Minister Anroux Marais' Speech at Overberg Sport and Museum Cheque Handover

WESTERN CAPE MINISTER OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS AND SPORT, ANROUX MARAIS

CHEQUE HANDOVER – OVERBERG

9 APRIL 2019

Good evening, goeienaand, molweni nonke,

Following the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport’s budget appropriation commitments for the 2019/20 financial year, it gives me great pleasure to hand over R915 000 to the Overberg sport council and approximately R 2 million to the district’s museum services and municipality today.

With the Fourth Industrial Revolution underway, it is pivotal to integrate cultural affairs and sport into our societal discourse as it indeed reduces the skills gap confronting the next generation and subsequently prepares the leaders of tomorrow. With an overall budget of approximately R820 million, Sport and Recreation has been allocated R210,6 to financially support our proactive plans to increase mass participation, skills development and talent identification in the province.

This allocation will undoubtedly promote sport participation in order to contribute towards the reconciliation and development of the Western Cape community through the provision of equitable, accessible and affordable sport facilities, programmes and services.

Our Department is committed to creating opportunities needed to offer an alternate healthy lifestyle. By supporting sport development at grassroots level, we aim to advance unity, hope, reconciliation, respect, pride, diversity and a sense of belonging - all of which are much needed in the current national climate. While creating these essential necessities, we then also increase opportunities for jobs and holistic development needed to live lives our people can value.

Die totale oordragbetalings aan sportfederasies is 'n geoormerkte R9,2 miljoen, waarvan R1 miljoen opsy gesit word vir ad hoc-befondsing ter ondersteuning van Wes-Kaapse atlete wat in die buiteland reis. Die ad hoc-befondsing is 'n befondsingstelsel wat ontwerp is om sportdeelnemers uit die Wes-Kaap te ondersteun wat gekies is om Suid-Afrika mededingend op internasionale vlak te verteenwoordig. Die geld wat deelnemers moet spandeer wat een keer vir die Suid-Afrikaanse span gekies is, plaas die deelnemers onder geweldige druk. Die Departement onderneem om voort te gaan om koste te verlig deur, waar moontlik, ’n bydrae te lewer om die deelnemers te help om net op prestasie en genot te fokus.

Die geoormerkte toekenning is ter voorbereiding vir die Olimpiese Spele en Paralimpiese Spele in 2020, waar ons verwag dat baie van ons Wes-Kaapse atlete na Tokio sal moet reis om die Suid-Afrikaanse span te verteenwoordig. Ek is baie trots op die verhoogde deelname aan die Nasionale Kampioenskap vir Fisiek Gestremde en Visueel Gestremde atlete wat verlede maand in Stellenbosch gehou is. Die jaarlikse multikode-sportgeleentheid het aan ons junior en senior atlete die geleentheid gebied om te kwalifiseer om Suid-Afrika by internasionale sportbyeenkomste te verteenwoordig, waarvan die glansrykste geleentheid die 2020-Paralimpiese Spele is.

Hierdie finansiële bystand ondersteun strukture deur hulle in staat te stel om hul mandaat te vervul deur hul verskillende sportkodes in hul onderskeie streke te bevorder en te ontwikkel. Die R7,2 miljoen befondsing van die federasies bevorder deelname aan sport en maatskaplike insluiting en lewer ’n bydrae tot die kweek van gesonder leefstyle onder die mense van die Wes-Kaap. In plaas van kwotastelsels in sport in te stel, moet ons die harde werk op voetsoolvlak doen en in die proses so veel as moontlik befondsing, ondersteuning en geleenthede bied. Dit is die enigste volhoubare manier om transformasie in sport te bereik. Ons gaan nie ons gemeenskaplike doelwitte deur vinnige regstellings en opgelegde kwotastelsels bereik nie. Die begrotingstoewysing, die voorsiening van toerusting en fasiliteite en affiliasie ondersteuning aan sportfederasies, skoolsport, transformasieprojekte en belangrike geleenthede het in die verlede en sal in die toekoms as instrumente gebruik word om te verseker dat die poel van plaaslike talent verhoog word en sportuitnemendheid vir almal toeganklik is.

Sportfederasies gaan deur hul onderskeie ontwikkeling-, administratiewe-, transformasie- en kapasiteitsbouprojekte atlete met potensiaal van voetsool tot elite-vlakke ondersteun en ontwikkel. Hierdie atlete, afrigters en administrateurs neem aan nasionale en internasionale kompetisies deel en dien as rolmodelle en dit dra weer by tot die algehele bemagtiging van ons gemeenskappe; veral dié in gebiede wat nie oor die nodige hulpbronne beskik nie.

The financial support of R5,2 million towards major events in the Western Cape plays an influential role in establishing the Western Cape as the preferred events destination in South Africa and globally. Enabling federations to host a multitude of major events not only adds to the economic input for the province but also assists in moulding the social fabric of our diverse population.

The allocated funding is spread across the entire province ensuring that each district is benefitted, from the Cape Town Metropole to our rural areas of the Central Karoo. For this financial year, R 375 000 has been allocated in support for major events in the Overberg District.

Within the major events, is the Better Together Games Programme, which takes place in the third quarter of each year. The much anticipated Overberg Better Together Games will take place on 13 September this year. The major events budget will cover all district, provincial, national and international events, applied for and approved within the barriers of our budgetary constraints.

Together, we are in the business of building a nation, inspiring hope and motivating better versions of those we serve not only through sport, but through cultural manifestation and creating an enabling environment in which it can flourish. The famous author, screenwriter, and film director, Michael Crichton once highlighted the importance of history by saying, “If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree”. Nobody understands the importance of history and heritage more than the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport. It is for this very reason that the department provides affiliated province-aided and local museums with annual subsidies and grant-in-aid payments. This funding is part of our ongoing efforts to promote, transform and highlight the crucial role which heritage and museums play in our communities.  As we ceremoniously present our financial support to museums in the Overberg this evening we create public awareness around our affiliated museums and the important work they do in our communities through the management, preservation, research, education and promotion of museum collections in their care.

This department, the dedicated staff and our constructive programmes have the ability to change lives in the Western Cape for the better. Our people are quite literally dying for the opportunities needed from government and tax payers’ money to live lives they can value. We have made great strides in establishing meaningful sustainable partnerships that has set the innovative scene that makes the Western Cape the leading sport and cultural destination of South Africa.  As we strive for lifelong maximum citizen impact, I take this opportunity to thank our valued partners here today and look forward to strengthening our collaboration to the benefit off all who calls the Western Cape home.

I thank you, enkosi, ek dank u.