MONDAY, 21 JUNE 2004 __

          PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
                                ____

The Council met at 14:03.

The Chairperson took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.

ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS - see col 000.

                          NOTICES OF MOTION

Mr M A MZIZI: Chairperson, I hereby give notice that at the next sitting of this House I shall move on behalf of the IFP:

That the Council -

(1) notes that -

   (a)   top  Scorpions  investigator  Mr   Cornwell   Tshavhungwa   was
       rearrested for violating bail conditions in connection to  fraud
       charges he is facing, when he spoke to a state witness while  he
       was out on R100 000 bail; and


   (b)  Mr Tshavhungwa, who is an advocate in the High Court, is accused
       of having taken bribes or received irregular payments  amounting
       to R550 000 from people under investigation by the Scorpions;

(2) further notes that according to Scorpions spokesman Mr Makhosini Nkosi, Mr Tshavhungwa will be appearing in Court on 21 June 2004; and

(3) believes that the Scorpions be applauded for their excellent performance and for demonstrating that all perpetrators shall face the wrath of the law irrespective of whether they are top officials or ordinary citizens.

                  EXTENSION OF CHILD SUPPORT GRANT

                         (Draft Resolution) Ms J MASILO: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council -

(1) recalls that President Thabo Mbeki, during the 2004 state of the nation address, emphasised the need to ensure that all children eligible for the child support grant should be registered;

(2) notes that the MEC for social development in North West has taken up this challenge by embarking on a campaign to get all children eligible for the child support grant registered; and

(3) commends the MEC and her department for the vigour they have displayed in engaging all stakeholders such as the Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Education, NGOs, church leaders, traditional leaders, farmers as well as business communities to assist in fulfilling our Government’s promise to the children of our country.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution. MOTION OF CONDOLENCE FOR THE LATE AGGREY KLAASTE

                         (Draft Resolution)

Mr T RALANE: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council -

(1) notes -

   (a)  the untimely death of 63-year-old Mr Aggrey  Klaaste,  known  by
       local journalists as the ``nation-builder'' and pioneer  of  the
       concept ``community journalism'' and ``community newspaper";


   (b)  that Mr Klaaste, born in Kimberley, was editor  of  the  Sowetan
       newspaper, a prototype of community newspapers, since 1988;


   (c)  that he initiated a new  process  of  nation-building  to  steer
       South Africa away from an impending  civil  war  and  that,  not
       surprisingly, he was arrested  and  detained  for  his  moderate
       appeals; and


   (d)  that, until his premature death on  19  June  2004,  Mr  Klaaste
       remained faithful to the concept  of  community  journalism  and
       demonstrated his conviction by continuing to reside  in  Soweto,
       among people whose destiny was his major concern;

(2) laments the loss of this stalwart of progressive journalism, whose life and contribution serve as a benchmark for our youth and the community of would-be journalists; and

(3) therefore offers its message of support to the family of Mr Aggrey Klaaste.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

             MOTION OF CONDOLENCE FOR MRS ERENIA CHIKANE

                         (Draft Resolution)

Ms N A NDALANE: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council -

(1) notes with a deep sense of loss the passing away of Mrs Erenia Chikane, the mother of Rev Frank Chikane, Director-General of The Presidency;

(2) recalls with pride the enormous contribution she has made as a mother, mentor, guide and supporter of her family and through her unquestioning and loyal support for the ideals of a free and democratic society;

(3) conveys its deepest sympathies to the family of Rev Frank Chikane; and

(4) assures them of its support during this difficult time.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

              BIRTHDAY WISHES TO PRESIDENT THABO MBEKI
                         (Draft Resolution)

Ms F NYANDA: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council -

(1) congratulates President Thabo Mbeki on his 62nd birthday; and

(2) extends its best wishes to the President for the years ahead.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

             CONGRATULATIONS TO SOUTH AFRICAN RUGBY TEAM

                         (Draft Resolution)

