Netball SA 2020/21 Annual Report; 2023 Netball World Cup prep; with Minister

Meeting report

The Chairperson opened the meeting and congratulated the Proteas women for winning New Zealand and not losing a single game at the World Cup – the Committee wished them well for their next match.

The Committee looked forward to the 2023 Netball World Cup and SA should continue to support Netball Fridays to raise awareness for the upcoming World Cup.

Meeting agenda

Mr T Mhlongo (DA) requested an item be added: correspondence from the Minister.

Ms V Malomane (ANC) was concerned that Members were not prepared to discuss that item. She did not agree to the addition of that item.

Ms R Adams (ANC) agreed. She said the Committee already discussed putting items on the agenda ahead of time.

Ms V Van Dyk (DA) agreed with Mr Mhlongo that the letter should be placed on the agenda as all Members received the correspondence.

Mr B Mamabolo (ANC) thought the Minister or Department should be given a chance…

Mr Mhlongo interjected with a point of order. He asked to read the letter to Members.

The Chairperson did not allow this.

Mr Mamabolo said the item was not on the agenda. It could be added next time.

Mr D Joseph (DA) proposed that the item be placed on the agenda for the next meeting if Members were not prepared – he was trying to find a middle ground.

The Chairperson said she received an SMS at 8:48am, while she was drafting her opening remarks, that this be added to the agenda. She agreed that the letter be discussed at the next meeting. The letter was simple and spoke to matters already raised in the Committee. It would be more appropriate to deal with this item once the visitors had been dismissed from the meeting.  She appealed for Members to behave honourably while the entity and Department were present.

Ms Mhlongo “warned” Members to talk to matters they know of. He was shocked that some Members did not know what letter was being spoken of; were emails even read?

The Chairperson asked that assumptions not be made; no one can be accused of not reading their emails.

Mr Mamabolo raised a point of order – he appealed for the meeting to move on.

Mr B Madlingozi (EFF) agreed with Mr Mhlongo that it did not seem some Members knew what they were talking about.

The Chairperson noted this was not a point of order. She would give Members the final chance to respond.

Mr Mhlongo repeated that some Members did not even read the letter even though it was sent to all Members – Members should not speak to emails they did not even read.

Ms Malomane raised a point of order – she said Mr Mhlongo was not clear on what letter he referred to.

Mr Mhlongo replied that Members should ask if they do not know.

The Chairperson ruled that she was closing the matter. The letter would be discussed in the next meeting. The agenda for the day was adopted. She welcomed the Minister and Department and allowed them to present the overview.

Minister's opening remarks

Mr Nathi Mthethwa, Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, emphasised the importance of this meeting because it dealt with a pivotal upcoming enterprise – the 2023 Netball World Cup hosted in South Africa. He commended Netball South Africa for being one of the national sporting federations in the country that had been performing exceptionally well. This exceptional performance was justified by their successful bid to host the World Cup. Netball ranked second in the country’s top sporting codes, which meant it was one of the most beloved sports in the country, after soccer.

By hosting this World Cup, the country would have an opportunity and a perfect platform to project to the world at large that South Africa was in fact a netball community. The event ought to create a legacy for the youth and upcoming generations that aspired to play netball. He wanted to see the legacy of the players who would be participating in the World Cup taking centre stage among young women and children.

The Minister acknowledged that transformation remained a critical challenge to the sporting fraternity, but mitigation measures were in place. This included the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture’s (DSAC's) collaboration with the Department of Basic Education (DBE) in handling this issue by examining key processes that may ameliorate this situation. Through such collaboration and examination processes, the Sports Ambassador Programme had been launched. Although this was still part of the school process, it was not exclusively so -- after school hours, learners and other young children from local communities would also be targeted in this programme. This was to ensure that young, vulnerable, and marginalised children were given the chance to be adequately groomed whilst also being granted an opportunity and a platform to showcase their talents.

Minister Mthethwa concluded by saying that apart from the serious substantive issues facing the country at the moment, there was nothing more important in South Africa than being fully behind the national netball team and supporting them.

Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) Overview: Netball SA (NSA)

Mr Vusi Mkhize, Director-General, DSAC, presented the overview of Netball SA’s Annual Report and preparations for the 2023 World Cup. He said the Department has over the years provided financial and technical support to Netball and provided dedicated support to reposition Netball SA through the Federation Intensive Support Programme, instituted in 2012. Key objectives of the programme:

-To create administration for Netball in the country

-Create and introduce new products

-Reposition Netball as a viable sport for corporate investments in order to ensure it is self-sustainable

The financial support to Netball SA for the 2021 / 2022 financial year is R3 500 000-00. The support is earmarked for the following priority areas;

-R200 000-00 for administration

-R3 300 000-00 for the Four Nations Tournament, Diamond Challenge, TWIZZA Provincial Championships, All Africa Games, U21 and Senior National Championships and the Males Championships.

The Department noted that the application by NSA did not have any requests for the capacitating of administrators, technical officials and coaches. This has been communicated with NSA and plans to include this aspect are under discussion. Additional is therefore possible provided information on the said programmes is provided

The Department is working with Netball SA in implementing the Netball World Cup Legacy Programme. The following are the objectives identified for the Domestic Legacy Programme:

-Improvement of the key age group categories through new events and competitions to ensure a sustainable pipeline for Netball in South Africa.

-Ensure that the transformation targets of Netball South Africa and further empowerment of women is accelerated.

-Improve provincial structures and administration levels.

-Development of facilities (Netball Courts) in identified communities across all Provinces.

-Development of 30 netball courts across the communities of the Western Cape

See presentation for further details on the Netball World Cup Legacy Programme.

Remarks of the Netball SA President

The Chairperson welcomed Netball SA and its President. She apologised for keeping them waiting while the Committee dealt with internal matters. She recalled how painful it was to see the NSA President at the memorial service; may their souls rest in peace [she was referring to the tragedy in December 2021 when three netball players and an official died when a bus carrying two teams from the OR Tambo district was involved in an accident in Aberdeen]

Ms Cecilia Molokwane, NSA President, welcomed the words and said NSA wanted to see netball become the number one sport in SA. She wanted to see the boy and girl children making something of their lives. She was excited to host SA’s first world cup – it would be the first time in 63 years of the cup existing, that SA hosted the event. She was even more proud that the team was women-led. She appreciated the support of the Committee and the Department.

Netball SA Annual Report 2020/21

Ms Molokwane took Members through the Annual Report. She reported that the past 12 months were incredibly challenging from a financial perspective. A certain degree of uncertainty does exist around the income generation ability of NSA and ongoing government and sponsor support will be essential.

In the past 12 months, NSA realized an increase in income, stable management expenses and a resulting surplus. This is a positive and strong indication of good governance and financial management.

NSA has managed to control expenditure and increase revenue. This has not been the case for many sporting bodies and clubs which have regrettably folded or come under immense pressure during this time. NSA has continued to mobilise and run programmes and competitions. NSA has been able to host international teams and competitions and domestic club competitions with minimal challenges.

Challenges:

-Management of NSA brand and reputation: Afriforum challenging transformation process etc

-Member registration process

-Venues expensive and hard to find

-Covid19 pandemic

See presentation for further details

NSA Preparation for 2023 Netball World Cup

Ms Blanche de la Guerre, NSA CEO, said the NWC2023 board has finalised its policies and will be published on the NWC2023 website.

The World Cup will be played over ten days from 28 July to 6 August 2023 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC). The CTICC will be the training venue for the World Cup. A comprehensive competition schedule will be finalised between the local organizing committee, World Netball and the technical delegate.

See presentations for further details

Discussion

Mr Mhlongo said the presentation was not clear despite the NSA IT official being present – this must be worked on in future as it was awkward.  

Mr Mhlongo asked the NSA to provide an adequate explanation about why they were not present at the first meeting with the Portfolio Committee. This question stemmed from the fact that the president and the chief executive officer (CEO) were seen on television on the day the Portfolio Committee meeting was scheduled, yet the meeting was virtual. Such conduct revealed contradicting statements, which made the Committee question the ethics and integrity of NSA.

He wanted to know why the president of NSA was the sole presenter of the presentation. He suggested that other members of the board should also be granted an opportunity to contribute to the presentation because the sole participation of the president did not align with the goals of companionship and unity.

