ATC150126: Report of the Portfolio Committee on Sport and Recreation on the implementation of the National Sport and Recreation Plan in Eastern Cape and Gauteng, July 2015, dated 13 October 2015

Sport, Arts and Culture

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Sport and Recreation on the implementation of the National Sport and Recreation Plan in Eastern Cape and Gauteng, July 2015, dated 13 October 2015

A. Introduction

A delegation of the Portfolio Committee on Sport and Recreation conducted oversight in Eastern Cape and Gauteng provinces from 21-24 July 2015 to:

Assess the use of the grant allocated to the provinces in terms of the Division of Revenue Act (DORA) for the implementation of sport and recreation programmes for providing sporting opportunities to communities;
assess whether provincial plans are aligned to the Sport and Recreation SA (SRSA) mandate of implementing the National Sport and Recreation Plan (NSRP) vis-à-vis the provincial outcomes;
assess the impact of facilities built for sport and recreation through the assistance of the National Lottery and Sport Trust; and
monitor the implementation of the sport focus schools model in assisting talented athletes to achieve their potential.

The delegation of the Portfolio Committee on Sport and Recreation included:

Ms B N Dlulane (ANC, chairperson,), Ms B J Dlomo, ANC, Ms B L Abrahams, ANC, Ms D P Manana, ANC, Mr S G Mmusi, ANC, Mr S M Ralegoma, ANC, Mr D Bergman, DA, Mr M S Malatsi, DA, Mr P G Moteka, EFF, Mr M S Mabika, NFP and Mr M L W Filtane, UDM.

On 21 July 2015 the delegation conducted three meetings: first with the provincial department of sport, provincial academy and sports confederation, thereafter with staff and learners of Dale College sport focus school in King William's Town and the provincial and national departments of sport and recreation, and finally with boxing promoters in East London. On 22 July the committee conducted two meetings, first with councillors and officials of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, the municipal and local sport confederation and district sport academy, and thereafter with the municipal sport confederation, regional sport clubs, the provincial sports council, the provincial department of sport and recreation, and Salga. On 23 July 2015 the committee conducted three meetings and three site visits (Sport Science Centre in Johannesburg, High Performance Centre at University of Pretoria, and High Performance Centre school in Pretoria). The first meeting was with the Gauteng department of Sport and Recreation, provincial academy and sports confederation, the second with the Gauteng Sports Confederation and provincial academy at their premises, which included a visit to the sport science centre at the Johannesburg Stadium, and the third with officials and staff of the Rosina Sedibane sport focus school, officials of the provincial and national departments of sport, and the national department of Education. On 24 July the committee conducted two meetings; the first meeting was with the member of municipal council (MMC) responsible for sport and recreation and officials of the municipal department of sport in Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality, and the second was with sport federations and officials of the municipal sport academy at the Germiston Stadium.

In Eastern Cape the delegation was accompanied by the chairperson of the Eastern Cape Legislature Portfolio Committee of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation and met officials of the Department of Sport and Recreation (SRSA), Department of Basic Education (DBE), Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture (DSRAC - EC), Eastern Cape Department of Education, Eastern Cape Sport Confederation, Eastern Cape Sport Council, the principal, teachers, officials and learners of Dale College sport focus school, teachers and coaches of neighbouring schools, Nelson Mandela Bay Sports Council, SA Local Government Association (Eastern Cape and national), members of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (NMBMM) Portfolio Committee on Sport and Recreation, officials of NMBMM, officials of national, provincial and district sport federations, unions and clubs, such as SA Rugby (national), Eastern Province Rugby, Netball (NMB), SA Football Association (NMB), sport clubs in the NMB Metro, Eastern Cape Provincial manager of Boxing SA, and boxing promoters (East London).

In Gauteng the delegation was accompanied by the chairperson of the Gauteng legislature Portfolio Committee on Education, chairperson of the Gauteng legislature Standing Committee on Public Accounts, and legislature staff. The delegation met the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality mayoral committee member for Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, , officials of the Department of Sport and Recreation (SRSA), Department of Basic Education (DBE), Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation (SACR - Gauteng), Gauteng Department of Education, the, Gauteng Sport Confederation, Gauteng Sports Council officials of the national High Performance Centre at University of Pretoria, SA Local Government Association (Gauteng and national), officials of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, City of Johannesburg, Johannesburg Sports Council, Ekurhuleni Sport Academy, Ekurhuleni Sports Council, officials of SA Rugby Union and Valke Rugby, and staff and school governing body deputy chairperson of Rosina Sedibane Modiba Sport School.