Mr C M DUGMORE: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council -

(1) notes the performance of the South African rugby team in the second test at Newlands on Saturday against the Irish;

(2) in particular notes the performance of Breyton Paulse, fondly referred to by the Newlands fans as ``Breyton, jou lekka ding’’, Schalk Burger and Percy Montgomery; and

(3) therefore resolves to congratulate the South African team on their victory against the Irish and to wish them all the best for Saturday’s match against Wales and for the forthcoming trinations tournament.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

                    REVIVAL OF PUBLIC AUDIT BILL

                         (Draft Resolution)

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE COUNCIL: Chairperson, I move:

That the Council - (1) notes that -

   (a)  in the Second Parliament the Ad Hoc Committee on Public Auditing
       Function, as mandated by the Assembly, had introduced the Public
       Audit Bill [B1 - 20004] in the House on 3 February 2004 together
       with its report on the Bill (see ATC of 11 February);


   (b)  the Bill, after a debate, was read a second time in the Assembly
       on 17 February, the committee's report being noted; and


   (c)  the National Council of Provinces was  unable  to  complete  its
       consideration  of  the  Bill  before  the  end  of  the   Second
       Parliament and the Bill consequently lapsed; and

(2) therefore resolves, subject to the concurrence of the Assembly, that the Bill be revived and consideration of the Bill be resumed from the stage previously reached with its passage through Parliament.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order! As there is no speakers’ list, I shall now put the question. The question is that the motion be agreed to. As the decision is dealt with in terms of section 65 of the Constitution, I shall first ascertain whether all delegation heads are present in the Chamber to cast their provinces’ votes. Are all delegation heads present? In accordance with Rule 71, I shall first allow provinces the opportunity to make their declarations of vote, if they so wish.

We shall now proceed to voting on the question. I shall do so in alphabetical order, per province. Delegation heads must please indicate to the Chair whether they vote in favour, against or abstain from voting. Eastern Cape?

Mr M M MATOMELA (Eastern Cape): In favour.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Free State?

Ms O TSOPO (Free State): The Free State votes in favour.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Gauteng?

Mr E M SOGONI: In favour. The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: KwaZulu-Natal?

Nk M N OLIPHANT: Siyayisekela, Sihlalo. [We support it, Chairperson.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Limpopo?

Mr M J MAHLANGU: Supports.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Mpumalanga?

Ms M P THEMBA: Mpumalanga supports.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Northern Cape?

Mr M A SULLIMAN: Ke a leboga. [Thank you.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: North West?

Mr Z S KOLWENI: Ke wa rona. [Supports.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Western Cape?

Mr C DUGMORE: Siyavuma. [We agree.] Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

                         APPROPRIATION BILLS

                           (Policy debate)

Debate on Budget Vote No 15: Education

Debate on Budget Vote No 20: Sport and Recreation

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order! Hon members, since there will be one speakers’list for both Budget Votes, that of Education and Sport and Recreation, the Secretary will, therefore, read both the first and second Orders of the Day at once.

May I take this opportunity to welcome the Minister and Deputy Minister of Education. Welcome back to this House. Likewise, to the Deputy Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, welcome on your first visit to this House. But I say a special welcome to the Minister and Deputy Minister of Education, as they are the former leaders of this House. [Applause.] The MINISTER OF EDUCATION: Ke a leboha Modulasetulo. Ke batla ho kopa moemedi ya tlotlehang, Sulliman, hore ano re o a dumela, a se ke a leboha.[Laughter.] [Thank you, Chairperson. I would like to advise the hon Sulliman to say we agree'', and notthank you’’.]

Madam Chairperson, hon members of the NCOP, members of executive councils, invited guests, ladies and gentlemen, I think every thinking person will tell you that the most diabolical aspect of apartheid was its Bantu Education policy. Denying a person the opportunity to maximise and realise his or her potential was an evil act. Our task, therefore, is very clear. Principally, it is to confound the architects of apartheid Bantu education and to create and sustain an education system in which opportunity has no boundaries, in which every person has the right to believe that he or she will emerge from our education system equipped with the skills that will enable him or her to lead a sustainable life.

