In 2009, there was also a 21- day period. The 21 days we had was to ensure as a country that we were ready to host the IPL cricket tournament. It took place amidst our election campaign, while India had their election, which they claimed posed a security threat. We know today that we successfully hosted that event in 21 days, and we had no incidents whatsoever.
Today, we are 21 days from the opening of the World Cup and our country is abuzz with excitement. Our media has dedicated programmes and space to showcase the build-up to the tournament. The private sector is fully behind all campaigns such as Football Friday, Fly the Flag, and the 2010 Countdown programme. We see South Africans united in hosting the best ever Fifa World Cup. In fact, we are united in our diversity.
We have no doubt that the socioeconomic impact of the Fifa 2010 World Cup will be felt long after the event. During the construction phase of our preparations, we were clear as government that low-income households should benefit from the infrastructure development programme.
We now know that more than 100 000 workers have been employed either directly or indirectly through the 2010 construction programme. We also know that many workers moved from being unskilled to semiskilled, and from being semiskilled to skilled. We now know that more women have entered the construction industry.
With the games being hosted in 10 venues, we were able to spread the benefit of this investment, reaching far and wide across society. It is to this end that the African Six Pack project requires strong support from all corners of our country and the rest of the African continent.
Each of the six African countries that participate in the tournament must treat each of the stadia as their home ground and feel at home. As South Africans, we must provide home-crowd support to our brothers and sisters in our quest to restore the dignity of our continent's people.
It is in this context that we have to caution those who are using the World Cup as a bargaining stick for benefits and service delivery. The vision should not be, "What is in it for me?". The attitude should rather be, "What is in it for our country and our continent, and what are the long- term prospects and benefits to us as Africans?" Ke Nako is not to introduce challenges. Ke Nako [Now is the time] is to celebrate Africa's humanity, it is to live the spirit of ubuntu for a better future for all.
Sport at the elite level, as well as at community level, is increasingly being used in a wide variety of ways to promote social cohesion, to prevent conflict, and to enhance peace within and among nations. In this regard, the UN General Assembly has adopted a series of resolutions on sport and development for peace. Although sport alone cannot prevent conflict or build peace, it can contribute to broader, more comprehensive efforts in a number of important ways. Sports equipment provides a positive and accessible alternative to the guns of internal conflict. As a strategic initiative, our department will carefully look at ways and means to use sport and recreation as a tool in promoting development and peace.
Our work with the UN goes beyond the programme of sport for peace and development. One other initiative in which we are working with them is the One Goal for co-operation on the Establishment of an African Fund for Education. The UN, through its office for drug control, Unicef and the International Organisation for Migration, IOM, has also been working closely with the office for sexual offences under the National Prosecuting Authority, NPA, on issues of human trafficking. This includes the Red Card campaign, which is aimed at discouraging foreign visitors from getting involved in activities that may get them into trouble when visiting the country.
In line with the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, the UN involved eight African artists, such as Hugh Masekela, to write a song entitled 8 Goals for Africa, authored and recorded by the eight artists. They each sing about a specific goal. We launched this project on 14 May in Alexandra. We did this mindful of the fact that the Fifa World Cup presents us with an ideal forum to globally renew our commitment to the MDGs. For the benefit of members, the song can be downloaded free from the website up to the end of the World Cup.
We are grateful for the support we are receiving from our partners, who give generously to enable us to better the lives of our people. The existing relationship between our department and German Technical Co- operation, GTZ, has been a good catalyst that has encouraged the EU to support our development programmes. Amongst the areas of agreement is capacity-building, developing a toolkit for sport as a catalyst for development and peace, and as skills in project management.
We have recently signed the implementation agreement on the Youth Development Through Sport programme with the GTZ. The project is in line with our mass participation programme and supports three of our key strategic objectives: to contribute to a healthy nation by increasing the number of participants; to raise the profile of sport and recreation through addressing issues of national importance; and to contribute to making the 2010 Fifa World Cup the best ever.