The focus of the meetings at municipalities was utilisation of grant funding, sport programmes, facilities and budgeting, as well as cooperation with government and private entities on local, provincial and national level. The committee inquired about the availability of sport and recreation programmes, impact on schools and school sport, and problems and responsibilities regarding maintenance and provision of facilities, and met sport clubs to obtain input regarding the successes and shortcomings of sport and recreation programmes and club development.

Oversight focus included the sport focused schools programme for talented athletes supported through the Ministerial Sport Bursary Scheme, the Gauteng provincial academy's scientific support to athletes (dependent on funding from provincial allocations) and data collection and reporting systems.

In Gauteng the committee endeavoured to assess the impact of the provincial department's Operation Mabaleng aimed at addressing the sport infrastructure backlog in depressed and deprived communities; cooperation and coordination by all departments and federations in sports and alignment to the NSRP; the province's support of sport academies, schools (sport equipment), and sport federations and the Gauteng academy's implementation of programmes and progress with setting up a district academy in Ekurhuleni before the end of the financial year.

B. Information gathered during meetings and site visits, 21 – 24 July 2015

1. Eastern Cape province

1.1. Meeting with Eastern Cape Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (21 July 2015)

1.1.1 Sport-related plans and programmes

The provincial department's NSRP-related plans for 2014-19 comprised: School Sport, Active Recreation Programmes and Campaigns, Academies of Sport, Club Development, Support to Sport Councils and Federations, Sport Tourism, International Relations. The department presented a briefing on programmes related to sport development, recreation, school sport and the mass participation conditional grant.

6% of the Eastern Cape provincial department's conditional grant allocation is allocated to permanent staff, 3,5% to district and provincial academies, 3% to the provincial sports council, 40% to school sport, 20% to hubs, 20% to club development and 7% to provincial programmes. The provincial department's R 166 155 million budget for the 2015-16 financial year comprises grant and voted funds. The provincial department had equipped eight sport academies, some of which were in Alfred Nzo municipality, Nolitha special school satellite at Mount Ayliff, and also at McClear school, It was important that the department, after setting up the model for Dale College, maintain a good relationship in order to maintain and support the programme.

1.1.2 Boxing

Support for open boxing/amateur boxing: 33,4% of the allocation for boxing goes to open boxing. A SANABO tournament was held in Grahamstown shortly before the committee's oversight visit, and the provincial department was surprised to receive feedback that the committee had received letters from stakeholders in professional boxing, and that the committee had been informed that professional boxers were not taken care of.

Assistance when boxing purse money was not paid: In the past the provincial department had assisted to release the funds, but payment of purse money to boxers was in private hands. The matter of purse money was between Boxing SA and promoters. The provincial department knew of two promoters who had taken disputes about payment of purse money to court. These matters were still before court and therefore sub judice.

The provincial department engaged with boxing and other sectors in service level agreements (Premier Boxing League, for example) and was careful not to include outstanding competition fees because it was outside regulations. The provincial department was not a partner with regard to purse money and outstanding fees, and t ensured that these were compliant with the dates on which the boxers had to receive the purse money, and also followed up. Approximately 40% of the athletes in the programme were boxers.

1.1.3. School sport - Input by Eastern Cape Department of Basic Education'

Demarcations: The provincial Department of Basic Education started their programmes from regional (district) level upward. The demarcations were a challenge, since the provincial Department of Basic Education operated under 23 districts and the provincial department of sport under 7 districts.

Wednesday school sport, leagues, physical education: Wednesday school sport was being implemented. There had been a launch of Wednesday leagues, and it was a matter of monitoring. There were code committees in all the codes, and the provincial department was strong in all the indigenous games. Physical education was also a challenge, and the provincial department was assisted by Mr Price clothing company. The programme had been rolled out in three districts, and with the help of the GET phase and all the foundation phase teachers they were working together at operational level.

Transport, participation and school sport policy: Transport was difficult for rural schools, because some learners lived 15 km from the nearest school. The league format was in terms of the geographic setup in former Transkei. The provincial department made schools participate in sport, starting with intra school sport. An official of the national Department of Basic Education reported that the department was engaging on the school sport policy and negotiations had not been concluded at the time of the committee's oversight visit.

1.2. Eastern Cape Academy of Sport, Sport confederation programmes and Club development

Input by the Eastern Cape Sport Confederation

The work of the Eastern Cape sport confederation includes increasing sport participation, coordination, development and transformation, and strengthening structures at local level.

The sport confederations' geographic footprint is in all districts, and the Eastern Cape Academy of Sport supports the preparation of identified talent through districts and the provincial academy.

The provincial department was inundated with requests for sport kit, and required that communities to first affiliate to a federation before such assistance was given. Communities have organised their own sport activities and play cricket and rugby on week-ends, however, the provincial department goes out to assist them to affiliate to federations.