It has taken a great effort to undo the damage created by apartheid education. Our key goals remain equity, quality, access and redress. We have been successful in all these areas, but I believe that our greatest success has been in transforming education from a sector serving the privileged few to a sector serving all our people. The following are some of our remarkable achievements.

We have better access to schooling than ever before. In 1975 there were 5,4 million pupils in school. In 2000 there were 11,4 million. That increase was largely made up of African enrolments.

We have provided general education to all, within the compulsory school-age cohort of seven to fifteen years. The pupil-to-teacher ratio has improved. The ratio has declined from 43:1 in 1996 to 38:1 in 2002. This means that pupils have better access to learning facilities than before 1994.

We’ve also succeeded in providing schooling for girls, as well as for boys. At primary and secondary levels the enrolment of girls is higher than for boys. There has been a lower school drop-out rate for girls than for boys. Of course, we cannot but be concerned that we should monitor what is happening to these young boys. But the progress and access of girls is a pleasing statistic and success for our country.

We have also begun to achieve gender equity in higher education. In 1988 there were 340,000 students in our higher education institutions. In 2003 there were 650 325 students in higher education. Women outnumber men at both universities and technikons, with 347 679 women students to 302 646 men. These are pleasing statistics and we must congratulate ourselves on achieving this in the past ten years.

My predecessors in the Ministry have shaped well-founded education policies, from general education through to higher education. So the hard work of policy formulation has been done. The challenges ahead mainly require the implementation of programmes that are already underway.

It is important, hon delegates, for us to remember that the responsibility for transforming and improving the education system is shared between national Government and the provinces. For general education and further education and training, the national department is responsible for overall policy, monitoring and support, while the provinces are responsible for service delivery and financing. For higher education, the national department is responsible for developing policy, and monitoring and co- ordinating Government financing.

The important role of provincial education departments has to be emphasised, because our opponents often misconstrue our system by asserting that it is centralised by ANC national control. Provinces play a central role in implementation. They determine use of their budgets and establish priorities in the context, definitely, of national norms and standards. Such a framework, therefore, cannot be defined as reflecting a centralising ideology.

The objectives of our Education budget are to support the erosion of poverty and to support economic growth. Budget 2004 does this in a number of important ways. The budget plans that you will learn of from our provincial colleagues will inform you of the school nutrition scheme at primary school level. About R838,2 million has been set aside for this purpose in the 2004-05 financial year, and R918,2 million in the 2005-06 financial year. And I’m pleased to be able to indicate that all our provinces have the nutrition scheme in place.

We also plan to accelerate implementation of early childhood education programmes and to ensure that all schools have grade R classes. This will support us in providing children with a core foundation for ensuring that they succeed at primary school level. Increased attention will be given to ensuring that schools and colleges have the resources to support quality learning and teaching. School libraries, and the provision of books in a range of languages, must be made available to our educational institutions.

Members would know that there is the Zifundele [read for yourself] campaign, currently underway by one of our major radio stations in the country. And I hear that even the President’s Office has pledged R5 000. I wonder which members have made a pledge to this campaign. I will be making my pledge later today, and I hope that all members will do so as well.

Learning materials are being delivered timeously by provincial education departments, and this progress will continue. Teacher development programmes are a priority. We will strengthen these to ensure that our teachers play a full and effective role as the frontline in our battle to translate education access to acquisition of skills and knowledge in all the learning areas, and most importantly in maths, science and the language of learning, English. We regard this focused attention to effective learning and teaching as our most significant priority because it neatly locks into our next set of priorities.

Much has been said about unemployment in South Africa, and about the yawning chasm between skills needed in our economy and skills acquired in our schools and universities. It is tragic that South Africa now has an emerging graduate unemployment problem. A recent HSRC study into human resource development points to the strategies South Africa must give attention to. Students and learners must acquire marketable skills at our schools and universities. Our training institutions need to take far more of an interest in the shape of our economy.

