Postponement of meeting with Local Organising Committee on 2013 African Cup of Nations progress

Meeting report

Postponement of meeting with Local Organising Committee on 2013 African Cup of Nations progress
The Chairperson informed Members that officials from the 2013 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) Organising Committee could not update the Committee that on the readiness of the host cities as they were in Lesotho. He asked Members if this meeting could be postponed to next Tuesday.

Mr G Mackenzie (COPE) noted that the apology was only sent through that morning- this was very disrespectful to the Committee.

Mr Lichakane Phori, Committee Secretary, clarified that the apology was received the previous day.

The Chairperson agreed with Mr Mackenzie and said that there were “no bars” set for the progression of the AFCON so it was up to the Committee to make sure there was progress being made.

Mr T Lee (DA) concurred with the Chairperson. Without speaking with AFCON, he was unsure if it would be a successful event. The Committee and the country did not want to be embarrassed by a poorly run AFCON. He added that the Committee must convey its unhappiness (about their non-attendance) in a strongly worded letter to the officials.

The Chairperson reiterated that the Committee must push the organisers and ensure that they were on track to have a successful event. The officials must come next Tuesday to brief the Committee.

Committee Minutes
Committee Minutes dated 9 October 2012
The Chairperson tabled the minutes for consideration.

The minutes were approved with no amendments.

Mr Lee said that he had one issue with the content of that meeting. The Auditor-General had made proposal to Department of Sports and Recreation on Boxing SA. The Committee had said that they would have meeting on how it should be run.

Mr M Dikgacwi (ANC) recalled that the briefing was very long and Members did not have time to engage properly. Time should be set aside in future to deal with this.

Committee Minutes dated 10 October 2012
The Chairperson tabled the minutes for consideration.

The minutes were approved with no amendments.

Committee Minutes dated 10 October 2012
The Chairperson tabled the minutes for consideration.

Ms G Tseke (ANC) pointed out that she was part of meeting but was listed absent.

Mr Lee announced that he was not in attendance of the meeting but was listed as present.

Ms G Sindani (ANC) said that she was ill and not at meeting.

The minutes were approved with amendments.

Other Matters
Mr Mackenzie highlighted that of the six medals that South Africa ha won at the 2012 London Olympics, five were water based and that should be of concern. Other sports should also be winning medals.

Mr Lee said swimming was not on the programme for the year and it was the most likely sport to get more medals in future Olympics. He suggested that the Committee should find out from the relevant sporting federations what they were doing to be so successful.

Mr Dikgacwi said that South Africans should be more successful at other sports as well.

The Chairperson agreed and said that these federations would be invited to brief the Committee.

The Chairperson was curious to see what would happened with the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) elections later in October, and hoped that the best candidate would win,

Ms Sidani was waiting to know who was to be on the team for the next Olympics.

The Chairperson said minutes were done and asked if there needed to be any other discussion.

Mr Dikgacwi said there was big issue of transformation and it was concern for him. The Committee needed to address the issue of the Eastern Province Kings.

Mr Mackenzie explained that there had been many commitments by South African Rugby Union (SARU). He thought that perhaps the specifics of commitments should be presented to the Committee at some point.

The Chairperson said that he thought that SARU would be willing to appear before the Committee.

Mr Mackenzie agreed with the Chairperson.

Ms Sindani said that she wanted to look at the Committee’s programme and budget estimate.

Mr Lee referred to the budget and asked the Committee Secretary why the Committee had spent R90 000 on travel in the Western Cape and less in the other provinces.

Mr Phori replied that it was just an estimate and that regardless the budget was too small but the amount of money spent in each province would vary.

Mr Lee cautioned Mr Phori that the Committee might not get money with the current form of the budget.

Ms Sindani said that it made sense to her how the budget was currently drafted.

The Chairperson said that they had to draft a new budget so that it would be approved.

Mr Mackenzie said that the Committee had to align the budget with its programme.

The Chairperson said the Committee team was going to rework the budget accordingly. He was concerned because 10 committees had already submitted their budgets.

The meeting was adjourned.