The Confederation was established in 2009. The confederation reported that they did not always agree with provincial department how to tackle programmes. Training in sports administration was done also through a twinning agreement with Lower Saxony, and the confederation managed to host the provincial Sports Awards ceremony in collaboration with the provincial department.

The provincial confederation had applied for R500 000 in Lottery funding successfully to cover administration cost, since the money from the provincial department was not sufficient to cover administration costs. The provincial confederation requested the committee's assistance in overcoming the imbalances they were facing.

The provincial department had attended all the confederation's constitutional meetings. The provincial department and provincial confederation worked together in sports tourism by inviting proposals from event organisers and all sport federations. Current sport tourism programmes were boxing, road running and soccer.

1.3. Sport focus school Dale College – King William's Town (21 July 2015)

Dale College specialises in rugby, and had received R 800 000,00 from the Eastern Cape Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture in the 2014-15 financial year, and R1 000 000 in the 2015-16 financial year. The school accommodates 6 learners who had received sport focus school bursaries for rugby from the provincial department. The boys had been identified through the academy system. The school hosts 19 other schools on Tuesdays to play rugby, and on Wednesdays the pupils play for their own schools. Dale College fetches the pupils on Tuesdays and they play their league matches at Dale College. The players also receive specialised training. Talented children from this group are offered bursaries. The facility of R1,2 million was donated by old boys. Dale parents, staff and old boys play a critical role.

Problems: Transport

The largest problem for the general teachers is transport to honour their fixtures every Tuesday. The provincial department provides transport for them to play at Dale every Tuesday. The intention was not to take the talented learners away from their schools, since they play for their schools on Wednesdays.

1.4. Meeting with Boxing Promoters, East London (21 July 2015)

The committee held a meeting with the promoters of Boxing in the Eastern Cape alongside the provincial Manager from Boxing South Africa. The purpose of the meeting was to get to understand the matters of boxing as they relate to the non-payment of match fees by promoters to boxers. The other important matters of concern that the committee wanted to understand included matters of disputes that the EC promoters seemed to have in relation to cooperation with Boxing South Africa. However, during the meeting, the Committee realised that there were two associations of boxing promoters within the province and, which was in conflict with section 28 (3) of the South African Boxing Act, Act 11 of 2001.

The two groups of promoters raised a number of concerns related to the legitimacy of their structures, the establishment of the task team that the minister appointed, the process followed to appoint members of the task team, purse money and how it should be distributed, appointment of contractors and the period of appointment, issues relating to their involvement on determining the broadcasting of boxing on SABC etc. The committee advised that the two groups of promoters submit their concerns in writing, so that it could attend to the details of the submissions separately due to the complex nature of the concerns raised.

1.5. Meeting at Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (NMBMM) (22 July 2015)

The Nelson Mandela Bay Metro's department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture consists of 3 sub-directorates: Sport and Recreation; Arts, Culture, Heritage and Library Services; and Beaches and Resorts. It is a new directorate, formerly part of economic development, and therefore not fully staffed. 525 positions out of 820 were filled as a result of unfunded vacancies, and because the organogram has not been reviewed for the city. It was hoped that the organogram would be adopted on 6 August 2015.

Budget issues were a challenge and there was a moratorium on filling vacancies, and the issue of task grading was affecting the city and made it impossible for them to fill vacancies. It was not unique to the directorate.

The Metro's department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture had only two staff members to take care of maintenance in the department, with a R13 million maintenance budget.

1.5.1. 2014-15 Budget for facilities and sport programmes

The city does not give the municipal sport department 15% of the DORA allocation or the Urban Settlements Development (USDG) grant. In the 2015-16 financial year R54 million was allocated to dealing with the backlog of sport facilities. The metro's sport department will work on approximately 40 sport facilities in the 2015-16 financial year. The capital budget for facilities has increased from R10,3 million in the 2010-13 financial year to R71 million in the 2015-16 financial year. There are 310 sport and recreation facilities in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality. The 2015-16 budget for sport programmes is R 1, 600 000.

1.5.2. Areas of support

Support funding will be limited to campaigns addressing social issues, programs focusing on women and sport, the aged, programmes that promote an active and healthy life style, days of remembrance, mass participation, competition, capacity building, sports equipment and event hosting support. The allocation will not be used to support transport and accommodation to provincial, national and international participation; catering at tournaments or buying tracksuits and t-shirts.

1.5.3. Challenges raised by NMBMM

Insufficient budget to maintain and manage facilities at an acceptable standard
Vandalism and theft at sport facilities
No facility management committees (FMCs) in place (in process)
Declining staff numbers due to natural attrition, many funded and unfunded vacant posts
Moratorium on filling of vacancies due to budget cuts
Long delays in recruiting processes
Poor management of subordinates by line managers
Absence of succession planning
Some job descriptions do not support the service delivery imperatives of the directorate
Current organogram does not provide for the changing needs of the directorate
Grading issues emanating from the merging processes, TASK implementation

1.5.4. SA Local Government Association input on MIG in Eastern Cape

Salga's brief was to look at expenditure patterns.

