Closing Remarks of the Minister of Sport and Recreation, Honourable Mr FA Mbalula (MP), on the occasion of the National Sport and Recreation Indaba, Gallagher Estate, Gauteng Province, Republic of South Africa, November 22 2011

The Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation SA; 
Honourable Gert Oosthuizen;Members of Parliament;
Members of Executive Councils;
President of SASCOC, Mr Gideon Sam;
Director-General, Mr Alec Moemi;
Members of HEDCOM;
CEO of SALGA, Mr X George;
Distinguished Guests and Delegates;
Ladies and Gentlemen;

I am very pleased and elated this afternoon to rise before you, delegates, to deliver this closing address as we come to the official closure of the national Sport and Recreation Indaba in the Republic of South Africa. Delegates for the past two days we took valuable time to join together our heads and minds to construct a collective ‘case for sport and recreation' in our country. We did this, together, committed in our collective wisdom to change sport in South Africa for the better. We met here in Gauteng represented by our organised formations in the form of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), Federations, Business, Public Entities, Civil Society and Government to chart a way forward for an optimal and functional sport system in the Republic.

Ladies and Gentlemen, before indulging to the last business of the day, it is befitting for all of us in this Historic Indaba and those in our communities to convey our condolences to the families of both Solly Tybilika and Basil D'Oliviera who passed on during the course of last week and all our sports heroes and heroines who passed away since 1994. In this instance I would like the house to observe a moment of silence to pay our last and befitting tribute to these martyrs.

Ladies and Gentlemen, in a book titled ‘A Tale of Two Cities', a monumental literature classic, Charles Dickens wrote:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only".

Indeed, these words epitomise the character and content of contradictions that existed in sport and recreation in the Republic of South Africa in the 1980s and in the early 1990s.The whole character and content of the ‘sport system' in the Republic was an epitome of turbulent, excruciating, catastrophic, astringent; as well as the fascinating and valiant struggles of the progressive sports men and women.

However, as former President Thabo Mbeki wrote in his foreword of the Volume 1 of the book titled ‘The Road to Democracy in South Africa 1960 to 1970', he said:

"The irreconcilable contradiction between repression and revolution  communicated the powerful message that the titanic conflict would be resolved either by the defeat and destruction of one of the contenders for a victory that could not be shared, or the mutual annihilation of both. And yet history was to produce yet another paradoxical outcome. In the end, the moment of defeat of one force by the other never came. Neither did the eventuality materialise that both should perish, locked in an embrace of death. Rather the belligerents sat down in conference and negotiated an historic compromise that gave the oppressed their freedom and the former oppressors their immunity from retribution by the victorious majority".

We have in the recent past since our assumptions of the reigns of political office in Sport and Recreation South Africa signalled our intention to review the transformation discourse with a view to provide a fresh perspective and lively debate that take into account issues of equity, equality, excellence, good corporate governance, organisational culture, access for all and responsiveness. 

At the end we resolved to host this Indaba to chart a way forward to reconstruct and revitalise sport and recreation in our country. 

We said at the beginning of the Indaba that this is not just another Indaba. 

When we said that, we really meant business. 

Our assertion that sport and recreation requires specialised and dedicated attention was yesterday amplified by Deputy President Kgalema Montlanthe when he said: "Our progress seems to have ground to a halt in some sporting codes such as soccer and Olympics, indicating that our development has not always been up to scratch".

The Deputy President further reminded us of our historical mission by recalling the positions canvassed in our evolving transformation perspective document. The clarion call was issued to the delegates by the Deputy President as he further said: "These remaining struggles in the sporting arena are driven by the vision of Transformation, Unity, and Development". 

We have drawn inspiration and benefitted immensely from the international guests and friends who shared their luminous thoughts with us. We have also learnt with great interests from the personal stories of triumph and recipes for success and excellences from our own young athletes.

We would like to draw the attention of the Indaba to the personal stories of Chad Le Clos, Hezekiel Sepeng, Zanele Situ and Victor Matfield. The honest narrations and self-less sharing of individual journeys through the tapestry of this ‘country of our skulls', laid bare the inherent contradiction of our society. There can be no denial to the fact that our society and sport landscape is inherently characterised by the two contending worlds; the one of the haves on the one hand and the one of the have not's on the other.