It is clear, for example, that for a developing country such as ours, managing of development is an important priority. Despite this, we severely lack adequately prepared managers, and tend to perpetuate the artificial divide between learning and doing. Economic history also shows that sustained economic growth is usually partnered by opportunities for all citizens. Our economic framework continues to be dominated by large monopoly players, who wish to control everything and to squeeze out small entrepreneurs. Our Government has shaped popular policies that allow for increased popular participation in our economy.

Unfortunately, our education institutions continue to perpetuate training for the idea of employment rather than training for economic expansion and employment creation. It is our intention that the colleges of further education and training will increasingly fill this gap. The plans that have been formulated by the college sector address these inadequacies.

The provincial authorities have agreed that 2004 must be the year in which adequate funds are provided to the colleges so that they begin to implement our strategic education priorities. Our higher education institutions will also have to contribute to skills development by focusing on responsive programme offerings, by using research, such as the HSRC research, to develop responsive programmes, and by working with the Department of Education to craft effective responses to our economic and social challenges.

We have already budgeted for the recapitalisation of the merging higher education institutions. The process of reconfiguring the higher education sector is a complex exercise and one that is likely to give rise to a range of difficult challenges. We are fully alert to the need to monitor the merger processes constantly and to anticipate likely problem areas before crises emerge. The intention behind the mergers is to promote and enhance transformation, and not to disrupt the sector in a manner that detracts from or negates our noble objective. The developments thus far have shown that we have a strong possibility of success and a huge responsibility to ensure that we provide effective support.

In the May 2004 state of the nation speech, the President evoked memories of the Freedom Charter and the People’s Education Campaign of the NECC, when he stressed that this Government will ensure the achievement of opening the doors of learning and culture ever wider for the people of our country. As indicated in the achievements referred to earlier, the education sector has been acting on this mandate for some time. With respect to the specific targets outlined by the President, we intend to implement in the following ways, while strengthening and consolidating areas in which we have already made considerable progress.

The first priority referred to by the President was that we should ensure adequate funding of the technical colleges, and the alignment of the courses they offer with the requirements of the economy. The mandate of these colleges is to provide intermediate skills for young people and adults in order for them to participate actively in our economy. All of us know that from recent statistics, around 60% of the unemployed in our country are youth who are between the ages of 19 and 35. These young people need to receive training to skill them for the challenges of a globalising economy. If we do not train them, they will remain trapped in poverty and underdevelopment.

Our colleges need to be funded, as I have said, and developed in a manner that will allow them to provide skills-upgrade programmes as well as leading-edge programmes that answer to the challenge of providing for the critical, scarce skills needs of South Africa.

As a number of analysts have indicated in recent comments on our national Budget, our 2004 Budget doesn’t contain funding for the recapitalisation of the further education and training colleges. However, we do have in the department the strategic plans of these colleges. We have used these plans as a basis for an application for interim funding to our National Treasury.

The further education and training sector has, we believe, reached its maximum utilisation of current investment. They are budgeted to spend around R4,8 billion in the next three financial years. We proposed that a further R3,1 billion be made available to the sector. I have been very pleased to note that several of the provincial departments have also announced commitments to this vital sector of education.

Beyond these beginnings, we believe that much success can be achieved through partnerships with the business community, which has already invested heavily in the restructuring of our colleges. We intend to initiate discussions with a number of sectors to explore partnerships and programmes of co-operation.

Our President also charged to ensure that through the merger process of higher learning institutions, we indeed ensure that they become single institutions with a unified institutional culture. We will strengthen our role in supporting and monitoring this process. Our President was referring to issues of institutional change that are far more fundamental than merger processes.