For the financial year ending 31 March 2015 the Eastern Cape (EC) was allocated approximately R 3 billion, the second highest of MIG allocations. They had spent about 55% of provincial grant allocation at the end of Cogta's financial year. Only 2% of the total grant was spent for sport and recreation. The key component of the grant is focusing on community services, therefore the communities, through the public participation programmes, decide on the needs and priorities, and by law the municipalities are compelled to focus on the priorities as mandated by their communities. There are municipalities that see the need for sport facilities. Chris Hani District Municipality, for instance, had spent beyond 15%.

1.6. Sport clubs - Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (22 July 2015)

Rugby:

The state of facilities was problematic. Premier league field had no ablution facilities, floodlights were dangerously close to flood lights/line. Electricity concrete blocks were dangerous. At Motherwell football club there had been six drownings. There was no assistance; the clubs had to have prepaid electricity or no electricity, and there was no enclosed box at gate for taking ticket money. It was requested that the local authority should have a blanket subsidy and that the Eastern Cape Education Department should rather help schools to play.

Springrose rugby club had heard that the department was reopening negotiations on ownership of fields. None of the African clubs own fields and it was a sore point to the clubs in PE. They shared with soccer in New Brighton. The municipality's hosting events on pitch was problematic. There was a golf programme for young black persons, aged 15-17, from underprivileged homes in Walmer Township; a volatile area. Cooperation in offering this programme was requested from municipal officials.

Athletics:

The state of facilities, the unavailability of venues because of parties or preferred users, and government making deals with the private sector on behalf of athletics were problematic. The tartan track in New Brighton cannot be used, and the Galvandale stadium track cannot be used; it is only used for functions. Motherwell stadium is also problematic and cannot be used. The federation has taken a step to partner with Transnet Coega to sponsor electronic timing for Motherwell stadium and was also doing it for the schools. It was an irritation to use Nelson Mandela MU Stadium which was used for Varsity Cup, since they had preference. The Athletics association made a request that they are the sole custodian of athletics in the Metro and that athletics event should be funded without their input.

Netball in Nelson Mandela Bay Metro requested education and training programmes, to work with structures, since one of the challenges for netball was structures. There was a need to ensure the netball structures were structured and organised and matches were played, like the other codes.

Facilities: Stadiums and facilities were not initially built to cater for women. They had applied for lottery funding, to ensure through the lotto grant that they have facilities.

Safa Mandela Bay submitted that facilities were the biggest challenge in the metro. Football had 398 clubs in the metro - seniors only, not players under 13, 11 or 9 years of age. About 50% of these clubs had training fields, but there were not enough stadia. Not having enough facilities caused overuse of the facilities they had. The cutting of grass at the pitch was another challenge. Planning together could save costs and the establishment of facility committees would assist in this regard.

Port Elizabeth football association - Khaya saziya. Black people have moved to previously white residential areas where there are facilities for sports played by predominantly white people. Facilities are expensive, and there is a need for soccer to be looked into in the so-called white areas.

Northern areas football association president

The challenges affect every footballer, the facilities in the former disadvantaged areas are grossly inadequate. He requested that if the facilities were not to be upgraded decisive management of the facilities was needed. Facilities were needed that were not in the stadium mode. SAFA Nelson Mandela Bay and football planned separately from local government. It was requested that an advisory committee be considered getting the sport council to meet with local to plan for all sport in Port Elizabeth.

It was requested that since there were no playing fields in schools, joint planning should be done for the optimal used of municipal and school facilities.

SAFA women's football: SAFA NMB found facilities to be problematic. There were 16 teams in the regional league and the lack of change rooms was problematic. Some women had to change outside, which was embarrassing and posed a safety risk. SAFA women's football requested assistance with transport and exposure of international players to motivate the ladies.

Judo

There are no facilities for the judo indoor games. In boxing in New Brighton there used to be three facilities, but now there are none. People convert shacks into their gyms. Vandalising of rightsized schools was a sore point in view of the dearth of training facilities. Athletes could have used them to train for indoor games.

2. Gauteng Province

2.1. Meeting with Gauteng Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation, (23 July 2015)

In 2007, the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) adopted a “GPG Sport Development Policy Framework” that guided all GPG’s sport programmes and initiatives within the context of a developmental approach. The Gauteng Sport Plan was re-aligned to the National Sport Plan in 2012.

