allow Parliament to play its oversight role by holding the department accountable about the operations of the different sports codes around their administrative and financial management issues. Expecting this House to intervene in instances where sports codes are instituting internal disciplinary actions against their members trivialises the role of Parliament. Hon Minister, please take control of your department!
Finally, the UDM wishes to express its disappointment about the poor performance of the Proteas in the recent International Cricket World Cup, where players failed to chase a small target. The leadership of the team twiddled its thumbs while the players showed a lack of discipline by attempting to dispatch every ball to the boundaries. Such occurrences make one inclined to believe the theories about the pervasive influence of bookmakers in cricket. I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]