Sport and Recreation Budget Review & Recommendations Report

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed committee members and lamented the absence of a Content Adviser. This is hampering the smooth functioning of the Committee and as at yesterday other committees are already debating their BRRR. It is just two minutes that is given each committee to present BRRR in the chief whip’s forum. 

Mr S Ralegoma (ANC) moved for the adoption of the agenda for the day and was seconded by Ms B Abrahams (ANC). 

Mr Ralegoma then suggested the Committee Secretary presents the entire budget review report and afterwards Members will engage and discuss, this suggestion was seconded by Mr T Mhlongo (DA).

Discussion

Mr Ralegoma welcomed and appreciated the work done by the Committee Secretary.  He is happy with the report and the concerns mentioned in relation to SAIDS. On the BSA observations on page 22 that states;

e) Amateur boxing, SANABO, is not implementing transformation in provinces and rural areas as dynamically and successfully as the committee had hoped, and many boxers are in need of equipment and assistance to travel to tournaments;

He said that even though some members made observations regarding SANABO, SANABO did not directly present to the Committee, BSA should not have such a recommendation regarding them.

 On the concerns regarding SABC in (g) which states:

g) By the time this report was written the committee had not received information about which promoters were in charge of what, and who controlled the broadcasting of bouts on SABC;

 This is the concern raised by the committee regarding SABC and it would be good if such information could be received.

On the recommendations regarding Sport and Recreation on 7.3:

7.3.         Sport and Recreation South Africa

1. Implementation of programmes in the provinces remains a challenge, and provinces’ late submitting of evidence impacts negatively on SRSA’s reporting. The committee had expressed concern about late reporting on several occasions. After receiving the department’s 2016/17 first quarter performance report the committee raised concern about provinces' noncompliance with reporting deadlines for Programme 2;
2. The discrepant provincial and national targets for achieving indicators illustrate the urgent need for a constructive nationwide engagement of role players to find an operational solution of current delivery problems caused by what appears to be a disjuncture between national and provincial vision and understanding of roles, achievables and resources. In the 2016/17 financial year the SRSA reported missing a target because of lengthy transformation agreement consultations with national federations; therefore the 2017/18 financial year presents the ideal opportunity to review indicators, or refine targets for indicators over which SRSA has limited control;
3. SRSA is commended for ensuring that its service to the nation remains current and relevant by conducting one-on-one sessions with the programme managers during October 2016 when reviewing its 2015-2020 Strategic Plan. Whilst the 2017/18 APP identified no significant policy shifts and no substantial changes in the service delivery environment that would impact on operations, the department’s narrative reflects a dynamic and responsive mindset;
4. The committee noted the department’s reliance on delivery agents such as provincial departments responsible for sport, and recognised that, whilst SRSA transferred conditional grant funding to provinces for delivering sport and recreation goals, delivery agents  also had their own provincial priorities;
5. The postponement of the 2016 autumn national school sport championship indicates that the issue of provinces not having the capacity to host school sport championships has not been resolved;
6. School sport and physical education are lagging behind; and there is no dedicated school sport day yet;
7. It has become clear that transformation requires a cluster approach and that that physical education in schools is important, although the Department of Basic Education has indicated that it would not yet be promoted to a standalone subject;
8. The implementation of the MIG funding for sport and recreation facilities is a challenge for provinces which needs to be addressed;
9. School sport and the MIG are central to effecting transformation, but transfers to some provinces had not been not spent;
10. Many multipurpose facilities have not been handed over to communities, which caused conflict in communities and between communities and schools;
11. Only by the first quarter of 2017/18 does SRSA’s organogram reflect that it has appointed a director for facilities support in programme 5;
12. SRSA was allocated R24 million of the MTEF period to provide oversight and support to municipalities for the delivery of sport infrastructure projects. The department’s implementation is halfway through the period where the funding for their new capacity is ramping up, which is an opportune juncture for the department to account to the committee on what they have done with the funds;
13. The MIG R300 million municipal facilities project (outside the formula) was a pilot. The concern of the committee is monitoring and accountability and the location of performance indicators; since it appears as if no national or provincial government department has performance indicators for this expenditure. The money had been allocated on provision that it was a pilot project, and the committee wishes to establish from Treasury what criteria are applied to inform the decision to extent or amend the arrangement;
14. The committee has found that it was not able to monitor sponsorship effectively because of insufficient reporting and unavailability of information about sponsorship. A solution is needed on how to obtain  the requisite quality of information from the broad perspective down to inclusive and detailed information to reflect all layers of sponsorship, not only financial, but also about items such as trips and tracksuits. The question remains how to mediate the private and public interest in sponsorship for federations.

Mr Ralegoma said that it is heartening to note that all these inputs can be made regarding SRSA because these are basically the issues the committee is dealing with all the time.

 On recommendations 8 (a) which reads;

1. Coordinated performance targets with implementation partners for the delivery of sport infrastructure projects funded through the special R300 million allocation outside the MIG formula, and producing of detailed financial and operational reports for submission to Parliament and delivery partners in the interest of accountability and to develop best practice;

This is not very clear. This R300m for facilities across the municipalities sitting with COGTA; the committee should ensure that there should be monitoring and reporting and reports attached to the recommendation. 