2.1.1 Financial allocations

The provincial department does not have voted funds for their programmes, and programmes for cultural affairs and library must also receive allocations. The grant was at R90 million, which had to be distributed between all the subdirectorates in the provincial department. Sport had money from the grant. The programmatic areas had a compensation budget and the money came from the grant. Voted funds were only allocated for the competitive issues.

2.1.2 Provincial support to Gauteng Sport Confederation (GSC)

2.1.2.1. Funding

Gauteng Provincial Sport Council changed their name to the Gauteng Sport Confederation. The GSC receives funding through the Conditional Grant (4%) and the Gauteng Gambling Board for Infrastructure Development. The provincial department supports the GSC with interns. The 4% is an allocation agreed by the department across the country; a norm that has been inculcated in the framework.

2.1.2.2. SASCOC support of Gauteng Sport Confederation

The primary role of the Gauteng sport confederation is to establish, sustain and support the provincial federations. The academy programme is implemented jointly by the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation and the Gauteng Sport Confederation. The programmes relate to identification of suitable venues and availability of the facilities. Regular meetings are held with the provincial sport confederation whereby progress reports on programme implementations are given and the expenditure thereof.

2.1.3. Academy Programme

Gauteng Provincial Academy consists of a virtual academy and partners with University of Johannesburg and the High Performance Centre at University of Pretoria, which caters for national and provincial programmes.

District Academies for Gauteng are: Ekurhuleni District Academy (2014-15), West Rand District Academy (Simunye Gymnasium) (2014-15), Tshwane District Academy (2015-16), Johannesburg District Academy (2016-17) and Sedibeng District Academy (2017-18).

Outreach programmes via mobile units: Four mobile units will be operating from the 2015-16 financial year: One, based at the Gauteng Sports Confederation, is already in use, two are to be purchased with the HPC as base, and one with University of Johannesburg as base.

2.1.4. Intergovernmental relations

The Gauteng provincial department engages with local government on political technical and operational level, and the Chief Directorate Sport and Recreation engages with Local Government Sport and Recreation at least twice a year on provincial level. One-on-one meetings also take place to consolidate the integration of programmes (per quarter).

2.1.5. School sport programmes aligned to NSRP

Programmes: Team Gauteng, Capacity building, Equipment, Attire, Regional/provincial events, Focus schools, School sport structures, School sport coordinators, Administration.

2.1.5.1. Ministerial Bursary Programme

In 2013 four learners received bursaries at Rosina Sedibane school; two boys for tennis, one girl for football and one boy for basketball. In 2015 six learners received bursaries, one for swimming, one for football, two for tennis, one for wheelchair tennis and one for wheelchair basketball.

Gauteng Sport Focus Schools: Rosina Sedibane - Tshwane, Queens - Johannesburg, General Smuts - Sedibeng, Nigel High - Ekurhuleni, Krugersdorp High – West Rand

2.1.5.2. School sport issues - policy, quality training, physical education

The challenge is not coordination of the school sport programme but the training/curriculum. In Gauteng there are 6 levels, and meetings are held at all six levels: There is a working relationship and a programme of action, and it is a long term process. Physical education is a national outcome. Previously physical education was a standalone subject which had allocated resources and an inspector visited schools for quality assurance.

2.1.5.3. Rural schools in Gauteng

There are 3 districts, and the department has a farm and rural schools programme. 7 out of the 15 have rural schools have a farm and rural schools festival in November which includes volleyball, netball and chess. The provincial department also engages with the educators in districts on programmes to ensure their level of education is on par with others.

2.1.5.4. Capacity building

There are two programmes to capacitate educators. The capacity building programmes on coaching, and technical officiating are funded and coordinated by the department, and others by codes and federations, e.g. rugby, chess, netball coordinate jointly with the provincial department of sport in Gauteng.

2.1.6. Transformation (geopolitical boundaries)

GSC’s role is to facilitate dispute resolution amongst its members, and is working on devising and implementing a transformation audit. Federations that do not comply will be deregistered; not all want to cooperate. The current constitution of SARFU limits the national department to instruct the provinces to comply; SARFU has 14 provinces, so the geopolitical boundaries must be demarcated. Even ASA has 11 provinces. They need help in this regard because the federations are said to be hiding behind their constitutions.

2.1.7. Hubs

The 13 hubs in Johannesburg had been reorganised into 7 regions; similarly in other districts, so that there were 15 cluster offices at the time.

2.1.8. Club development

90% of clubs are in townships. In working with the programme much improvement has been found with the clubs. 10% of clubs, boxing mostly, was in other areas. All the swimming clubs are in townships and work is done with municipalities with indoor heated pools. All rugby clubs come from townships and netball has been revived in the province. The national football academy is based at the high performance centre. One of the core things in clubs is capacity building, because many clubs are one man shows. It is desirable to enter them into the club smart programmes so that clubs are more sustainable.