Delegates and guests, for the past two days we meant spending much time in the commissions doing extensive work to better sport and recreation in our country. Yes, we deliberated intensively in our commissions and resolved on issues of strategic importance to the life of sport and recreation in our country. At this Indaba five strategic issues were discussed and resolved upon. These five strategic imperatives as we all know are: recreation/Mass Participation and Schools Sport; Geo-political constitutional boundaries vs. Sport Federations plus sport councils; Infrastructure and Facilities; governance at macro level plus Amateur vs. Professional Sport; Transformation.

In line with the work of the commissions' resolutions and in the spirit of the declaration we have managed to align and integrate transformation, the transformation charter, schools sport programme and all other poignant issues discussed under different topics of the Indaba into the draft national sport and recreation plan with tailored scorecards that are going to be the bedrock for our collective case for sport and recreation.

This Indaba has managed to pause and took stock on the road traversed since the unity talks in 1992 and was coupled by the intense review of the progress made since the 2008 national sport Indaba held in Kwa-Zulu Natal. The Indaba concurred that not much was achieved to level the playing field between 1992, 1994, 2008, because seventeen years in our democratic dispensation South African sport is still faced with a huge backlog in terms of transformation, our national teams are still predominantly unrepresentative, distribution of facilities is still skewed and access not open to all.

The conference acknowledged that some of the problems confronting our sport and recreation emanate from the ambivalence and intransigence of some in the leadership and administration within the sport and recreation ecosystem. This fallout in some of the boardrooms of our sport system needs to be drastically altered to be in line with our national goals. We need to hit hard on issues necessitating speedy change and reconfiguration of these boardrooms and rest our case on good governance, transparency and a willingness to serve sport and the nation.

This gathering commits itself to rid the South African Sport DNA of all the ills that hinder change, especially the reluctance of some sport administrators and sport leadership to total transformation and as well as systemic gate keeping in relation to access to facilities and upward mobility of our athletes and players. We are not prepared to preside over a system that was designed to denigrate and deny the majority access to facilities and broadened participation at all levels and spheres. 

Through the National Sport and Recreation Plan we want to deliberately close the disparities between the world of those who live in conditions of affluence and abundance, on the one side, and those who live in conditions of abject poverty and plunder, on the other side.

The issue of grassroots sport development has been the highlights of this Indaba; and conference recognised the need to fast track mass participation and development at all levels of participation including in all schools of the republic. The Indaba reasserted the importance of schools sport; especially the matter of compulsory physical education and activities in all schools of the Republic of South Africa. The issue of local, regional, provincial and national schools sport competitions was highly welcomed by conference. In this regard, the sport indaba has instructed the national lottery board to set aside R200million for the purposes of schools sport for the year 2012.

The launch of the South Africa Coaching Framework will go a long way to assist to nurture schools sport development and talent identification. The Coaching Framework will also be aligned to all other existing and proposed frameworks and plans that are aimed at building a strong case for sport.

In line with the recently launched Coaching Framework, the National Sport and Recreation Indaba commit to support the development sport through an effective sports academy that is aimed at nurturing talent into the elite sport.

The Indaba acknowledged the challenges and limitations with regard to the implementation of the quota system in its current form and the negative effects of this system in deepening racial polarisation. 

To this end, the Indaba observed the unfortunate and painful stigma imposed on young black athletes and players as a result of the application of this archaic system.

However, the a strong case have been made for the uninterrupted continuation of the Quota System through the direct selection of black players into National Codes; using the adopted Scorecards contained in the Transformation Charter. As time goes, the Indaba agreed into a process of the Reviewed and Targeted Quota System and at the Same Time Devise Means to create an enabling environment for a winning nation that will support merit in the long run.

To effect this position, the Indaba observed the appreciation of the partnership between SRSA and SASCOC but further proposed an establishment of the Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (M&EC) that will assist both SASCOC and SRSA to effect effective M&E mechanism in the implementation of the National Sport and Recreation Plan.

In order for us as the country to move forward and achieve redress, we have pronounced and declared without fear of contradiction a well-resourced plan that is quantifiable and will be implemented over a period of time based on agreed deliverable frameworks.

We want all Federation to start as of today by providing the Ministry and SASCOC a detailed development plan of how talent will be identified and nurtured. Both SASCOC and Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) are expected in this period to develop a clear monitoring and evaluation mechanism that will hold all federations accountable on this matter.

In my considered opinion I am of the strong view that given our adoption of the National Sport and Recreation Plan and its transformation charter with the stated score-cards, we invite all the Federations to inform us as part of the sport plan on the number of players that will be included in the codes as of March 2012 to March 2020 on incremental basis. We will therefore through the monitoring and evaluation framework review yearly or bi-annually progress made in this regard.

