Sport and Recreation Budget Vote
2006-01-05. Madam Chair, sport plays an integral part in the lives of South Africans and our nation. At its best, it is an extremely powerful unifying force bringing together diverse cultures and people, bridging the divides in a common celebration of success and jubilation. At its worst, however, it can be used as a political tool to undermine many of the successes achieved in other arenas.
The Department of Sports and
Recreation has certainly achieved a great deal over the past year. In
particular, the Department must be congratulated for its involvement in
securing South Africa right to host the 2010 Fifa World Cup Soccer.
This is an accolade for the country and the continent as a whole. One
also has to remember the fabulous foursome who brought home gold in the
four by 100 metres swim relay at the 2004 Olympics. ID especially wants
to highlight and congratulate the achievements of the paralympians who
brought back 35 medals, a full 29 more medals than their able-bodied
counterparts. Surely, Minister, this is a sign that we have to provide
more funding to disabled sport, as once again this sector of our
community has shown that they can produce the results despite limited
resources and support.
Finally Minister, the ID would like to state that it is completely in support of transformation in our sports sector. Like most other South Africans we would like to see fully representative teams in all disciplines taking on the best in the world and emerging victorious. For transformation to be successful and sustainable, however, it has to start with our children and in the very poorest of our communities. It is therefore extremely disheartening when traveling in rural areas to find a complete lack of sporting facilities. In one school in Hluhluwe for instance the football field was filled with huge craters and dongas making it impossible to play a proper match on. ID is not a party that simply complains, however, and we took it upon ourselves to grade the field ourselves so that the children would have adaequate facilities. This past Sunday also saw us hold a sports day where soccer, rugby, cricket and netball teams played against each other in the KwaLebese district of Pongola. I challenge the Minister to endure a tackle on that hard dusty field, where they had to erect long poles above the soccer net to create a makeshift rugby field. Minister, the ID and the people in these areas are tired of rhetoric and corruption that fails to see the delivery of adequate sports facilities. The talent I saw on Sunday convinces me that our future champions are to be found in these remote areas, but it is up to government to bring them into the mainstream of our sporting sector. It is time for us to truly level the playing fields.
Finally Minister, the ID would like to state that it is completely in support of transformation in our sports sector. Like most other South Africans we would like to see fully representative teams in all disciplines taking on the best in the world and emerging victorious. For transformation to be successful and sustainable, however, it has to start with our children and in the very poorest of our communities. It is therefore extremely disheartening when traveling in rural areas to find a complete lack of sporting facilities. In one school in Hluhluwe for instance the football field was filled with huge craters and dongas making it impossible to play a proper match on. ID is not a party that simply complains, however, and we took it upon ourselves to grade the field ourselves so that the children would have adaequate facilities. This past Sunday also saw us hold a sports day where soccer, rugby, cricket and netball teams played against each other in the KwaLebese district of Pongola. I challenge the Minister to endure a tackle on that hard dusty field, where they had to erect long poles above the soccer net to create a makeshift rugby field. Minister, the ID and the people in these areas are tired of rhetoric and corruption that fails to see the delivery of adequate sports facilities. The talent I saw on Sunday convinces me that our future champions are to be found in these remote areas, but it is up to government to bring them into the mainstream of our sporting sector. It is time for us to truly level the playing fields.