The next query stemmed from his concern about the absence of the project manager – why was he not present at the meeting? He also asked about the whereabouts of the board of the 2023 Netball World Cup? What were their specific duties and responsibilities? Was Ms Mkhwabane the chairperson of the Netball South African board? If yes, then why was she not here, and part of the delegation? The board was composed largely of government officials, and he suggested that this should change and become more diverse by incorporating members of the private sector or more experienced members in the field -- for instance, Ms Hazel Gumede– who was a veteran of South African netball. He urged that people of her calibre and with that level of experience should be utilised.

His next question stemmed from the Director-General’s presentation of the Netball annual report. The presentation covered aspects relating to targets set by the Department and also the programmes created. He asked how many of the targets that were set, had been achieved. Of the programmes that were created, how many targets had been achieved in each programme, and how many were not?

Lastly, the financial allocation – was it still R3.5 million for 2020/21? If so, what exactly had it been used for?

Mr Madlingozi noted that a lot of money had been cut from the directors. What kind of allowances had been given up by the directors that were deemed fit to be cut?

He asked if there were no risks of depletion of the finances earmarked for the NSA. Why was the Portfolio Committee entertaining men playing a woman’s sport? Was it not premature to dilute the netball sporting fraternity, given the small budget allocated to netball?

Why had the council failed to adopt the review policy when it came to the selection of the umpires? In addition, were categories such as umpires of colour and coaches of colour exclusively for black people?

Why were there a high number of male coaches in this overwhelmingly female sport?

Did the notion of ‘generic black African’ also imply that there was a ‘generic white’?

He referred to two disturbing accidents in the netball sporting fraternity. Two children had recently passed away with their coaches, yet nothing had been mentioned about this. He added that he had seen the torn-up seats of the NSA bus, and asked how NSA allowed these young black professionals to travel in such "shady" transportation. What plans had been put in place to ensure that nothing like this happened again?

Ms Adams said the board of the Netball World Cup for 2023 was composed largely of senior Department officials, members of NSA and the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC). Why were members of civil society, independent organisations and the private sector not given room to participate? She was concerned about the lack of gender diversity.

She asked about the nature of the relationship between the NSA and the Department of Correctional Services (DSC).

What was the status of the Afriforum case?

It was good to hear of games being hosted in the Northern Cape.

Ms Van Dyk agreed with Mr Mhlongo about the unprofessionalism of cancelling a meeting at the last minute.

She was not satisfied with the information contained in the annual report because there was no information about court cases, and nor were there any diagrams. She asked the NSA to provide the Committee with the missing information in the report. This would enable Members to see the NSA’s five-year trajectory plans, key targets, strategic planning and measured outcomes, not merely the presentation of upcoming events.

She asked why the report of the vice president was not included? Could the Committee receive this report by the end of this day?

She wanted the NSA to reflect on why members like its vice president, the director of netball, and umpires had resigned? The Portfolio Committee deserved to be informed about this because these were high netball officials. She asked for feedback on recent court cases.

While going through their presentation, she had not noticed how NSA was planning to address the safeguarding of athletes? She was curious to know how NSA would address gender-based violence (GBV), especially when it involved children falling victim at the hands of their coaches. She made reference to a court case from October 2021, where a schoolgirl was raped. Were there any support mechanisms offered to these victims? She asked to be provided with an update on the two coaches who were recommended to be suspended as a consequence of their actions. She also asked if the two coaches were accredited by Netball South Africa? If not, how were these coaches able to coach?  She further raised her concerns by wondering how sponsors like Telkom and SPAR would react had they found out about this issue.

She inquired about the 2021 meeting between SASCOC and NSA.

Further, she made it clear that NSA must take action against the CEO for selectively sharing information.

Lastly, she raised a complaint about invoices not being received by the desk of the finance committee.

Mr Joseph asked what the specific role and duty of the World Cup team was, as orchestrated by the Minister, to ensure the success of the event. What progress and success had been made by this team?

Since the upcoming World Cup was taking place at the Cape Town International Conference Centre, he asked what the view of NSA was on having their own stadiums, especially in other provinces, because such endeavours would sustain the legacy of NSA.

When other countries came to South Africa before the World Cup, what would they use for practice purposes? Would they use other stadiums and facilities? How could other provinces be included as well?  