We are of the view that short-term planning will not enable us to achieve our national goals, identify and nurture talent, especially from grass-root level, for that we have come to the sobering conclusion that we will align all our plans to the 2020 vision of the national sport and recreation plan with the proviso that the strategic plans of all the federations should be aligned to the strategic plan of the department.

We are doing so in order to align our vision 2020 and the New Growth Path and vision 2030 of the National Planning Commission.

In the same token, the Indaba expressed its concerns over the dilapidated state of our sport and recreation facilities especially those in disadvantaged and neglected areas and at the same time resolve to interrogate immensely the idle facilities in other areas especially in affluent areas as well as the optimal usage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Stadia's.

The matter of poor maintenance of many of our townships sport and recreation facilities including in rural areas became a major cry of this Indaba notwithstanding the scary future of the 2010 FIFA World Cup stadia.

The Indaba resolved in line with the facilities audit conducted by SRSA, Provinces and SASCOC to look closely in the efficacy of access, participation and management of these facilities as well as 2010 FIFA World Cup and World Cup Legacy sport facilities based on the Norms and Standards recently published by SRSA.

This approach also takes into cognisance the Agreements reached between SRSA and the Department of Human Settlement and Principled Agreements and Commitments reached between the Department of Sport and Recreation and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) including the entire local government and Basic Education.

We welcome the re-iteration and endorsement of the recent Agreement to re-in-fence the 15% of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG), and SRSA should fast track the negotiations on the direction to be taken on the transference of such a percentage to sport and recreation coffers. In this regard, in the meantime Local government, SALGA and SRSA should partner for the delivery of sport and recreation facilities through a ‘Service Level Agreement' for the realisation of the above objective.

Ladies and Gentlemen, our adopted national sport and recreation plan is a collective expression of sports people in the Republic. It is a tailored implementation framework of our broad strategic priorities into achievable outcomes that are measurable and can be costed and budgeted for by the state. We will after all this Indaba table this plan to Cabinet and hope this plan will find resolute support from all in our political leadership and spheres of government.

On the matter of alignment this Indaba overwhelmingly agreed to reconfigure all Sports Federations to acutely align themselves with the current political demarcation as agreed by the demarcation board of South Africa in order for our sports system to be in line with the spirit of the Constitution of the Republic. Our resolve is to lay into history the Apartheid Spatial Planning and outdated demarcations that were based on the Group Areas Act, Bantu Administration Act and Amenities Act which sort to denigrate and rob our people their birth right to quality basic services.

In the spirit of our Constitution, the King III Report is clear on the issues of good governance and sound financial management of all public and private institutions. This King III Report as well as the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) stipulates clearly the lines and systems of financial accountability and principles of good governance. 

To tighten up the aforementioned issues the Indaba acknowledged the role of the Ministry as a ‘custodian of sport and recreation' in the country; and resolved to afford the Ministry its rightful place and responsibility in the management, administration and delivery of sport and recreation in South Africa. Conference considered the roles and responsibilities of Government, SASCOC and Federations in the conduct and delivery of sport and recreation in our land. This emanates from the collective recognition that government have an overall responsibility and guardianship of sport and recreation in our country; it facilitates policy formulation in sport and recreation, oversee the delivery of sport and recreation facilities in our communities, including mass participation and the co-ordination of sports councils, schools sport, transformation and instituting mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation of sport and recreation plans and resources.

This in essence, means that the state will be responsible for policy, infrastructure and the creation of an enabling environment for all South Africans, black and white, young and old, able and disabled, men and women, rural or urban to participate meaningfully in the sport and recreation and to promote and develop the sports economy and sport tourism and industry in all its features.

In this regard, we are unflinchingly committed to transparency and good corporate governance and the Indaba have already sent a very strong message to all in our sport system and sporting fraternity that the country will not tolerate door-keeping, corruption and monopoly. We believe that Sport and Recreation are national assets that must be nurtured and developed for the sustenance of our people.

We do so inspired by the urgent task to build a sound case for sport and recreation in our national and global discourse, to sharpen our ammunitions, commitment and organisation of sport and recreation in South Africa. Of principal importance, we do so to chart a common vision, a common implementation plan, a common delivery mechanisms, across all spheres of government and federations, for sport and recreation development and total transformation of our sector.