Many of the merging institutions enter the partnership as unequal partners. The temptation to dominate will influence many of the necessary change processes. We as the Department of Education will have to ensure that no institutional dominance of race, culture or numbers is permitted. Any outcome of dominance confirmed will set in place the apartheid features of power and oppression. It is this form of outcome that the President has urged attention be devoted to. We will monitor structure changes, new rules and statutes very carefully. We will intensify our work to ensure that the transformative aspirations of the mergers are indeed realised.

This will require unwavering commitment on the part of the new institutional management and governing structures to ensure that the challenges we face in the development of a new integrated culture of shared values and loyalties, attitudes and conditions of work are addressed and achieved.

The department will also monitor and track the transformation of institutional cultures in all higher education institutions, including the ones unaffected by mergers. This process has indeed already begun. In 2003, these institutions submitted three-year rolling plans for the period 2004 to 2006. They are supposed to clearly outline the strategies they have put in place - and their plans certainly do so, and they address the matter of inclusive institutional cultures. The stated objectives and targets in relation to this priority will form the basis of future allocation of subsidies to these institutions.

We have also been enjoined to ensure that no learner or student learns under trees, in a mud school or in dangerous conditions. In 2003 there were 494 cases of schools without any classrooms. By this year, the number has decreased to 152, the majority of which are in Limpopo province. This is a declining phenomenon. But we have to note that we do face the challenge, as the education sector, of the rural-to-urban migration, which poses many problems, because as we build new schools were children were schooling under trees, families move into towns were we then need to create new institutions. So we do face quite a problem, which arises from a movement of people in search of work and new opportunities. We have seen a number of provinces, particularly Gauteng, develop innovative responses to these challenges, such as mobile classrooms, for example.

Our department is now broadening the scope of the programme by also looking at those schools that have facilities that require maintenance and further upgrading. We have a record of thousands of schools that are in such a condition, and clearly a great deal of funding is needed to address this.

At the Council of Education Ministers’ meeting held early this month, we agreed that we would give priority to providing decent schooling facilities for the pupils of our country. All our provincial colleagues agreed to scrutinise already tight budgets to ensure that no child learns under trees by 31 March 2005. We will liaise with the Public Works department to co- operate in delivering on this promise. We believe it is absolutely necessary for us to respond practically to this call by our President.

The Council of Education Ministers has further agreed that the department should strengthen its monitoring role to ensure that the targets we collectively set are attained. We have agreed to ensure that work has begun on the new buildings that we require during the course of this year. We’ve also been asked to ensure that all our schools have access to clean water and sanitation. We are working with our colleagues from the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry to ensure that we indeed achieve this particular objective.

An important priority set by the President is that of expanding the reach of the Adult Basic Education and Training programme and aligning this with the training objectives of the Expanded Public Works Programme. We intend to increase the number of learners enrolled in current ABET programmes by 29 000 in the current financial year. We intend to do this in partnership with various community and nongovernmental organisations working in the field of adult basic education. We are very pleased with the progress adults are making in obtaining ABET level 4 outcomes, with 26 067 students writing examinations last year.

The Minister of Labour and I have been meeting to discuss co-operation in integrating education and training. The provision of adult basic education and training is, I believe, one of the areas for such co-operation. We will require our departments to provide us with a full audit of Government- funded adult education provisions, including the current level of investment in this sector within a month so that we can decide whether current investment is optimal or whether it needs redirection.

We will also urgently and continuously assess the basic learning needs of adults and youths participating in the Expanded Public Works Programme. This will allow us to integrate education and training into the productive activities of the programme, thus ensuring the development of much-needed skills for use beyond the life of the Expanded Public Works Programme.

We must also ensure that social security initiatives such as the school nutrition programme do reach all our children. We will reach over 5 million learners in approximately 15 000 schools in farm and rural communities this year. We will continue to work with these communities to ensure the establishment of sustainable food security initiatives and to strengthen our efforts towards the creation of increased job opportunities and a culture of self-reliance.

I would like to conclude by saying that there are three issues that I believe continue to require our attention this year, and on which we hope, and intend, to announce policy.