Given the current restrictions on stadium capacity, how would this constraint be received by the spectators and other provinces? Equally important was the number of spectators who would be allowed into a stadium?

He hoped the NSA would grant this Portfolio Committee the opportunity to conduct oversight visits, starting next year.

Would the NSA receive funding in addition to the R3.5 million received from the Department?

He asked to be provided details about the progress of the legacy programme. This was particularly aimed at the municipal level of the southern suburbs.

He highlighted the importance of the Portfolio Committee being informed about the venues for the World Cup before the official games began.

When the World Cup committee came to South Africa during their next visit, what would they measure, monitor, assess and analyse?

He was very pleased with NSA’s ongoing recruitment of talent from schools and at the club level and asked to be provided with the total number of students involved.

He was concerned that NSA did not have their own premises or office.

Were the employees at NSA full-time or part-time workers? In addition, what were their pay rates?

How would the deployed marketing strategies for the World Cup attract foreign internationals to come to visit and invest in the country, especially in Cape Town?

His last question was whether NSA submitted their athletes to anti-drug testing? If so, what had been the results?

Mr Mamabolo acknowledged and appreciated the work done by NSA under the leadership of the current president. This new executive leadership of the netball fraternity had resuscitated the sport because the people could now watch on their television screens on a regular basis, and it was also being played at schools and local communities. This had not been happening for quite a long time.

He urged all the Portfolio Committee Members and the delegation of the DSAC to become more involved, participative and supportive of netball, and to promote the upcoming World Cup the same way they did for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup.

He commended the involvement of men in netball as a great endeavour, because this particular sport had historically been exclusively for women, so this was good for transformation.

His question was around the issue of support from the DSAC was specifically directed to the Director-General. He noted that NSA had been granted R3.5 million – R200 000 for administrative purposes and R3.3 million for the four nations tournaments. He was curious to find out why this funding paled in comparison with the money granted to the Rugby Union, which was R4.5 million. Was this difference a result of the different sizes of the federations, or due to differences in gender?

Ms Malomane wanted to focus specifically on the issue of coaches historically charged with sexual abuse. How did the Netball Sporting Federation work to ensure that this would not happen to other athletes?  What was the status of this legal matter? How had it been handled by the netball sporting federation?

Her last question was whether or not NSA had carried out the recommendations of the World Netball Board which were shown on the last slide of the presentation.

Mr N Luthuli (IFP) wanted to find out what criteria were used for the allocation of netball courts because those located in his home town had had an incomplete infrastructure for the past ten years.

Netball South Africa's response

Ms Molokwane apologised for the absences at the first Portfolio Committee meeting that had been scheduled. The reason why both she and NSA's CEO, Ms Blanche de la Guerre, had been absent was because the World Netball CEO, Clare Briegal, was convening interviews with a commercial company for the 2023 World Cup at the time.

In response to the question as to why the project manager for the 2023 Netball World Cup was absent, she said NSA had brought all the executives that thoroughly understood everything that happened within NSA.

Ms Claudine Claassen, Director of Demarcations and Institutions, responded to the question of achieved targets. In the last three years, the membership of NSA had increased dramatically. A comparison of the number of members justified this assertion. In 2019/20, there were 16 100 members; in 2020/21, there were 16 477 members at the club level, whilst there were 320 862 members from schools. In 2021/22, the membership had increased to 383 806.

However, according to information leaked from the municipalities, there were currently over two million people in South Africa that were playing netball. This was because most of these players were not registered with Netball South Africa, especially those residing in rural areas. NSA was currently in talks with those municipalities and putting in place structures and institutions that were never there previously. The sporting federation was also assisting in getting these unregistered people on board.

In response to the notion of ‘generic black' and 'black African’, this was a concept received from the advice of the DSAC, but it did not intend to exclude white South African citizens. It was meant to focus and provide extra support to previously disadvantaged and marginalised groups.

One of the major challenges facing NSA was the lack of black African umpires, especially females. Nonetheless, NSA was working on measures to resolve this matter.

The board of NSA had previously had challenges of falling short of their targets, but the new board was improving. For instance, of the 11 newly recruited staff members (both part-time and full-time), nine were black. This was a major improvement.

