Department of Sport and Recreation Annual Report 2008/9

Meeting report

Gender and Sexual Deviates in Sport: briefing
The Chairperson mentioned that the Committee would not discuss the Caster Semenya issue, but said that the Committee needed to understand the dynamics behind the condition.

Ms Lindiwe Ringane, Member of SMLS & LR Consulting, noted that she was a transgender person. She was barred from registering in a workshop for the Miss South Africa pageant, because organisers felt that transgender persons should not be allowed. She mentioned that she worked as a model and in marketing. She said that surgical removal of the testes was not enough, without psychological counselling. The media had wrongly referred to the condition as “hermaphrodite”, but this word in fact correctly referred to invertebrates such as snails.

Socialisation meant that different sexes were treated differently, dressed differently and were raised and played separately from each other. The decision by the Department of Home Affairs to assign sexuality with the birth certificate was influenced by what the health officials said after the birth of a child. She said that the Home Affairs Act needed to be amended to accommodate people who were not exclusively male or female.

She then recommended the introduction of a non-discrimination policy, and policies related to access to locker rooms for transgender and inter-sex athletes. Society needed education so that the general public could have more understanding about people with a Deviate Sex disorder. Religious organisations should play a leading role in forming support groups, and local municipalities could declare an awareness day.

Discussion
Mr D Lee (DA) said that he was more concerned with the use of substances to supplement the hormonal imbalance after surgery.

Mr G Mackenzie (COPE) wanted to know how society treated people who were gender and sexual deviates (GSD).

Ms Ringane confirmed that there were prejudices within the communities.

Mr L Suka (ANC) enquired about the treatment GSD people got from the religious community.

Ms Ringane replied that she could not escape the fact that she was African and affected by societal values, which included religion. She said that when she changed her sex she had also needed to consider religious aspects.

Ms Ringane said that Caster Semenya was exposed only after she won the medal, and that prior to that she was treated no differently from other people.

Mr J Van Der Linde (DA) suggested that the Committee should discuss the issue with the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs.

Ms Ringane replied that one American Research Institute discovered that 1 in 1000 people in America had the condition. Eight factors should be considered, which included chromosomes, hormonal patterns, external morphologic sex and internal morphologic tests.

Mr M Dikgacwi (ANC) said that education and awareness was the key, so that the people would understand the condition.

Ms Ringane replied that orientation, as a school subject, was very important, and agreed that the public had to be made aware.

The Chairperson mentioned that the Committee was fully in support of Caster Semenya. Athletics South Africa protocol could not undermine the constitution of the country that said that South Africa was a non racist and non sexist society. South Africa needed a national dialogue around sport participation from school level for people with the condition.

Department of Sport and Recreation Annual Report 2008/09 briefing
Prior to the Department of Sport and Recreation (SRSA) commencing with the presentation of the Annual Report, the Chairperson  asked whether the Department conducted oversight visits to see or evaluate the progress of the projects.

Mr Vernon Petersen, Director General, SRSA, noted that the Department visited the projects but personnel shortages were a challenge.

Mr Suka enquired about the value derived from the international trips undertaken by the Department. 

Mr Petersen replied that international trips helped the country to have sign co-operative agreements around sporting activities. Angola would help South Africa in training basketball coaches. South Africa would help Angola in preparation for the hosting of the African Cup of Nations 2010 tournament. He said that the primary purpose of the trips was to advance South African sports in general.

Ms Noma Kotelo Chief Director: Sport Support Services, SRSA, touched on the sports and recreation service providers, club development programme and education and training. She said that 19 coaches were trained out of 800 coaches that were targeted on recreation service providers. In regard to club development, 136 out of 450 new clubs went through the development programme. Only 221 out of 300 existing clubs went through the development programme. In the education and training field, 1300 volunteers were trained out of 2500 targeted.

Ms Thokozile (Kelly) Mkhonto, Acting Chief Director: Mass Participation Programme, SRSA, mentioned that her unit had exceeded the targets that they had set by 910 000, from a target of 200 000. The reasons were that the programmes were popular in the community.

Ms Rohini Naidoo, Director: School Sport, SRSA said that all targets were met in school sports indicators and achievements. Many more schools than was originally planned had participated in the school sport mass participation programme. She briefly touched other achievements such schools who visited their United Kingdom counterparts.

Ms Kotelo then briefly touched on facilities co-ordination, noting that the two sub-programmes were planning and advocacy and technical support. A number of international agreements were signed but the number of exchanges was reduced due to conflicting programmes. South Africa hosted a number of sporting events such as under-20 Youth Games. There were no facilities provided by SRSA because the reallocation of funds for sport and recreation from the Municipal Infrastructure Grant were not finalised.

Discussion
Mr Dikgacwi wanted to know the names of recipient Non Government Organisations (NGOs). He also asked why only coaches had been trained. He then asked for a list of all the schools that had benefited in the mass participation programme.

Ms Kelly Mkhonto said that she would forward the spreadsheet of all the hubs, which was subdivided into provinces and municipalities and districts. There were six sporting activities per hub. The Department exposed many people to many sporting activities such as basketball and golf.

Mr Suka voiced his concern with the manner in which the report was compiled, saying that the Committee wanted to know all the beneficiaries for oversight purposes. He was concerned that the Department was not co-operating with municipalities, and the sports calendar was not properly coordinated, which resulted in duplication. He asked the Department to turn around its strategy and provide sufficient documentation. He also noted that Provinces often pointed to late transfers when confronted with under spending.

Ms Mkhonto replied that there was no duplication but instead the Department was working with the municipalities. The money was spent, and only R200 000 was rolled over. Money was transferred to provinces on a quarterly basis because the Department had to monitor the spending. Those provinces that were not spending did not get transfers until they had implemented corrective measures.