The programme will take physical activity to poor, disadvantaged communities across South Africa and will help to promote both ownership of and leadership in beneficiary communities. The empowering of youth in rural areas will, without doubt, contribute positively towards the improvement of school sport, which is in most cases still being dominated by urban schools. Another partner with whom we directly impact on grass-roots sport through the Youth Development against Violence through Sport programme, is KfW, the German development bank. The overall objective of this programme is to use sport, specifically football, as a catalyst for transmitting life skills to children and youth in order to reduce violence and social ills. Children get off the streets, learn about rules and fair play and practice conflict resolution without violence.
Within the framework of the programme, it is envisaged to construct or rehabilitate over 100 kick-abouts - modified small-sized pitches that could be used for various codes - and full-sized pitches, as well as to provide basic football equipment to children in townships and poor rural areas of our country. At the request of the municipalities and communities, the kick- abouts and pitches can also be designed as multipurpose sites for various sporting codes.
In addition, the concept of the programme foresees the involvement of NGOs and other development partners to provide training and educational activities for the children who participate in the programmes. The training will cover, among other things, life skills, specifically with regard to violence prevention and conflict resolution, and also HIV and Aids.
The Minister spoke about and named the seven areas that will benefit from fast-tracking the erection of some of these facilities. We will see that this is done before the kick-off of the World Cup.
Let me to inform the House that we have also conducted a legacy audit of whatever we will have after the World Cup. This audit should be completed by the end of August this year and will inform us on the broad spectrum of all the initiatives taken so that we, as a country, can be informed and, as a department, be able to direct what we want to leverage for a better legacy for our people.
The hon Minister also referred to our agreement with Cuba, where we have students graduating. May I urge the provincial departments to ensure that we employ these students when they come home on leave and ensure we employ them once they have graduated.
The Minister also deliberated on lottery funds. Let me stress that we are absolutely excited that the National Lotteries Board, the Minister and the chairperson there share our vision. Therefore, in this regard, we must also support them as they try to bring the Lotteries Act onto the right track. We must encourage them to introduce required amendments so that the sport distribution agency of the Lotteries Act falls under Sport and Recreation South Africa, SRSA, where we believe it rightly belongs.
We unpacked the municipal infrastructure grant, MIG. Our fight to access the sport and recreation portion of MIG seems far from over. The stark reality presented by the delivery records of our Building for Sport and Recreation Programme, BSRP, which was our programme in the department, in comparison to those of the consolidated MIG, motivates us to continue the debate which will see SRSA receiving our share of the MIG funds.
For the record, since the inception of the MIG in 2005 until the end of March 2010 - I'm talking five financial years - a total of 155 sport and recreation facilities were completed, compared to 364 projects implemented over only four years under our BSRP.
This, in essence, means that the MIG projects over five financial years represent only 43% of what we did in four years with our BSRP. We are not willing to give up this fight, even if it makes us a lot of enemies.
Our concern is also that sport and recreation facilities projects in the top-spending provinces are concentrated in the bigger municipalities. The cumulative amount committed to sport and recreation facilities projects from 2005 until the end of March 2010, is R2,6 billion. This relates to projects that are either completed, under construction, being designed, on tender or have been registered.
The highest share of this amount goes to Gauteng at 40%, and the lowest to the Northern Cape at 2%. KwaZulu-Natal, for example, spends R482 million on 105 projects while Gauteng spends more than double that amount on only 68 projects. The implication is that while some provinces are for wider reach and accessibility, others are for big projects such as stadia, which may not necessarily be easily accessible to grass-roots sport.
I want the hon Faber from the DA to listen now. The 2008-09 annual report shows a significant decline in the number of audit queries - in fact we only have one - and a reduction in qualified reports from three to one, compared to the previous financial year. In our determination to further improve the internal control environment, a risk management policy was approved. A risk committee became operational, introducing in the department a new vibrancy with regard to the identification, assessment and mitigation of identified risks.
We have come a long way since the staff of the department amalgamated with the staff of the SA Sports Commission and it is time that we examine how we are organised as a department. We are about to commence with the public participation process to review the White Paper. This must culminate in a national sports plan. All sectors must buy into the plan and commit to the strategic direction that will emerge from this process. To gear the department to respond to these developments, we have started a parallel process to develop a functional organisational structure.
