Bafana Bafana Letter; Budget Vote: discussion

Meeting report

SPORT AND RECREATION COMMITTEE
4 June 2002
BAFANA BAFANA LETTER, BUDGET VOTE: DISCUSSION

Chairperson: Mr. B Ntuli (acting)

Documents handed out
Budget Vote 19

SUMMARY
The Committee supported the idea of writing a letter to Bafana Bafana for encouragement for their next match in the World Cup. The budget vote was discussed.

MINUTES
Letter for Bafana Bafana
The chair suggested that a letter be written to congratulate the national team, Bafana Bafana on their splendid performance at the world cup in Korea/Japan. It was suggested that two members draft this letter so that it would reach the team by today. The purpose of the letter to the nation team was to support them in game against Slovenia on Saturday.

Discussion
Mr. Lee told members that a member of the press called him to inform him about the singing of national anthem at the world cup. It was reported to Mr. Lee that only Nkosi Sikelele was sung and the other part was not sung. He expressed his concern over this and said that the national anthem must be sung in full, especially at competitions of this magnitude.

A member said that it was the duty of the football federation to ensure that all players rehearse and know the national anthem in full. He expressed the view that South African football Association (SAFA) must be blamed for this situation at Bafana camp. However he told members that a similar situation occurred also in rugby when the team played in Australia, only Die Stem was sung and not the whole national anthem. This needs to be discouraged at all levels as it impacted negatively on national unity and reconciliation.

Mr. Ferreira (IFP) said the situation was completely unacceptable and had to be condemned if sport was to rally the nation in unity.

Mr. Schoeman (NNP) said this had to be rectified as sport is part of nation-building.

The members agreed that a paragraph be inserted in the letter to ensure the national anthem was sung in full. However the chair warned that the wording of the such paragraph must not be negative as the team needs motivation at world cup.

Workshop Preparations
There was no discussion on workshop preparations as there was no degree of urgency to deal with it, Mr Ntuli, the acting chair asserted. This issue was deferred until next when the chairperson would be present.

Budget Vote
On the issue of budget vote, the chair said that members had interacted with the document extensively and there was no need for it to be considered again.

A member thanked the department of sport and recreation for giving the committee ample time to deliberate on the document. The members agreed that preparation be done for voting on budget in the National Assembly and no voting took place at committee level.

The meeting was adjourned.