2.1.9. Challenges Gauteng

With regard to club development, the biggest cost was transport to fixture matches;
Academy tracking of rural athletes has been a challenge.
In school sport transformation in schools and support from parents in black townships were regarded as a big problem.

2.2. Meeting at the Gauteng Sport Confederation Offices

The Gauteng Sport Confederation (GSC) represents Gauteng sport to the following stakeholders to develop partnerships. MEC, GDSACR, MMCs, Metropolitan and municipal departments of sport and recreation, SASCOC, SRSA, Business, International donors, Sport Federations, School Sport structures, Academies of Sport and high performance centres, Provincial Sport Council’s Presidents Forum, Tertiary institutions. The Gauteng Sports House is based at the Johannesburg athletics stadium and offers accessible, professional working environment for sport organisations in Gauteng.

There are five regional structures in Gauteng Sport Confederation: Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, Sedibeng, Tshwane, West Rand.

Sport confederation offers a wide range of programmes at the provincial and district levels. Funding is received from SRSA, Gauteng sport department GDSACR, Lottery and SASCOC.

2.3. Gauteng Academy of Sport

The Gauteng Academies of Sport Structure is: SASCOC, Gauteng SC, SC & Gov Academies; Tshwane, West Rand, Westonaria Satellite, Johannesburg, Sedibeng, Ekurhuleni, Federation Academies, Community academies, Private academies. Coaches commission and programmes: The GSC has established the coaching programme in the province and worked with SASCOC to implement a provincial coaches database, Attendance at the national coaches conference, Establishment of federation coaches committees, Implementation of the coaches' framework in the province, Implementation of the training of the coaching leaders in the province.

2.3.1. Challenges identified by the Gauteng Academy of Sport

Federations are not complying with NSRP demarcation. There is a challenge regarding Metro and Municipal departments and MMC buy-in and partnerships in all districts and municipalities, linkage of Municipal programmes to the NSRP, competence / capacity of SC committee members, SCs are not performing, lack of funding to district sports councils, lack of consultation in IDP, misinformation regarding the GSC, and transformation in sport in federations

2.4. Site visit at Rosina Sedibane High School (Tshwane)

Rosina Sedibane Modiba Sports School opened on 24th January 2003 to cater for previously disadvantaged learners (Academic & Sport). The premises used to house the Transvaal College of Education. The school offers six priority codes: Athletics, Basketball, Netball, Soccer, Swimming and Tennis and can accommodate 340 learners.

Facilities: 1 functional gymnasium; 1 25 m x 12 m swimming pool; 2 tennis courts; 2 basketball courts; 2 netball courts; 2 soccer fields; 1 soccer training pitch and 1 synthetic soccer field

Funding and sources of income: Parents School Fee, Allocation from Gauteng Department of Education (GDE), GSACR (Fund), Ministerial Sport Bursary. The allocation from GDE went to R2,8 million and the GSACR R200 000 annual allocation is paid to maintain specialised codes to ensure the learners in the specialised codes are supported.

Parent fee: R 2 500.00 (School), R 3 132.00 (Sport), R 10 668.00 (Boarding). Amount payable per learner per annum: R 16 300.00

The school allocation is R1 693 034.36, and the hostel allocation is R1 158 500.00. The R200 000 focus school allocation from GSACR for 2014 was for coaches' capacity building, Sport Science consumables, affiliation to clubs, installation of irrigation system, landscaping on sports grounds and maintenance of swimming pool. The R200 000 focus school allocation from GSACR for 2015, meant for four floodlights, two grandstand, movable posts, soccer and basketball balls, coaches' capacity building and resurfacing of basketball courts, had not been received at the time of the meeting.

2.4.1. Challenges reported by Rosina Sedibane High School

Systemic, academic, social and psychological: Ministerial bursary payments are not made on time, resulting in the school carrying the cost of learners' fees, and there is no clear reporting system; most of the learners' academic performance is poor, they have little commitment to academics and do not work hard; learners have emotional challenges; learners do not cooperate with intervention programmes and show lack of interest in extra classes offered to those who struggle academically.

Financial challenges: Parents do not pay the school and hostel fee in full; 75% of parents pay the school fees; the parents are not able to pay the fees as expected; the school is spending more than it receives from parents; the school has no sponsorship, and many learners are from a needy background.
Sport challenges: Coaches scout talented learners, but the school loses athletes annually to other schools that offer bursaries; the school has limited sporting facilities, courts are old and need urgent resurfacing, and coaches are paid poorly because the school has limited funds.

