Third Term Committee Programme

Meeting report

Election of Acting Chairperson

In the absence of Mr M Mdakane (ANC) who was flying to London for the Olympic Games, Mr M Dikgacwi (ANC) was elected acting chairperson.

The Acting Chairperson raised concerns over how money is spent by the Department and asked for better accounting.

Third Term Programme

Mr Lichakane Phori, Committee Secretary, briefly outlined the Committee’s planned activities for the third term.

The Chairperson opened the floor for Member’s questions and comments.

Mr T Lee (DA) congratulated the Sharks on their recent victory. He then noted that South Africa’s best chance of winning medals in the Olympics would be in swimming. However there was a lack of dealing with swimming in the programme and asked for an alteration. He then asked that room be made for a discussion on South Africa’s sports heritage and historical background provided for the Members of the Committee.

Ms G Sidane (ANC) wished to know more about the bilateral meeting the following day. She wondered whether it was appropriate to meet with the entire committee as the German representative would bring no other delegates. She criticised the programme for being designed by the Chairperson without input from the Members.

The Chairperson noted the programme was a draft and asked the Committee Secretary to be aware of that. He took note of the lack of certain sports codes within the programme, raising the fact that until now the Committee had never met with the Cricket Federation, and asked that meetings with different sporting federations be arranged. He also said that Members must be taken on board in terms of deciding scheduling in the future.

Mr Paulse (ID) stated that it was not the Committee’s responsibility to select whom Germany would send for meetings in South Africa.

Mr Phori clarified that the matter had been discussed with the Chairperson. The German representative was already in South Africa as she had attended a sporting event in Durban and had several other meetings with government officials during her stay.

Ms Sidane stated that Members were not empowered as the Chairperson had largely dictated the schedule. It was also observed that there had been little preparation done for the meeting tomorrow and no visits had recently been made to regional sports projects and facilities. If the German representative were to ask questions regarding these issues the Committee would then be unable to give her the desired information to the direct detriment of the Committee Members.

The Chairperson agreed and said that in future Mr Mdakane must communicate his decisions to the Members.

Mr Lee remarked that Germany had hosted the Committee a number of times and were in fact responsible for aiding in organising the World Cup in 2010 by providing feedback and documentation. He said thanks should be given to the German representative at the meeting the next day and that it should be more of a formality rather than raising and dealing with new bilateral issues.

The Chairperson agreed that this would be the Committee’s approach for the meeting and said the two background documents on Germany should be reviewed by the Members in preparation. He then noted recent problems with boxers being stripped of their titles and asked that meetings be set with the Committee in that regard. He also asked that other meetings be arranged with golf and swimming.

Ms Sidane noted the absence of indigenous sports on the agenda.

The Chairperson agreed and asked that these sports also be included in a revised programme. He then moved to the topic of bad audits and cited the Buffalo City project in Eastern Cape as an example. Despite all the money spent on the project there were clear abuses in how it had been allocated. It was rife with inadequacies and poor construction standards. He noted the recent trip to Argentina and said that there was more accountability on monies spent and the serious way in which sports were dealt with there. The integration between the three Argentinian ministries dealing with sport was noted as an example for the way in which South Africa should be moving forward.

Mr G MacKenzie (COPE) noted the successes of South Africans across cricket, golf, and rugby in recent weeks and hoped that these successes would continue into the Olympics.

The Chairperson asked that a congratulatory statement be issued from the Committee as well as one of well wishes for the success of South African athletes during the Olympic Games.

The meeting was adjourned.