Firstly, the issue of school fees and exemptions. Financial exclusion of poor pupils is one of the biggest challenges we face in the department. Existing legislation protects poor pupils from exclusion by allowing for school fee exemption, by allocating a seven-times higher per capita to the poorest pupils than the least poor, and by seeking to ensure that teaching resources are distributed equitably among schools.

However, the recently published report on the costs of education suggests that the hidden costs of textbooks, school lunches and school uniforms are still presenting a relatively expensive education for the poor. Our department is committed to abolishing the school fee demand for the poorest in our society. We believe that this is a growing demand from community organisations and structures nationally, and we intend to respond to this. Our provinces are already looking into this issue, and we are looking at the manner in which we should be able to provide support. I believe that parents must monitor schools to ensure that school governing bodies do not easily exclude and remove poor children from our schools. This is happening today and it is important that parliamentarians assist us in guarding against this practice.

We must also stop corporal punishment and the abuse of children physically in our schools. I’m distressed about what we see. We await the report of our committee that is looking into how we could improve farm and rural schooling in South Africa, and we hope to come to this House to announce our programme in that regard. I thank you and hon members for listening to our speech. [Applause.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Order! Before I call upon the hon Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation to address the Council, may I take this opportunity, once more, to inform the departments that we have taken a decision in the Council to continue with the debate in cluster form. It is a cluster that was formulated, of course, by the then Chief Whip of this House, now Deputy Minister of Education. But we feel that it is important that we continue with this system because education and sports are quite closely linked, and, therefore, we feel that we are on the right path, as the NCOP, when we say: Teach them sport whilst they are still young, grow them in sports and keep them healthy.

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF SPORT AND RECREATION: Thank you, Madam Chair, for welcoming me to this august House. I want to assure the House and the delegates that I do feel very welcome.

Yes, you are absolutely correct, sport, at the end of the day, is not about engaging people for 90 minutes on the sports field, but it is about delivering a rounded person to society and for the benefit of our wonderful country, South Africa.

I ask this House to accept the apologies of our Minister of Sport and Recreation, Rev Stofile, for being absent today. The House may be aware that he is at present attending the World Anti-Doping Agency Foundation Board Meeting in Canada. We trust that the importance of this meeting is understood and appreciated by this House.

May I say that I support the leadership of our Minister in this important portfolio of Sport and Recreation. I can confirm that in the short space of time that we’ve been working together, I have been stimulated by his experience and knowledge. He spent 40 years of his life in sport and sporting circles. What a lifetime.

It is an honour to deliver my maiden Budget Vote address in this august House just over a month after being appointed Deputy Minister in this portfolio. I may say that in this short space of time, the Minister and I have spent a lot of time orientating ourselves in the new environment. We have started to make strategic adjustments to the course that sport and recreation is taking in our country. The past few weeks have been heady. However, we have taken up the challenge with the enthusiasm that a dynamic area such as sport and recreation deserves.

As a team, the Minister and I, the Portfolio Committee on Sport and Recreation, the Select Committee on Education and Recreation, the evolving Ministry of Sport and Recreation and the department, with its associated public entities, will soon be moulded into a well-oiled machine that will take sport to new heights in our country.

Ek is dankbaar teenoor die agb President vir die geleentheid om as Adjunkminister in hierdie uitdagende en opwindende portfeulje te kan dien. Sport is en bly ‘n belangrike boublok in nasiebou en versoening. Trouens, wanneer ons sportspanne wen, gaan dit goed met alles, maar as hulle verloor, gaan dit sleg, en om wyle Koos du Plessis vryelik aan te haal, dan is -

… alles wat eers vas was, die tafel en die laaikas, versmelt tot blote skadu’s teen die muur.

Dan kan ons toringblokke beplan'', maar in die gemoed van ons mense is die slopers betrokke’’.