Mr Suka also said that the Department was not properly marketed, and that the opposition was very good at pointing at the negatives. He urged the Department to be assertive on declaring Wednesday and Friday as school sports day.

Mr Lee asked the number of teachers had been trained as coaches and from which provinces those teachers came, and where they currently were. He lamented the current state of school sports. He was angered that children could not go to sports tournament because they could not afford to do so.

Ms Kotelo said the list would be forwarded to the Committee.

Mr Mackenzie enquired why only 19 coaches were trained out of 450 that were targeted.

 Ms Kotelo explained that the capacity building programme was meant for coaches that belonged to existing associations. The coaches’ associations were not yet functional and SRSA therefore co-ordinated training for 19 Olympic federation head coaches.

Mr Van Der Linde asked about the requirements for the applications that the clubs had to submit in order to be trained. He noted that the Department should appoint the right people for the right position so as to accelerate delivery.

Ms Kotelo said that the clubs had to be turned to non profit organizations, that meant that the clubs would need training to capacitate them.

Mr Mackenzie pointed out that 37 vacancies in the Department translated into 25% of the Departmental workforce and that meant that the delivery process was hampered.

The Chairperson said that the Mass Participation Unit was understaffed while the Finance section was bloated. He said that the problems facing the Department had been there for four years.

Mr Petersen admitted that there was a problem within the Department. He said that SRSA needed total introspection on the objectives of mass participation. He also said that there were many achievements that were not mentioned in the presentation.

The Chairperson said that there were no good working relationships between the Departments. The Committee wanted to have a workable programme in sport at schools. The Department of Basic Education should have a policy and structures regarding school sport.

Mr Suka asked for clarity on the transfers to provinces, mentioned on page 117-118 of the Annual Report.

Ms Mkhonto said the transfers were just demonstrating the differences between 2008 and 2009.

Ms Kotelo explained the variance in targeted and actual transfers in club development during 2008. National Treasury shifted the responsibility, to fall under legacy programmes. The legacy programmes had many monetary responsibilities, and as a result the share got smaller because the money had to be subdivided to many projects besides club transfers.

The Chairperson asked the reason that the Department did not adjust its targets to suit the “pie”. He said that the Department should get rid of the people who were behaving as if the Department was their own little kingdom. The problems that were troubling the Department emanated from the faulty amalgamation process. The Committee and the Department would need to have a three-day bosberaad to thrash out all the problems.

2010 FIFA World Cup Unit
Mr Monde Mkahaliphi, Communication Co-ordinator, 2010 Unit, SRSA, spoke about the technical co-ordination around the 2010 World Cup. He said that his Unit had achieved all its targets such as monitoring of all host cities business plans and the impact assessment of 2010. The communications unit participated in the task team established to develop a comprehensive proposal to resolve the Mbombela land dispute and other challenges that the municipality faced.

A brief description was given of the budget and expenditure trend per programme and per economic classification. It was noted that there had been underspending and the reasons were briefly explained.

Discussion
Mr Dikgacwi asked whether the Department had records of emerging contractors.

Mr Mkhaliphi said that FIFA had stipulated that 30% of all the construction should be done by emerging contractors, but the Department of Trade and Industry had been engaging the Local Organising Committee to reach the 30% threshold.

Ms G Tseke (ANC) asked for clarity on unauthorised expenditure mentioned in respect of the Seventh Day Adventist Church Student Association (SDASA).

Mr Suka asked for clarity on the spending and clarity on the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) component of the construction industry.

Mr Petersen replied that investigations were continuing. If the person responsible for the unauthorised expenditure was found guilty in the disciplinary process, then they would be prosecuted. The person concerned had not yet left the Department. He said that it was impossible to recover the money.

Mr Mackenzie asked the results of irregular expenditure.

Mr Mkhaliphi explained that Boxing SA would meet the Committee and explain about the irregular expenditure.

A Member urged SRSA to fix the relations between SRSA and LOC. She then asked for clarity on the companies who wanted to use 2010 for marketing purposes. She asked the reason that the Communication head was not replaced internally.

Mr Mkhaliphi replied that the relations between the LOC and the Department were regulated by the recommendations of the shared protocol services, such as seating arrangements of the dignitaries and invitations.

The Chairperson asked Mr Petersen to sort out the allegations of corruption and nepotism.

The Chairperson asked the reasons that the rugby federations wanted to control the newly renovated stadiums while the Department spent billions in upgrading.

Mr Mkhaliphi replied that it was a fact that government pumped billions into renovating the rugby stadiums but the rugby federations would have to come to the party.

The Sports Trust Presentation
Ms Anita Mathews, Operations Executive, Sports Trust, spoke about the vision of the organisation. She mentioned that it was a private sector initiative in partnership with the late Minister of Sport Mr Steve Tshwete. She mentioned that more than R42, 5 million was spent on over 240 projects from 1995. Ms Mathews then spoke about the organisational structure, trustee membership, and the donors such as the National Lotteries and SRSA. She touched on communication partners, the funding process and application process. The Community Development Fund was established to address sporting needs of individuals, communities and clubs. 89% of its finances were spent on its vision of building active communities through sport.

Discussion
Mr Dikgacwi applauded the work of the Sports Trust and the Chairperson concurred.

Mr Suka said that the Sports Trust spoke to the needs of disadvantaged communities.

Mr Lee promised the Sports Trust that they would get the co-operation of the Committee. He then suggested a meeting between the Committee and the Trust to make plan.

Mr Van Der Linde thanked the Trust for the work done by the trust in Bonnievale, Western Cape farmlands.

Mr Mackenzie and the Chairperson said that the Committee would support the Trust and the SARS should give more funds to the Trust. He challenged Members to lobby for the Trust.

The meeting was adjourned.