Members of School governing bodies
Leaders of Sport federations and clusters
Management of EMDS's
Learners, ladies and gentlemen

On January 25 this year, I launched one of the most important programmes of our department, the School Sport programme, reviving the olden days when Wednesdays were renowned for competitive sport activities at schools. That announcement at Sinethemba High School in Philippi set the tone for the future of school sport in our province.

I stand here today happy that we have taken giant strides as a department to ensure that the Wednesday Sport Programme we announced in January indeed becomes a success. I therefore have pleasure to announce the readiness and deployment of 21 sport assistants to 18 schools in the Lavender Hill, Retreat and Grassy Park clusters.

The hand-over of these sportsmen and women today is a highlight and a culmination of a process that was started primarily to add value to the Wednesday Sport programme of the Department.

This initiative in our view will assist in fulfilling some of our objectives namely, the deployment of dedicated sport personnel for the sustainable development of sport at schools, and importantly, we are reducing the workload of teachers who had previously out of love for sport, spent many, many unpaid hours running sport and recreation activities.

Ladies and gentlemen, the contribution of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport in the overall Human and Social Capital strategies of the province has been quite remarkable during the past few months.

Through our interventions we are not only assisting schools to better coordinate their sport activities, we are also providing employment opportunities to the young men and women within our communities. Undoubtedly this small gesture will enable these young people to put food on the table at the same time enjoy what they like best- sport.

The Sport Assistants we are allocating to these schools are part of the SSS programme which was piloted with success about five years ago at places like Mannenebrg, Elsies River, Hanover Park, Bonteheweul and Paarl areas.

This programme has been a great success in these places, and some of the SSS volunteers who started this programme have since developed skills needed at the department. I want to take this opportunity to thank those who have defied all odds and eventually managed to secured employment in the department.

I want to acknowledge the role SSS Coordinators have played in the recruitment and the subsequent training of the applicants we are deploying today.

While the initial objective was to coordinate sport and recreation activities at identified crime-ridden areas in the Peninsula, we have since seen the need to boost the capacity of schools to better run sport activities in other areas.

We are well aware that this gesture from the Department is far from being enough, but we believe it is a good start. However taking into account that the Social Incubator programme we launched in Khayelitsha, Mitchell's Plain and lately in Beaufort West, more resources accompanying these programmes, with better integrated coordination, we would achieve the desired impact within our communities.

It is also with delight to inform you that a further 26 Sport Assistants will be handed-over to Gugulethu, Nyanga, Crossroads and Philippi Clusters in 30 days after the completion of the recruitment exercise and training that would follow. I am happy that with limited resources at our disposal, we have listen to request for SSS volunteers and delivered in areas where these did not exist previously.
The next official hand-over of 26 sport assistants for these clusters will bring a total of 206 Sport Assistants that would have been placed in the corresponding number of schools across the province. Against the backdrop of negligible budget allocations we are satisfied that in the medium to long-term we would make serious inroads in addressing this specific need.

We, still note however that our challenges are too astronomical to overcome overnight. I therefore want to appeal to other communities and schools to exercise patience, we will eventually heed their calls.

I have always maintained that we need the private sector to come to the party so that, together we can impact our communities positively. We acknowledge that projects like these specifically require partnerships to succeed.

I will ask the Department to finalize the proposals and presentations to the business sector in this regard so that we are assured of partners that will help us take this initiative forward with much vigour.

I want to pay special tribute to the teachers that have shouldered the responsibility of managing and running sport, putting in extra hours, in some cases abnormally for nothing. I want to say to them their effort were not in vain.

Athletes like Babalwa Ndleleni, the first weigh lifting medalist in Africa got her first motivation from school, many other athletes and sportsmen and women who compete at international levels owe their foundation to teachers.

I am saying to teachers keep up the good work, from our side as the department charged with the responsibility of developing sport, we will endeavour to facilitate your work and where possible take steps to reduce it.

I want to thank in advance the young people that will be helping these schools for availing themselves for little compensation. We know and admire their passion for sport and hope that sport and recreation activities at these schools would be reach the sky. I thank you

For more information, please contact:

Mandla Yeki
Spokesperson for Ministry
Cultural Affairs, Sport and Recreation
Tel: 021 483 9804
Fax: 021 483 9801
Mobile: 082 553 3477
Protea Assurance Building, Green Market Square
Cape Town