We must admit that the previous structure did not sufficiently take into account the mandate and specific functions of the national department. We envisage that the process will be followed by job evaluation, competency assessment and, where needed, the retraining of staff. Let me assure staff that we do not anticipate that any staff member will become redundant. These processes are necessary to ensure better results and outcomes for our sport and recreation sector.
In conclusion, I wish to place on record the ground-breaking work done by Minister Stofile in international bodies such as the World Anti-Doping Agency, Wada. After five long years, during which he served as a board member, South Africa will now be succeeded for one year by Tunisia.
No doubt, we can be proud of the contributions and the role played by Minister Stofile at this level. We also know that he will use the extra time to take up responsibilities in the Southern African Development Community, SADC, and the African Union, AU. These are leadership roles we have to play for the benefit of our region and continent.
I wish to thank the following entities for their support and co-operation: the select committee, MECs, leaders in the sports movement, NGOs and the media. A big thank you also goes to our managers, staff and administrators, who are the foot soldiers and implementers. Working together, we can do more. Ke Nako! Let us celebrate Africa's humanity. I thank you. [Applause.]
Ms W G THUSI (Kwazulu-Natal): Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Ministers, my colleagues, MECs and hon members of the Council, thank you, Chairperson, for inviting us as KwaZulu-Natal to come and contribute to the budget debate.
I wish to start by thanking the Minister and congratulating him on the informative report he gave us this afternoon. I'm sure that the cynics know that South Africa is ready for 2010. Indeed, Minister, the provinces are ready. You have seen the iconic Moses Mabhida Stadium and our beautiful King Shaka International Airport. We are really ready as KwaZulu-Natal.
The KwaZulu-Natal department of sport and recreation has placed a greater emphasis on sport development and recreation programmes in disadvantaged and rural communities, and on programmes aimed at creating more opportunities for the youth, women and people with disabilities.
Programmes are aimed at fostering strong partnerships between government departments, nongovernmental organisations, sports federations and community organisations. The department remains committed to supporting the development of a sustainable and diverse sport and recreation system in KwaZulu-Natal, one that encourages participation, develops talent, and contributes to the health and wellbeing of individuals and groups throughout the province.
The department is committed to the attainment of priorities outlined in the new government's programme of action. In KwaZulu-Natal we have begun a process of co-ordination, joint planning and implementation initiatives with other provincial government departments.
The department is committed to the provincial flagship programme that is responsible for the co-ordination and integration of service delivery across the spheres of government and social partners. The campaign is aimed at profiling wards and then households and identifies their needs.
I will quickly inform the Council about the achievements of our department in 2009 and 2010 and what we are doing in this current financial year. The department created 1 770 jobs in the mass participation programme and targeted unemployed youth. The department's development programme has focused on sustainable development and capacity-building programmes conducted with sports federations. The programme is aimed at increasing the skill levels of coaches, administrators, volunteers, technical officials and referees.
To date, the department has capacitated 4 069 individuals. In spite of its limited budget, the department of sport and recreation has delivered 22 sports facilities in 2009-10 to mostly disadvantaged communities in the deep rural areas.
The total investment in facilities over this period amounted to R22 million. Four sports facilities were renovated over this period with an additional two carried over to 2010-11. Combination courts were completed with 12 carried over and a total of 12 futsal courts with a budget spend of R1,6 million were completed.
The department will invest in 71 sports facilities in this financial year, ranging from the development, upgrade and repair of sports fields, combination courts, and futsal courts to kick-abouts, as well as legacy parks in disadvantaged and rural communities. The department has set aside R36 million from its facilities programme and a further R7,7 million from the Fifa 2010 World Cup budget towards the development of facilities, including combination courts providing for netball, basketball and volleyball.
In addition to the provision and development of facilities, we will be investing in the provision of gym equipment to four municipalities.
The sustainability of facilities that have been erected and developed at considerable cost has proven to be an insurmountable challenge for the department. The provision of maintenance equipment and maintenance support grants to identified municipalities is expected to go a long way towards eradicating these challenges and ensuring that communities make maximum use of these facilities.