2.4.2. Requests by school

The school requested that -

A clear communication system be made available including the provincial department,
A workshop for parents, school governing body and senior management team (SMT) to ensure a common understanding of the ministerial commitments by all role players,
Academic and emotional assessment to be done before placement of learners,
Allocation for specialised coaching per code,
Allocation for academic support,
Timeous submission of first payment per child,
Scientific testing be done provincially,
Coaches accompany players during testing - (parents don't have means to assist with transporting the child to OR Tambo etc,

2.5. Ekurhuleni Municipality (24 July 2015)

2.5.1. Programmes and budget aspects for 2015-16 in Ekurhuleni Municipality Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture Department

Ekurhuleni Municipality accommodates 36 active sporting codes which are involved in sport development programmes. In line with priority sporting codes, the municipality has prioritised athletics and swimming to pilot the Sport Academy Programme .The Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation is engaging with the municipality exploring the opportunity of supporting a high performance gym in Ekurhuleni. The provincial department of SACR will assist Ekurhuleni Sport Academy to test all the identified athletes in the 2015-16 financial year. Ekurhuleni sport council requires R10 420 000 in the 2015-16 financial year.

Club development

The club development programme is aimed at facilitating enhanced access to the municipality's programmes through community structures. The municipality frequently has to support federations with ad hoc programmes. Programmes include Aquatics Club Development, Regional netball Programme, Disability Sport, and Federation Support.

Outreach programmes

In order to solve problems experienced with outreach programmes, the Ekurhuleni metro capacitate 20 customer care centres to with the sports continuum. Each customer care centre has a sports council and an Eco gym. The city partners with the province regarding outreach, and has allocated funds for the outreach mandate.

Organogram and line functions

The department experienced a mandate conflict because it had three line functions: arts and culture sport and recreation and libraries, which the municipality solved by adding support systems, approving the new structure in March 2015, thereby separating the facilities function from the sport and recreation function. The municipal sport department is now able to concentrate on delivery of programmes.

Challenges:

The municipality had difficulty accessing the schools to deliver on their school sport mandate. At the time of the meeting they were in the process of concluding a service level agreement with the Department of Education in order to achieve improved access to schools.

2.6. Ekurhuleni Sports Academy

The Ekurhuleni district Sports Academy is based at the Germiston Stadium. The district academy has identified two out of 36 sporting codes to prioritise to support as municipality to pilot the sport academy programme. They intend to add two codes every financial year. Gauteng department of sport arts culture and recreation is engaging with the municipality to explore supporting a high performance gym. The academy has satellites, but has not partnered with a university. The academy has voted funds for athletes support.

2.6.1. Swimming Academy - Aquatic support

The municipality and EGA have started a second tier Swimming Development Squad which comprises to address the demographics. Swimming Trials are scheduled for August 2015 to determine potential among the new squad. The athletes are supported with clothing and nutritional supplements. All the athletes are white because of the nature of the sport and the selection criteria. Swimming academy is based at the Boksburg indoor swimming pool.

2.6.2. Athletics Academy

Selection criteria for the Athletics Academy Squad had been finalised in the 2014-15 financial year. At the Ekurhuleni athletics Trials in the 2014-15 financial year more than 100 athletes were identified to be part of the Ekurhuleni Athletics Academy Programme. The large number was trimmed to an academy squad of 35 athletes between 13 years old and 16 years old. Competitions included the schools championships. The municipality supported the squad by creating competition opportunities for the athletes during the 2014-15 financial year.

2.6.3. Rugby federations and clubs

Reiger Park Rugby club and Valke rugby federation briefed the delegation on how the development fits in with SA Rugby (SARU) and how it is implemented in Ekurhuleni. The Valke is bound by the SARU transformation plan. Geopolitically the federation is aligned with Ekurhuleni and Sedibeng and all boundaries are aligned. Geopolitically the biggest challenge is from the Lions federation.

Ekurhuleni and Sedibeng rugby are aligned in equal competition structures with top-, second and third-tier leagues. They have integrated the former development clubs into one system, thus Ekurhuleni participates as one area.

The SARU development programme in the municipality focuses on capacity building and creating participation on certain levels - In this case coaches and technical officials. They allow for salary based employment of officials. Ekurhuleni Valke appointed two development officials focused on school sport.

The school sport rugby programme is structured by means of volunteers. All the schools in Reigerpark now play rugby and will play in the final league in 2015. At one point they were funded through the programme, but SARU had restructured. SARU has redistributed funding. Valke is focusing on capacity building and women's rugby. The Valke fund women's rugby and fund volunteers to operate

3. Findings and concerns

There was no consistency in availability and quality of data and statistics on participation trends, facilities and expenditure;
There appeared to be little knowledge of and dissemination of information about the duty of government agencies/departments to collect, process and forward data and numbers with regard to geographic spread, participation trends, facilities and expenditure;
The provincial department was awaiting a directive on provincial geographic areas from national department, without which they were not able to proceed;
Very little detailed information on expenditure and programmes was provided by the Eastern Cape Department of Sport, Arts and Culture;
There seemed to be misunderstanding among some stakeholders about the policy on school sport,
The 2011 memorandum of understanding on school sport was implemented in a punitive way in that schools that had not registered did not benefit, which translated into the children not receiving the intended benefit;
School sport was found vulnerable in terms of delivery.

