17 AUGUST 2004

Mr Chairperson, members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for inviting us to our parliament and for the opportunity to interact with your committee on this matter of great concern to us and I am sure, to the whole country. We meet here today after the excitement of our first Olympic gold medal in Athens, in which USSASA's contribution is substantial. My name is Doctor Nkosi. I am the current President of The United School Sports Association of South Africa (USSASA). I am leading this delegation to brief this esteemed committee on the issues of school sport in our country from a USSASA perspective. My delegation is made up of

Mr Amien Dharsey:: From Cape Town (Deputy President of USSASA)

Mr Donald Chiloane : From Mafikeng (Deputy President – Finance of USSASA

Mr Sifiso Biyela: From Empangeni (Member of the National Executive Committee of USSASA and

Chairperson of Kwazulu Natal School Sports Association)

Ms Martha Shibambo-Stroom : From Brits (Chairperson of USSASA Drum Majorettes)

Mr Gerald Nienqele: From Langa (Member of the National Executive Committee of USSASA Rugby)

Ms Di Woolley : From Ekurhuleni (Chairperson of USSASA Netball )

Allow me to start by giving the committee a brief background of USSASA as a voluntary organisation.

USSASA was formed in 1994 as part of the sports unity process that started in the early 1990's. It brought about the unification of more than 18 organisations which had a great variety of sport and organisational cultures. The main aim of this unification was to ensure that all the children of South Africa would be able to play sport together without any of the historical barriers.

The biggest strength of this organisation is the pool of dedicated volunteers numbering hundreds of thousands, who give freely of their time and energy outside of normal working hours, for the benefit of the children of our country. Most of these people even make significant financial sacrifices to ensure that school sport happens in the environment where funding is virtually non-existent for school sport.

USSASA is structured as follows :

with the following sub-committees'

• A Management Committee
• A Finance Committee
• A Development Committee
• 24 National Code Committees

(The Highest decision making body)

(156 members)

• Representatives from all 9 Provinces
• (8 delegates x 9 = 72)
• Representatives from all 24 National
• Code Committees

(3 delegates x 24 = 72)

NEC (12)

EACH NATIONAL CODE COMMITTEE is made up of an Executive Committee and

72 Provincial representatives

The National USSASA structural format is repeated in each of the 9 Provinces and further down to Regional, District and Circuit level.

The Provinces are further demarcated into Regions according to the demarcations of the Provincial Governments. Because of the recent restructuring of municipal boundaries, the USSASA regions will increase from the present 44 to 50.

The USSASA regions are further demarcated into 206 USSASA Districts (Zones). These are likely to increase to about 210 by the end of this year due to restructuring.

The roughly 30 000 schools in South Africa are clustered into groups of about 30 to form the local USSASA structures named CIRCUITS or SUB-ZONES. Depending on the rural or urban nature of a District, there will be between 4 - 6 Circuits / Sub-zones in each District.

We are presently busy compiling an address list of Circuit, District, Regional and Provincial Chairpersons of all the USSASA structures, once the restructuring process is complete.

It is through this structural organogram that we are able to reach as many children in the country as possible. We are however greatly hampered by a lack of funding for our organisational and developmental tasks. The poverty levels in the country - especially in the rural areas - is also a great impediment to children's ability to participate fully in our programmes.

Fortunately, the Department of Sports and Recreation has now dedicated some funding for development in some of the identified poverty nodal areas. Significant strides have been made in this project, called the Letsema Sports Development Project (a partnership project between USSASA and SRSA).

A similar project is being rolled out in partnership with Transnet. We hope that the Portfolio Committee will be able to prevail on the Lottery Distribution Agency to dedicate some funding specifically for school sport development in rural areas.

A DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE SCHOOL SPORT FUNCTION IN AN IDEAL ENVIRONMENT

(ACCORDING TO THE EXISTING OR INTENDED USSASA PROGRAMMES) IS PRESENTED

HEREAFTER IN TABLE FORMAT.

ROUGH ESTIMATES OF THE FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF THIS IDEAL SITUATION IS ALSO

WORKED OUT AS A STARTING POINT TO STIMULATE DISCUSSION AND DEBATE ABOUT THE STATE (OR LACK) OF FUNDING AND SUPPORT FOR SCHOOL SPORT IN OUR COUNTRY.

THE ANALYSIS INDICATES THAT A MULTIFACETED APPROACH SEEMS TO BE HIGHLY

ADVISABLE IN ATTEMPTING TO ADDRESS THE BACKLOGS IN THE PROVISION OF QUALITY

SCHOOL SPORT.