Sports and Recreation Committee Second Term Programme: adoption

Meeting report

Introduction by the Chairperson
The Chairperson welcomed Members to the meeting. He said that when Committee meetings were to begin at 10:00 am, Members should be at the venue at 9:45 am. This was in a bid to avoid late attendance and delays.

The Chairperson informed the Committee that Mr M Hlengwa (IFP) and Mr B Holomisa (UDM) had tendered apologies.

The Chairperson said that the Committee would assist the Southern Kings Rugby Franchise to run their organisation properly. Poor leadership lead to poor governance and resulted in badly run sports federations. He praised the manner that the South African Rugby Union (SARU) had handled the problems around development of Rugby in the Eastern Cape (EC). The problems that kept on dogging sport federations were mostly caused by some greedy officials. It was a shame that the country was still experiencing problems in sports development twenty years down the line of democracy. He strongly felt that sports officials should be jailed for corruption.

Mr M Dikgacwi (ANC) said that he supported the Chairpersons suggestion that the Committee should initiate legislation that would compel sport officials to be jailed for corruption and bad governance. 

Mr T Lee (DA) said that some people assumed that the Committee did not want rugby to progress in the EC. He felt that success of Rugby in the EC solely depended on the people of that province and that Southern Kings belonged to the people of the Eastern Cape.

Mr Mphumza Mdakazi, Committee Researcher, said that he supported the laying of criminal charges against corrupt sports officials. He also mentioned that the Committee had received a shoddy report from the Eastern Cape where around R50 million had disappeared. He suggested that the Committee should seek advice from the Portfolio Committee on Police regarding the matter. He had tried many times to source documents from the EC Department of Sport officials to no avail. He said that he also spoke to the provincial researchers and the General Manager in the Department.

The Chairperson said that money was earmarked for sports development, but the people who had embezzled the funds were still walking freely without accounting and it was totally unacceptable.

Consideration of the Draft Second Term Programme
The Chairperson asked the Committee’s Content Advisor, Mr T Thabehae to go through the programme. Mr Thabehae highlighted the fact that the Committee would be meeting the Department of Sports and Recreation on Tuesday, 30 April 2013. The Committee was also going to be meeting with different sporting federations including Boxing South Africa. The Committee would be undertaking an oversight visit to the North West and the Western Cape Provinces.

Mr Lee suggested that the Committee should invite Squash and Bowls Federations.

The Chairperson said that invitations should be sent on time so that all the federations would have enough time to prepare their presentations.

The Second Term 20113 Programme was adopted unanimously.

Consideration of Outstanding Minutes
Ms G Sindane (ANC) suggested that the Secretary should capture salient points so that minutes could be clear to anyone who might be reading the minutes.

Mr Dikgacwi informed Members that the Committee Secretary was guided by the Committee Section when it came to the style of capturing minutes.

Committee Minutes dated 19 February 2013
The Chairperson went through the minutes page by page and invited comments from the Committee.

Mr G Mackenzie (COPE) suggested the insertion of the word “clarity” after the word “sought” on the 1^st line of page 7.

On the resolutions the Chairperson substituted “suggested” for “said”.

Ms W Rabotapi (DA) moved for the adoption of the minutes and Ms Sindane seconded the motion.

The 19 February 2013 minutes were adopted with amendments.

Committee Minutes dated 26 February 2013
The Chairperson went through the minutes page by page and invited comments from the Members.

Ms G Tseke (ANC) pointed out that Mr W Spies (FF+) was no longer in Parliament and that his name should be deleted from the Committee list.

Mr Dikgacwi moved for the adoption of the minutes and Mr Mackenzie seconded the motion.

The 26 February 2013 minutes were adopted with minor amendments.

Committee Minutes dated 5 March 2013
The Chairperson went through the minutes and invited comments from the Committee.

Mr Dikgacwi suggested the deletion of Mr Spies name from the list of members present.  

Mr S Mmusi (ANC) moved for adoption and Ms L Mjobo (ANC) seconded the motion.

The 5 March 2013 minutes were adopted with minor amendments.

Committee Minutes dated 12 March 2013
The Chairperson went through the minutes and invited corrections from the members.

Mr Mackenzie corrected the spelling of the name Matthews.

Ms Sindane suggested the separation of comments from resolutions. She added that the Sports Trust was operating efficiently and other Federations should follow their example.

The Chairperson explained that other federations were blocking progress deliberately and were squandering funds.

Mr Mackenzi moved for the adoption of the minutes and Ms Tseke seconded the motion.

The 12 March 2013 minutes were adopted with amendments.

Closing remarks
The Chairperson said that the Committee needed to prepare thoroughly for the budget because it had been under-funded for some time.

The meeting was adjourned