The mass school sport programme was successfully delivered to 645 schools and focused on the promotion and development of sports amongst learners. A total of 262 338 learners benefited from this programme. The community mass participation programme seeks to address the modern daily ills facing communities and reduce the levels of poverty by employing youth aged 18 to 35 years. The number of activity hubs to implement this programme rose to 106 and were located in 61 local municipalities throughout KwaZulu-Natal. Over one million people in mostly rural communities were exposed to the programme.
A total of 40 new clubs were formed in the club development programme bringing to 169 the cumulative number of clubs formed. The club development programme focuses in the promotion and development of clubs in previously disadvantaged communities with priority given to rural areas.
In preparation for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, the department has invested heavily in the development of football in partnership with each of the 11 South African Football Association, Safa, regions. A total number of 7 000 players, out of an annual target of 5 000, have benefited from being involved in sustained leagues.
A total of 172 high-performance athletes, out of a target of 60, benefited from intensive coaching and specialised training programmes. A total of 120 Safa level-one coaches have been trained in the province with these coaches being identified by the Safa regions.
Successful mass mobilisation campaigns have been held in Marburg, Gamalakhe, Esikhawini, Ezakheni and at the Qokololo Stadium in Imbali. Mass mobilisation events in Nkandla and Enseleni, in partnership with Sport and Recreation South Africa, SRSA, also included a public viewing of Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates; so, we are really taking the 2010 World Cup fever to the rural areas.
The department successfully hosted, on behalf of SRSA, the South African Schools Winter Games and the National Indigenous Games at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Recreation programmes targeting an active and healthy lifestyle have benefited more than 360 people across the province. Mostly rural communities were targeted.
In the mass participation programme, the following individual successes are worth a mention: A head teacher, three educators and 10 learners from Inyakanyaka High School, Nkandla, have been invited to the United Kingdom as part of a UK Link programme funded by St Mary's School in Leeds.
Sihle Mngomezulu from the Manyiseni cluster has used his volunteer's stipend to pay for his studies in sport management. He is in his third year of studies at Varsity College and we will definitely give him a post to work with us in the department.
Bongiwe Msomi, an MSP assistant from Emaxulwini Primary School in Mpumalanga, represented South Africa in the under-21 Netball World Cup in Iceland.
Nontobeko Mabizela from Inyanyezi special school represented South Africa in the International Cross-Country Championships in Hungary, where she won two silver medals and one bronze medal.
A success story in recreation worth mentioning is that of Nkululeko Kunene, who was identified in the Rural Horse Riding Programme as a horseman, pro- driver and farrier in harness racing. In partnership with the Harness Racing Association, the department succeeded in sending him to Sweden, where he trained and qualified with professional trainer Johan Nilsson. Now he is an accomplished driver and farrier, and his skills will be extremely valuable to both his community and the equine industry.
The focus areas for the 2010-11 mass school sport programme will target 645 schools. By the end of the year, this programme is expected to reach 250 learners. Some 95% of the learners are females and 1 200 of them are learners with disabilities. The success of the mass school sport programme, funded through the Division of Revenue, Dora, grant, has increased participation in sport and has developed sports champions.
Many learners from the schools in the programme are now representing their provinces in the schools national championship. This calls for stakeholders in sport to work together to intensify the development of sport at local delivery points such as schools, clubs and communities and sports academies and high-performance centres in the province to deliver support to learners who display talent. Hon Minister, we are busy holding talks with the department of education with regard to a co-ordination structure. We will take lessons from the Free State.
To address government's call for creating healthy and sustainable communities, the department will focus on delivering on the Community Mass Participation and Recreation Programme. The department's recreation programme with a budget of R8,7 million will be delivered in seven key ongoing, recreation programmes.
Among other things, the key programmes are Recre-Hab, an active rehabilitation programme for prisoners and street children; active seniors delivering innovative programmes aimed at ...Oh, my time has expired. Thank you.
I wish to say to Bafana Bafana that this is your opportunity; take it! [Applause.] [Time expired.]