This makes it critical also that as the federations and government come into the fray, we should do so in a manner that encourages access, participation and good governance of sport and recreation. 

Therefore colleagues, success for sport activities does not rely on a periodic remembrance of these facts. It does not rely on merely talking about them. What is important for us is the passion in implementing these ideas.

Therefore there is a need for the recognition of the four way relationship for sports to succeed. Our government inclusive of local, Provincial and national should take this National Sport and Recreation Plan as their strategic programme for delivery of sport and recreation in South Africa.

This also includes important bodies such as the Lottery's Board and SASCOC. We must ensure that going out of this Indaba all our plans reflect the outcomes of this historic Sport Indaba. As government we will follow up swiftly on this important task and commitment.

To this effect Sports Federations and Sports Councils in the course of the fulfillment of their mandate is key to ensuring that there is proper governance, transformation and high performance. Their job in this case, ultimately, is to produce and nurture stars and position South Africa as a winning nation in all codes. Going forward we will enter into the Service Level Agreements with all the Federations to ensure that they have embraced the outcomes of this gathering and meet our stated expectations in terms of governance, transformation and performance. Therefore, our Monitoring and Evaluation System will focus on these strategic issues.

In terms of our sponsors and broader private sector, we all agree that government cannot do this alone. We therefore commit to continue to lobby government for additional funding; so that sports and recreation becomes a right and not a privilege. We thank all the sponsors that participated in this Indaba. However, we need to deepen our conversation with sponsors - current and potential - to ensure that as Corporate citizens they deepen their support for sports. Conference articulated that the Minister should lobby for a possibility of Signing A Sport Accord with all Private Sector Companies to show their commitment into sport and recreation in the Republic as part of their Corporate Social Investment (CSI) priority. For this to make an economic sense, the public broadcaster (SABC) and the broader Media in general have an important role to play to ensure a reward for the sponsors and at the same time to profile sports. The media has an important role to play in drawing our young people to sports activities as well.

Delegates, ultimately we are here because of our sports people - the young and old. As government we will ensure that there is mass participation and that sports participants and sport activists should be drawn to the fore for the realisation of this programme. Parents and community have an important role to play in contributing to encouraging and supporting those who take part in Sports. Part of our mission going forward is to draw as many young people and children as possible into sports especially from poor communities.Non of these would be possible without the good and active participation of Volunteers and National Service.

Finally, the department with your support will lead a process to ensure that Parliament and Cabinet endorse and approve the National Sport and Recreation Plan.

The Department of Sport and Recreation with the participation of local and provincial governments will include the National Sport and Recreation Plan into their budgeting processes to ensure uniformity based on the principles of Co-operative Governance and Inter-governmental Relations Framework and that the plan is a reality. 

As government and SASCOC we will present a Monitoring and Evaluation as indicated earlier to ensure that all role players adhere to the plan and keep their promises. The results of this M&E system and progress thereof will be tabled and reviewed in the next Indaba to measure progress.

Ladies and Gentlemen, all the issues raised and adopted by this National Sport and Recreation Indaba, all the resolutions as well as the Indaba Declaration will find expression and resonate in the National Sport and Recreation Plan for processing.

We can only judge ourselves, ultimately, on the basis of mass participation and performance. Our major objective in the short term is to bring life into schools sport. Secondly, there are Olympics in 2012 in London and we must make sure that South Africa improves its Medal position. 

Delegates and fellow South Africans we must go to London 1n 2012 as a one nation, united its diversity. To make meaning to the power of sport to build social cohesion and nation building and sport as a tool for peace and development. Conference agreed on the usage on National Emblem and National Colours by all our Federations and teams including the standardisation of the national colours to realise our strategic objective of the achievement of a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all in this sport and recreation Indaba. I would like to make a special thanks to the Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Honourable Mr Kgalema Monthlante for his indelible input in this august Indaba. At the same time I would like to thank the Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation South Africa, Honourable Mr Gert Oosthuizen, all the Members of Executive Councils (MECs), our International Guests.

Heartfelt thanks must also go to the President of SASCOC, Mr Gideon Sam, SASCOC Board, our Director-General and CEO of SALGA for their sterling work towards the success of the Indaba.

My wholehearted thanks and appreciations go to all the Federations, clubs, athletes and players, civil society, business leaders and all delegates present here; and members of our society and media who made this gathering what it is today.

Thank you.

Issued by Sport and Recreation South Africa, November 22 2011

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