The president responded on why veterans like Ms Hazel Gumede were not part of the board. She said the new board was formulated according to the bid document, which was aligned with the rules and regulations of the World Netball Association. This document was what had enabled NSA to be the host nation for the 2023 Netball World Cup.

Ms De la Guerre responded to financial matters, particularly the allocation of the R3.5 million. She said it had been allocated as a result of presenting the development plan for coaches to the DSAC. For these reasons, NSA’s financial statements clearly illustrated the exact amount of money that was received and spent. Most importantly, NSA tried to keep the Department’s financial accounts separate from the sporting federations’.

The president explained why men were included in netball, although the sport had a small allocated budget. She said the current board of NSA aimed to be inclusive and accommodative to everyone. It was therefore indiscriminative regarding gender, race and class. She added that the exclusion of men was part of the reasons why netball was not an Olympic sport.

Regarding international umpires, when the new board came into office in 2017, there was not a single international umpire in South Africa at the time. This could be attributed to the difficult and rigorous path of becoming an umpire because becoming one was preceded by tests and examinations. It took approximately three to four years for someone to qualify as an international umpire. Despite this, there were currently four umpires produced by NSA. This evidently meant that NSA was moving in the right direction.

Part of the reasons why male coaches were preferred was due to the lack of commitment by women. Black women, in particular, were committed elsewhere (at different workplaces). NSA had also embarked on accommodating old players for capacity building purposes. This initiative had allowed the likes of former South African netball player, Precious Mthembu, to be the Under 19 coach of the region five tournament.

She said that some information had been deliberately excluded from the report because it had to be presented to the council first, prior to presentation to the Portfolio Committee.

When district teams came to any championships hosted by Twizza, in particular, then NSA was responsible for everything from transportation to accommodation. In this instance, NSA worked hand in hand with the districts’ provincial manager and the district municipalities for issues relating to the type of transportation used, etc. NSA was not involved in the procurement process involving which buses would be used. However, it did ask the districts about where they would be sleeping, and which mode of transport would be used. Nonetheless, it was a very good lesson for all of them because one life lost was one too many, and nobody wanted this. Therefore, it was important for the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture to be informed about the roadworthiness of all the vehicles used to transport the players. She had spoken with the government officials and MECs about collaborative work as a means to mitigate such instances from happening.

Ms Mami Diale, Vice President, NSA, responded on the issue of 85% females in the sporting fraternity. She asserted that Netball was generally a female-dominated sport, and NSA was unapologetic about that. This did not insinuate that they were sexist, because males had been involved in the programmes of NSA, and males formed a part of their structure both locally and provincially. Therefore, despite women being the main participants in the sport, NSA was trying other measures to include and accommodate men. She suggested that Members of the Portfolio Committee should watch netball games to see how accommodative NSA had been of men. Males were everywhere in netball -- from umpires and coaches to trainers and administrators.

The president informed the Committee that the Department of Correctional Services were associate members of NSA, just like the Defence Force and the South African Police Service, so there was no special relationship.

Ms De la Guerre provided an update on the status of the Afriforum case. Afriforum had gone to the international body – World Netball -- to lay a complaint about the situation in South Africa. World Netball had responded by forwarding to their legal team all of NSA’s rules and regulations for events. According to World Netball, the reason behind NSA’s rules and regulations was the purpose of encouraging an increased amount of participation, rather than punishing people. It was for these reasons that World Netball acknowledged and commended NSA for encouraging everyone to participate in netball, irrespective of race, gender and class. This was also proven by their demographics.

Ms Molokwane responded to Ms Van Dyk’s criticism of outstanding information in the presentation. She was not aware of any missing information and wondered where Ms Van Dyk had got information that she did not know about.

She refused to disclose the issue of the directors who resigned to the Portfolio Committee prior to discussing it with the Council. This had surprised and concerned the president, because it was a matter that had not yet been publicised, yet Ms Van Dyk was already talking about it. She wondered where she might have received this information as well

She said the assumption that Christine du Preez and Anneline Lewis had resigned was 100% false. Her criticism of this assumption was on the grounds that the aforementioned executives had fallen short at the 2021 elections, due to the low number of people who had voted for them. For instance, Anneline Lewis had lost to the current director of coaches, Annelie Lucas, by 50 votes. Christine had lost to the vice president, Mami Diale, by more than 60 votes. For these reasons, the term “resigned” was peculiar in this instance.