On (b):

1. Implementation of the recommendations of AGSA as reflected in the 2016/17annual reports of SRSA, SAIDS and BSA;  

• should be an action plan to rectify the plan.

1. Prioritising full accreditation of the Bloemfontein laboratory.

This should be the responsibility of SAIDS to maintain accreditation though SRSA should ensure that the labs are funded.

1. Compliance with Section 213 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.

This section should be removed. There is also need to add that the municipalities comply with their 15% expenditure on sports.

g)  Ensure agreements and best practice in terms of the broadcasting of sport by the SABC, also in terms of facilitating transformation and enabling citizens to view international sport events on SABC channels;

The committee cannot make a recommendation on an entity (SABC) that does not report to the committee. Should the committee wish to raise concerns about SABC, it should interact with its counterparts that SABC reports to.

h) Cooperation with the Departments of Health and Education in achieving the transformation of sport and recreation, and building a talent pool from all walks of life;

This should rather be written as a recommendation because it is speaking to two more departments which is Health and Education and concerns can be raised so that the committee can interact with the two departments in question. There is also the need to add that the National Sport and Recreation Plan (NSRP) be fully funded because it is not fully funded at the moment. There is need to put this recommendation now because this is a budget review exercise and it is about the budget that the committee is dealing with now.

Ms D Manana (Committee Secretary) appreciated the work been done by the Committee Secretary. She asked for clarity on the following statement;

c)  BSA reported that it communicates with Treasury to alert Treasury challenges;

In hindsight, maybe it should read that BSA reported that it communicates with Treasury to alert Treasury of BSA’s challenges. On the recommendations, she suggested that the committee put out a strong worded statement insisting that the Department meet the 30 day payment for all service providers in the next financial year. The excuse of a disputed invoice should no longer constitute a justification for not paying because when service providers submit an invoice the Department has the original invoice, therefore they should be able to process the payment. The Municipal Infrastructure Grants (MIG) project allocation remains a big challenge. The committee should recommend that if the municipalities wish to continue to use their own service providers; the documentation should be stored in a central database so as to assist other municipalities that lack credible service providers. The 23% achieved by NSRP is commendable.

Mr D Bergman (DA) expressed appreciation for work done by the committee’s very skeletal staff. In terms of what happens with the SABC, to get the Minister to engage is one thing but the need to follow up with something concrete is important maybe like a memorandum. SABC still holds the key to transformation in sports. Most sporting codes have fallen short because of the SABC and not SRSA and the committee should have some kind of leverage to compel the SABC to perform in line with any agreement reached with the Minister.   A suggestion that was raised last year that the Department and the Committee hold a full week road show in different provinces to be tagged “power to the people” has still not yet been heeded. It should be run by the minister because it is within the competency of the minister. It is also up to minister to protect clubs of the various sporting codes. Somehow the clubs are the forgotten layer and yet the most crucial when moving from amateur to professional. It should somehow be included that the committee embarks on an audit of the clubs in SA amongst the top sporting codes. It should be included in the recommendation that the clubs should not be forgotten and incorporated in any plans going forward. Somehow a line of communication should be opened between the clubs and SRSA.

Mr K Sithole (IFP) was of the opinion that no emphasis was placed on any kind of bailout by the provinces. Again health does not fit in the recommendations and findings because in the committee’s discussions, health was not mentioned. Again the report has a lot of acronyms without writing out the meanings first. People who are not familiar with the department and committee might not understand the acronyms when they read the report.

The Chairperson noted that the inability of provinces to fully utilise their allocated budget and being penalised for doing so is hampering the development of sports in the country.

Mr Ralegoma concurred and added that the problems identified by the Auditor General were that the performance indicators for provinces do not speak to the facts and that is why spending becomes a challenge. Going forward, the committee should interact with NCOP as well as ensuring that the chairperson should every year invite the chairpersons of provinces for an informal interaction.  This report should be finalised, adopted and processed as a matter of urgency because without a report, the committee would not be scheduled for a debate.

Mr Mhlongo moved to adopt the report with amendments and was seconded by Mr Ralegoma.

The report was accordingly adopted by the Committee.

Committee minutes dated 17 October 2017

Mr Mhlongo noted that on page six of the minutes the committee instructed the Secretary to send a letter to both SASCOC and Premier Soccer League (PSL), but it seems the letter was only sent to SASCOC. The content for PSL was supposed to address stampedes at stadiums. When will PSL appear before the committee?

The Chairperson replied that the Secretary will liaise with the PSL and schedule an appearance of PSL before the committee after reviewing the committee’s schedules.

On briefing the committee regarding the Cuba trip, the Secretary said she has sent a request to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) to advise the best days, and ideal offices to visit while in Cuba before parliament sits for summer.

Mr Ralegoma moved for adoption of the minutes and was seconded by Ms Manana.

Committee minutes dated 24 October 2017

Mr M Mabika (NFP) noted that he is slated as absent in page two for that meeting while he had sent apologies stating that he was writing exams.

The Chairperson agreed that it was an error.

Mr Ralegoma moved for the adoption of the minutes and was seconded by Mr Mhlongo.

The meeting was adjourned.