Question NW688 to the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture
29 March 2023 - NW688
Luthuli, Mr BN to ask the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture
Considering the successes of Banyana Banyana in the African Cup of Nations competition and the Proteas during the International Cricket Council Women’s T20 World Cup in Cape Town and the boost they gave for the recognition and support of women’s sporting codes, (a) what are the sustainable plans his department has in place to increase female participation in sport spanning from grassroots to a national level and (b) how will his department capacitate female sporting codes, especially in rural and/or disadvantaged communities?
Reply:
According to the information at my disposal at the moment:
a) The success of Women’s teams such as Banyana Banyana in the African Cup of Nations competition and the Proteas during the International Cricket Council Women’s T20 World Cup can be attributed to collaborative efforts, plans and interventions between the Department and the National Federations. Subsequent to the National Sport and Recreation Indaba held in 2011 and the publication of the resultant National Sport and Recreation Plan (NSRP), the Department identified core federations to focus on in terms of promotion of Women Sport. Netball was the first sport code that the Department focused on as part of the Intensive Support Programme. Through this initiative the Netball League was established. The plan was to provide this support for three consecutive years after which the initiatives should be self-sustainable.
Similar approach has been adopted with Women’s Football with the establishment of the National Women’s Football League. This league has progressed to acquire a title sponsor hence it is now called the Hollywoodbets Super League. The Department also identified Women’s Cricket and Women’s Rugby as codes to focus on. It is for this reason that the Departmental funding to these codes is primarily for women’s programmes. The Department will continue with this focused intervention to target identified codes.
b) The Department is working with the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic (SASCOC) in ensuring that all codes have programmes aimed at development and promotion of Women Sport. These initiatives/programmes are supported by provision of sport facilities through a ring-fenced Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) allocated to municipalities following DSAC’s selection process and transferred by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) as the custodian and transferring department of this Grant. By design, MIG is biased towards rural and/or disadvantaged communities and for this reason most of the facilities built through it are in such areas, and the department will continue to prioritize them in the future.
Currently the department has two main programmes that support the development of women in sport and in particular, football:
(i) School Sport Programme: Through this programme, all 16 priority codes that participate at the Championships, have a 50/50 representation of women. This is to ensure that there is an equal platform to participate and develop women. At the National School Sport Championships, provinces have been able to send at least 3 categories of participants which include male and female.
(ii) Club Development Programme: The programme has concluded the pilot study in Kwazulu-Natal and Limpopo, which has among other Netball, Athletics, and Football clubs. The Club development programme is a dedicated programme to ensure the development of sport, including the participation of women in sport. This project is extended to rural areas through the Rural Sport Development Programme that currently focuses on organizing leagues and structures in rural areas.