During her tenure, Anneline Lewis had gone to check whether the implicated coaches were accredited or not. It had been found that one of them was accredited, but was on the run as a result of the legal action that ought to be taken against him. The other coach was found to have not been accredited, and the president said she did not know how the schools had got him to be the coach. This was one of the fundamental reasons why NSA had embarked on collaboration with the schools, in order to prevent these deviances.

On the issue of SASCOC being against the current NSA CEO, the president said she was uninformed about this matter. She further wondered where such information had been obtained from.

With regard to the invoice issues, she needed proof in order to deal with the matter.

Ms De la Guerre provided a response to questions about spectators and fans at the World Cup. Cognisant of COVID-19, she focused on risks and mitigation factors. The Southern Suns hotel at the Waterfront, which was used by Sevens Rugby, would also be utilised during the 2023 Netball World Cup because it could accommodate all 16 countries.

The CTICC was the only facility that could accommodate World Cup facilities. However, other training facilities would be available. Since World Cup participating countries normally arrived a few days or weeks before the tournament began, this would not only enable them to go to the host city but would also allow them to discover other training facilities that were a walking distance away from their hotels.

The capacity of the CTICC venue was 6 000, and there would be fan parks all over the country – in every city. To achieve this, NSA was working together with provincial governments and the DSAC. The construction of these fan parks was designed to make people feel and think that they were at the CTICC, although they might be in a different province.

Ms Annelie Lucas, Director of Coaches, responded to questions relating to the legacy programme, focusing on the local sphere. Each province was responsible for working with local municipalities and officials of the DSAC. This collaboration was for the purpose of running the programme. In the Western Cape, in particular, there had been professional coaching developments and the focus groups were mainly farm working communities and non-registered members. She did not have all the necessary information about the facilities provided but promised to send details to the Committee as soon as she received them.

She said NSA was well on track and would ensure that upcoming ventures and initiatives were more visible and publicised. This would be achieved through advertising campaigns. Among the primary goals of NSA was to make netball as fashionable as possible, because the aim was to include and incorporate everyone. Even members of the Portfolio Committee would be invited when these initiatives were launched, to make them aware.

Ms Molokwane said the 30 courts which Cape Town had vouched for the legacy programme had already been under construction. The courts identified by the Director-General were courts within a school’s district for use by a club within the district. This was to ensure that these courts would not merely benefit NSA, but local communities and schools as well.

Ms De la Guerre said, no one had tested positive during anti-drug testing in the last four to five years in netball.

Ms Lucas emphasised some of the coaching changes, saying she had conducted a recent workshop in Upington where she had focused on the Child Protection Act and the current NSA safeguarding policy. NSA was aware of incidents taking place in netball and sport in general and as a result, it had adopted a proactive approach when dealing with coaches in these workshops, because it felt that it was important to be informed about a policy that was being implemented. During the workshops, she was able to go through both the policy and the code of conduct and made all the coaches sign the agreement. In the meetings, the coaches were productive and interactive, and all seemed to understand NSA's reasons for what it does. Through these transparent collaborative endeavours, good governance was likely to prevail.

Ms Diale said the CTICC would be utilized for the Four Nations Tournament in January 2023. This event would see participation by Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa. This would allow the 2023 World Cup participating countries to have a feel of the venue before the tournament commenced because spectators would also be allowed. NSA would appoint a marketing company for advertising the 2023 tournament. In addition, countries coming to South Africa would be allowed to go to other provinces.

Ms Molokwane answered the question about why the vice president’s report was not included in the annual report. The exclusion of the report was constitutional because she did not report to the council.  The vice president may act and present the report when the president was absent.

