Deputy Chairperson, it is indeed a very important day today. If we look at the coat of arms of our country, which is translated in our Constitution as enjoining all of us to be united in our diversity, "!ke e: /xarra //ke", all the speakers have been in unison in agreeing about what should be done. We appreciate that very much. It's a very good beginning.
What, of course, must follow is that when we go to implement it, we must all be united in action and then the hon Plaatjie will not just get a report. We will do better than that; we'll introduce him to the reality of school mass participation.
I'm very pleased that the MEC of North West, hon Pampiri, is here. Although she is new to the post, she has already tasted the meaning of mass participation by schools. We were together in Klerksdorp and she has seen a little bit of that. It is there; it may not be in the papers of this House, but it is really there for those who want to go and have a look.
As the NCOP, we are slightly different from the NA in that we are expected to be coming directly from the provinces; we are more rooted than the NA. That was the spirit when we changed from the Senate to the NCOP. So, we really must go and have a look and also go and participate in these programmes, which all of us seem to agree on.
The second thing I want to raise is - the director-general is here, fortunately, and Mr Gunda might want to talk to him after this debate - the interaction that is taking place between our department and the chiefs of the Khoi and the San who are in Upington. The festival was in Upington, I think, during March at the beginning of this year.
Yes, we are in interaction but we did not see him there. That's why he ran away, because he was not there. I agree with the hon member. We must not just engage in talking about these things, but we must do them. This does not just mean government, but all of us, because by working together we can do more.
I want to agree with those who enjoined the department to build more facilities in the rural areas, and I was pleased when the hon Rantho mentioned the small "dorpies" of the Sundays River Valley, eNqweba, because I spent four years of my life there. I know exactly what she's talking about. It is precisely that reason that has compelled us to continue to seek the support of the hon members. The fiscus is not going to be adequate to do all these things, as the hon Rantho has just told us. I was hoping that the members would suggest that we increase the budget, because we agree that it is not adequate, but she comes and says that ...
... masilale ngenxeba ... [ ... we must make peace with it ...]
... it is never adequate. That is precisely the reason why we, in 1990 and 1991, were already anticipating this. The democratic movement said that South Africa must have a national lottery and the proceeds must augment the fiscus in providing for these developmental imperatives. We still haven't got that in our hands yet, but we are working very hard with the new Minister of Trade and Industry and it seems we are getting somewhere.
We agree with Dinizulu's grandchild that this thing did not happen by accident. This is the product of the sacrifices of many sons and daughters of our land. This was behind the mind of President Kwame Nkrumah in 1957 when he donated 400 guineas towards the establishment of CAF, and the President said, "Use it to unite Africa through sport". That was behind the President and Chief Albert Luthuli's initiatives in the development of nonracial soccer and nonracial tennis in the bundus of KwaZulu-Natal. But we must not wait until we have all these facilities.
You might have been told that I was working at Empangeni last weekend with a club called "Ziphozonke Nyombos". That club has produced national players, and as a matter of fact they have two girls in the current under- 21 national team. In the senior national team they also have two girls. The president of Netball SA comes from that club, although she no longer lives there. A whole range of other communities around them are being boosted by participating in sport through this club. They don't even have a netball field.
I've asked Simphiwe Mncube to go there next week to see what can be done precisely because we assist those who are beginning to do something so that they can do it better, given the facilities. I'm pleased that hon Gunda is back. I was talking about our efforts in Upington with the Khoisan council. [Interjections.] Yes, now that you are back, I want to say that the director-general is here; you might want to follow up on things, but we would really appreciate your presence in those activities.
We also agree on the need to highlight the participation of women in sport and indeed the participation of our communities in entrenching the integrity of our national symbols and protecting them and teaching our communities about all these things. We commit ourselves to do our bit and we want you, too, to commit yourselves to doing your bit.
Hon Mashamaite, there is no soccer team here in Parliament. I am looking forward to your own commitment to establishing a parliamentary football club that can go to the hinterlands of the Western Cape and when they go home, join other football veterans who are organising themselves for the purpose of coaching and training our children at their schools.
Let us do something about this. The President says, "Vorentoe!". We must not mark time; otherwise nothing is going to happen. Thank you very much for the support from all the members - new and old. Working together, we can do more! [Applause.]