3.1. Findings Eastern Cape

It seemed as if the provincial department's programmes for the 2015-16 financial year were saturated around events linked to commemorative dates;
It was not clear whether the provincial department had signed a memorandum of understanding with regard to the MIG allocation;
It appeared as if there were two leagues in rugby: Those in the system where there were psychologists, massage and physiotherapists and sufficient equipment, and those out in the rural areas who had no chance of accessing such facilities, playing under rough conditions with half the equipment;
Amateur boxing and the SA National Boxing Organisation (SANABO) were experiencing challenges, especially regarding grant funding which fluctuated year by year. The provincial department transfers the money through the Sports Council, and there had been concern about whether the Sports Council was aware of the needs of amateur boxing;
Some rural schools (no fee schools) did not participate in school sport and competitions.

3.2. Findings: Dale College School

The financial and practical support of parents and old boys was invaluable;
Transport of learners to the practice sessions at Dale is problematic, even though participants received financial assistance from the provincial department;
It was hoped that the practice of championing neighbouring schools will be implemented nationwide.

3.3. Findings (EC Boxing)

There were two boxing promoters associations within the province and this is in contravention of the Sec 28(3) of the South African Boxing act of 2001;
The Minister of Sport and Recreation had set up a task team that should resolve the disputes of promoters in the EC;
The concerns raised by the promoters have a potential to delay the development of boxing in the province if they cannot be resolved;
The matters of dispute that had been raised resulted from funding allocation by the provincial department.

3.4. Findings: NMBMM

NMBMM had not complied with spending the 15% grant allocation for sport and recreation facilities;
The NMBMM sport department was understaffed because of budget allocations, moratorium on filling vacancies and local government task grading, and did not have enough money to maintain existing facilities adequately;
The NMBMM had not fully consulted with the stakeholders within the sport fraternity to determine the facility needs of the metro;
There was a lack of communication between the local authority and the sport clubs.

3.5. Findings (Rosina Sedibane School)

The school spent more money than its budget allows and has not resurfaced its sport field as required;
The school had not received the R200 000 payment late in the financial year;
The school had not attempted to access lottery funding;
The school did not have the correct post establishment for a sport school;
SRSA did not pay the money to the school, since the previous year's funds were not accounted for and SRSA paid the money to the parents who visited the department's office with complaint that they did not receive certain things the year before. The principal did not respond to inquiries in this regard by SRSA.

3.6. Findings (Ekurhuleni municipality)

The link between overall projects and the impact it had on communities (sport and recreation related service to communities) was not readily apparent;
There seemed to be an imbalance in terms of investment of recreational facilities vs sport facilities;
Ekurhuleni had its own funding that can be used for infrastructure;
Ekurhuleni municipality had implemented the marketing and communication objective in the conclusion of the NSRP: ''The NSRP needs to be supported by a marketing and communication plan with a two-pronged approach focusing on: Communicating the value and benefits associated with participating in sport and recreation supported by accurate and relevant details of how and where to get involved. There is general consensus that there seems to be a dearth of information regarding what is available and how to access the sport and recreation activities available.'' The municipal department visited community members in communities and involved them in programmes such as mass participation aerobics, and communicated through local radio interviews, flyers, posters and social media, and by reaching out to the community;
Ekurhuleni municipality separated line functions in its department of sport by creating a standalone structure for facilities.
The municipality’s presentation did little to highlight the progress achieved in the past regarding the maintenance and development of sports facilities.

4. Conclusion

A measure of success has been achieved in delivering on the objective set out in section 3: Roles and responsibilities of the National Sport and Recreation Plan: ''There is a need for a coordinated, integrated and aligned national sport and recreation system within which all component parts are aligned with the National Sport and Recreation Plan to be subjected to a regular, objective monitoring and evaluation framework.'' However, there is much room for improvement in terms of coordination and setting up a monitoring and evaluation framework, since data gathering, processing, reporting sharing and availability is glaringly absent. The latter can possibly be attributed to a shortage of staff, inadequate training and skills, lack of knowledge of the duty to report and how to gather, package and present the requisite data. An aggressive cross-sectoral information and training drive by the relevant department may serve to alleviate the challenge.

5. Recommendations

The Committee recommends:

5.1. EC Provincial Department of Sport, Arts and Culture