DSAC's response

Ms Sumayya Khan, DDG: Recreation and Sports Development, referred to the issue of ‘generic black and black Africa,’ and suggested that the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) report needed to be revised for transformational purposes, as it was a report that also dealt with transformation. For the Department, the whole essence of transformation was to ensure that all the demographics of the country were at least democratically reflected. When sporting codes were reporting, and looking at what was generally accepted as human resources, they usually talked about ‘black’ as an encompassing word for both Indians and Coloreds as well. For the purposes of the EPG report, the DSAC had asked the various sporting codes to mention what specifically included the general acceptance of blacks. Given that the word ‘blacks’ was generally accepted to include other marginalised groups, the Department wanted the sporting codes to include how they were addressing the issue of ‘black Africans’ in particular. This was where the notion of ‘generic black and black Africa’ stemmed from because ‘black Africans’ were the majority population in the country. Therefore, the DSAC wanted to see the sporting codes representing the majority race group as well.

On the issue of the R3.5 million that had been allocated to NSA for funding, NSA had not mentioned nor included capacity building in their report to the DSAC. The Department, however, would come back with a report that included this aspect. The further allocation of R3 million for NSA was currently in process, and this additional financial allocation was primarily for the purpose of capacity building.

The question of the board had also been attended to. NSA had indicated that they were here at the Portfolio Committee meeting as representatives of the board. The responsibilities of the board included achieving event objectives; putting policies in place; approving awarded contracts; operating events within the agreed budget, and the proposal of funding agreements/contracts for services at the tournament. The current board had thus far finalised their policies; conducted workshops; appointed an interim tournament director (while the tournament director was yet to be appointed); and had a project manager who had been appointed for close to a year.

As the President of NSA had noted, the courts were categorised as part of the legacy programme, because areas in the rural spaces would have to share these facilities. The same applied to the new courts at particular schools -- they would not merely be used by that particular school, but other schools in the districts may utilise those facilities as well.

Mr Mkhize (DG) responded to the issue of having fewer males in netball. This was not a reflection of a non-transformative agenda, but rather an affirmation of woman’s rights and interests, and would not be reversed for the sole purpose of benefiting males. In response to the matter raised by Mr Madlingozi regarding NSA having a small budget yet still involving males, he asserted that this Portfolio Committee was a champion of social cohesion and nation-building. This was achieved through agendas that allowed interracial programmes and gender mixing. Reversing these programmes would result in reverting back to those negative social stereotypes -- that particular activities were exclusively for boys and some for girls. Attitudinal changes were the fundamental reason why the Department thought it necessary to support NSA.

Responding to the question as to whether government took responsibility for the deaths of the children who passed away in the accident, he said politicians also had a soul, and it was very unfortunate that there were Members who wanted to use this tragedy as a platform to attack NSA and government. The role and work of government were to provide closure and relieve the pain of these families. This aid and closure to those families were provided within a month after the tragic incident occurred. He assured the Committee that NSA was not responsible for the unforeseen accident because they had not been involved in the procurement of the transport. It was indeed very unfortunate that this had become a burden for NSA. The matter was under investigation, and when it had been finalised, full details would be presented to the Committee.

In response to Mr Joseph’s question about additional funding for the upcoming Netball World Cup, at the time this question was asked there had already been an R30 million per annum commitment that had been contractually agreed upon. However, an additional R60 million would be provided for further assistance this year, which would increase the total to R90 million. This was a form of support from both the DSAC and the national government.

Responding to Mr Mamabolo’s question about why the netball fraternity was receiving less financial assistance than rugby, he said there would be an additional budget which would be directed to two areas where netball was to be addressed.

He assured Mr Luthuli that the provision of netball courts in his hometown was long overdue, as it was unacceptable that the infrastructure was left incomplete for the past ten years. He promised to report back to him on the developments that would take place.

Follow-up questions

Mr Mhlongo said the Director-General sounded more like a politician than an administrator. He urged the DG to distinguish the two and focus primarily on the policy implementation and the administration of laws, rather than politicising issues.

He was not satisfied with the NSA president's response to questions relating to the missing information in the report. Her responses to Ms Van Dyk revealed an unpleasant attitude. Despite the information not being disclosed to the council, the council’s meetings were accessible to the public, and some Members of the Portfolio Committee used their own research methodologies and mechanisms to obtain information. The president did not fully answer all the questions, and he wanted to know why she was comfortable with answering certain questions and not comfortable with answering others. In this way, he felt as if the Members of the Committee were being pushed from pillar to post. He therefore proposed an urgent meeting with the 2023 World Cup board, along with the executives of NSA.

He asserted that it was relevant for Members of the Portfolio Committee to ask questions about the status of the families of the young girls who had passed away in the bus accident.

