SA Sports Commission Annual Report: briefing

Sport, Arts and Culture

16 November 2004
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Meeting report

041116pcsport

SPORTS AND RECREATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
16 November 2004
SA SPORTS COMMISSION ANNUAL REPORT: BRIEFING

Chairperson:
Mr B Komphela (ANC)

Documents handed out:
SA Sports Commission Annual Report PowerPoint presentation
Committee Annual Report
SA Sports Commission Annual Report [available shortly on
www.sasc.org.za]

SUMMARY
The SA Sports Commission (SASC) presented its Annual Report and claimed that it had been successful in achieving its goals of the past year. The Commission had endeavoured to train and empower black youths to bring about change and transformation in sport. Members were concerned about the upgrading of sports facilities and whether legacy projects were implemented after major sporting events had been held in towns and cities across the country. They also asked why Gauteng appeared to receive most of the Commission's attention, possibly to the detriment of other deserving provinces.

MINUTES
The Chairperson commented on the Committee meeting with the Education Committee and their visit to France in 2005. He suggested that the meeting would be necessary because education had much to do with school sports. The visit to France would help the country benefit from the proper use of facilities during and after major sporting events such as the Soccer World Cup.

The Committee would also prepare its budget when Members returned in 2005.

The Committee adopted its minutes of 22 and 26 October and also 2, 3 and 5 November 2004.

South African Sports Commission briefing
Dr Phaahla, CEO, stated that although it had only been four years since the organisation began operating, unity had existed in South African sports for 12 years. He presented the overall management structure of the organisation and elaborated on past and current projects.

The All African Games in Abuja in 2003 had been a success. The country came third in the overall ranking and had a fair distribution of female and black player representation. However, much would need to be done to ensure evenly distribution of demographic profiles of sporting teams in the country.

The Commission was very keen on education and training as 'deliverables'. The organisation currently supported 225 federations throughout the year. It also had sport academies in all nine provinces. The Commission also presented a brief financial statement and concluded that for the first time in four years, it had received an unqualified audit from the Auditor-General.

Discussion
Ms Morobi (ANC) asked whether the soccer facility in Buffalo City would be upgraded to meet the standards required for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Dr Phaahla stated that the outlook for the 2010 tournament had not been defined. The local organising committee would have to be established before any final decision could be made on what standards would be required.

Ms M Ramakaba (ANC) wanted to know whether Gauteng was the only suitable place for facilities and programmes. She asserted that almost all government programmes seem to be directed only at Gauteng.

Dr Phaahla responded that the decision to concentrate on Gauteng was made two to three years ago. The Commission had asked provinces if they were interested and only Gauteng had responded. A survey team had investigated building sport facilities in the provinces and the team had recommended Gauteng. The Minister, however, was interested in decentralisation and they intended to build facilities and conduct programmes in every province.

Mr Louw (ANC) requested that the Commission elaborate on the impact of South Africa's games on the national federations it supported.

Dr Van der Spur, Manager of the SASC, stated that the impact of games was mainly reflected in the demographic of teams. Progress was being made, although it might not be reflected right away.

Mr E Saloojee (ANC) was concerned that historically disadvantaged people were not making any real advancement in sports. He asked whether the Commission had any meaningful role in bringing about a real transformation that would take these people into consideration.

Dr Phaahla stated that it was difficult for the Commission to intervene in the Federations or other bodies that were responsible for transforming sports. Some sports like boxing and football had a decent number of black representatives, but he could not say the same for swimming and others. The Commission had met with a number of organisations and had discussed the issue, but agreements were not being transformed into practically. The Commission's intention was to find practical systems of intervention. In Limpopo, for example, during the SA Games, the Commission had insisted that the hockey team was 50% black youths. These were the kind of practical intervention that would bring about the needed changes.

The Chairperson wanted to know whether the SA Games in Buffalo City and elsewhere had legacy projects that would be implemented when the Games were over. He also wanted to know what was going to happen to personnel when the restructuring of the organisation took place. Lastly, he asked the Commission to state what help they would need from the Committee to bring true representation to sport, and what progress had been made in terms of other recreation.

Dr Phaahla responded that legacy projects were intended for long-term benefits. In the Eastern Cape, the Commission had assisted the Province to acquire funds to renovate and build sporting facilities. Legacy projects such as building the capacity of the inhabitants of the provinces through competitive training programmes after the Games, had also been left in place.

However, much remained to be done. The Commission would not dictate to provinces on how to choose players for training programmes and on places to host games. Some provinces chose small cities while other chose bigger cities. In the past, the Commission had insisted on some provinces choosing smaller cities.

The executive of the new body would work with the existing body to restructure personnel. The legal requirement of labour law was informing the steering committee. Jobs had been guaranteed for those personnel that lost their positions in this process.

The Commission was negotiating with the Minister to delegate a team outside of sports to deal with integration. A monitoring team would help bring about integration. The Commission had not dealt with recreation issues, but was making progress towards that.

The meeting was adjourned.

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