Regarding the previous meeting which the NSA president had not attended, he said she had not only been at a meeting with the World Netball CEO -- she had also been seen live on television heading to the Eastern Cape. Therefore, her apology was noted but not fully accepted, because the truth of the incidents that took place that day had not been fully disclosed. He urged the president to prioritise Portfolio Committee meetings in future.

He asked why there was no finance report in the presentation because he believed that where there was finance involved, there was accountability.

He also asked if Ms Molokwane had been in contact with any of the people shortlisted for the position of CEO.

Ms Van Dyk concurred with Mr Mhlongo that the board of the 2023 World Cup must be invited to the Portfolio Committee to disclose their processes.

She said the manner in which the NSA president had spoken to her was unacceptable because her duty had been to respond to the Committee, not to a particular individual.

She added that the vice president had been involved in the 2020/21 report, and at that stage, she was still involved in the inputs of the programme, so why was her input shunned all of a sudden? For these reasons, it was important that the Portfolio Committee and the citizens of South Africa should know precisely what happened. The reason why such questions were asked was to compel them to come clean and clarify matters that had been heard and read elsewhere.

Lastly, she asked what kind of support had been offered to the victims of the accident.

Ms Adams asked how NSA was working to ensure that underdeveloped Cape Town communities were also involved in the 2023 World Cup.

The Chairperson warned the Portfolio Committee Members as well as the presenters that they should watch how they expressed themselves. How they spoke to each other must reflect the values of leaders, because that was what they were. They should not speak in a tone that was undermining or condescending. For these reasons, she would interject only when there was chaos because she was not subject to being biased, taking sides or protecting particular individuals.

She said the Committee meetings were platforms where leaders from both ends ought to build the country and its sports, diligently and compassionately working together.

As a former netball player herself, she was pleased to see former netball players involved in the sporting fraternity. She suggested that veteran members like Nombeko Vaphi, who were the stalwarts of netball in the country, should also be contacted and consulted.

Responses

Ms Molokwane apologised to any Member of the Portfolio Committee whom she had inadvertently offended during her presentation.

She said that before a presentation went to the council, it had to be rectified by her 21 days beforehand. Thereafter, it should be presented to the council. The report of the vice president mentioned by Ms Van Dyk had been sent directly to her as the president. This was part of the reasons why the council had refused to consider it, because it had not been done procedurally.

On the position of the CEO, the people who had applied for this position had contacted her personally to inform her that they were shortlisted. When she had asked who had leaked such confidential information to them, they had said it was the former vice president. She had been the only person she knew who had access to this privileged information. For these reasons, and for continuity's sake, the CEO position was no longer up for advertisement until the end of the 2023 Netball World Cup.

The president said her biggest desire was to run netball professionally. However, NSA was not managed by professionals because they were collaborating with people who were not necessarily professionals. Nonetheless, given the fact that netball was ranked second in the sporting codes of the country, despite its budget being less than a quarter of the soccer budget, this gave them something to be proud about.

She said huge amounts had been offered by the sponsors to the accident victims’ families. She was reluctant to disclose the exact figures because the sponsors did not want them to be disclosed to the public – they were not assisting for the sake of publicity. NSA was also working closely with DSAC and the MEC in Eastern Cape to ensure that the victims’ families and other players received counselling.

Closing remarks

Mr Mkhize affirmed why it was important for the board of the 2023 World Cup to brief the Portfolio Committee. He further commended NSA for the drastic improvements in both the demographics and the sport's gender participation. It was important to support the girl child to participate in sport which would then empower the nation.

Minister Mthethwa said that in two weeks' time, he would be meeting with Cabinet and the ministerial committee, and would use those platforms to speak about the goals, needs and views of the netball sporting fraternity. He further emphasised the need for South Africans to shift their focus towards supporting NSA, and its leadership, for the upcoming World Cup.

Ms Molokwane thanked the Committee for the support and robust discussion.

The Chairperson thanked the Minister for attending. She urged NSA to keep up the good work. She recalled the tragic accident in December 2021. She said the Committee would continue supporting NSA. She said as a former player, netball was in her heart.

Committee minutes

The Committee considered and adopted minutes from a previous meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.