Daarom kan ons vandag sê ons sal poog om alles vas te sement, so ook ons nasietrots en gemeenskaplike patriotisme, want as Suid Afrikaners ís ons mos ‘n eenheid in verskeidenheid! (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)

[I am grateful to the hon President for the opportunity to serve as Deputy Minister in this challenging and exciting portfolio. Sport is and will remain an important building block for nation-building and reconciliation. In fact, when our sports teams win, things go well, but if they lose, things go badly, and to quote the late Koos du Plessis freely, then -

… alles wat eers vas was, die tafel en die laaikas, versmelt tot blote skadu’s teen die muur. [… anything that was once solid, the table and the chest of drawers, melts into mere shadows on the wall.]

Then we can plan our toringblokke'' [high-rise buildings], but in the minds of our peopleis die slopers reeds betrokke’’ [they are already being demolished].

Therefore we can say today that we will strive to join everything together, thus also our nation’s pride and common patriotism, because as South Africans we are indeed united in our diversity!]

I am equally encouraged by the extent to which people, from all our communities, have rallied around me in support of the cause that we are pursuing and the direction that we are taking. In particular, the positive feedback that I received in response to the successful bid for hosting the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup finals has reconfirmed my belief in the value that sport and recreation have in consolidating nation-building in our democracy. The phone calls that I have received, especially from Afrikaans- speaking compatriots, in response to these outcomes, have been inspirational and are confirming the potential of sport as a nation- builder.

We take this opportunity to acknowledge the great strides made by our predecessors, Ministers Steve Tshwete and Ngconde Balfour, in moving our sport towards the goal of our dreams. Sport is a very important part of society. It is also an important barometer of how a particular society is organised. For that reason, our country also has a responsibility to use sport to assist our people move in a particular direction, the direction of a deracialised South Africa which is sensitive to gender issues; a South Africa that is also biased in favour of the poor and those at risk: the children, the youth, women, the aged and people with disabilities. The dignity of these people must be restored. Their freedom to have access to a better life must be protected. We believe that sport can play a big role towards achieving these goals of Vision 2014.

Sport is a powerful transformative force. It only depends on the agenda of those in charge for it to fulfil this potential. In our democratic era, sport has started to make a substantive contribution to nation-building and reconciliation. We take this opportunity to congratulate the leaders of the Soccer World Cup Bid 2010. The challenge that faces our department is how to build on these successes and how to use them to build a united, patriotic and motivated nation.

We are challenged to inculcate a spirit of nonracialism among players, administrators and federations. We are challenged to level the proverbial playing fields in the accessibility of sport and recreation opportunities, facilities and amenities, as well as resources, to all our people without discrimination. We are challenged to make South Africa a playing nation, and subsequently a healthy nation, a responsible, but also tolerant nation.

As a department, we are not only driven by our own objectives and priorities, we contribute substantially to certain objectives and priorities as articulated in the President’s state of the nation address this year. He emphasised the role that the institution can play in improving the quality of life of all our people. When he wished our participants in the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games well, he reminded them of the role that they can play in nation-building and in promoting national pride, and of their responsibility as ambassadors of the country. In congratulating the 2010 Soccer Bid Company on their success, our President urged the nation to unite in order to ensure the success of 2010, as promised in our submission to FIFA.

Sport and recreation has the potential, and is already contributing, to the President’s identified priority of eradicating poverty in the underdeveloped country. We do so by creating employment opportunities, generating income and, therefore, assisting with poverty relief in a very material sense.

The President also stressed the need to address the persisting conditions of racial and gender inequality that is so visibly articulated through the lack of representivity in our national and other sports teams. This can only mean that resources must be directed at creating opportunities for those who were previously excluded and disadvantaged.

Sport contributes admirably to the President’s call for developing a sense of national unity and patriotism. When our representative teams are successful, we destroy those remaining vestiges of social barriers that stand in the way of unfolding our freedom. Let me say, unwillingness to do so will be injurious to our common humanity.

The President also urged South Africans to develop active lifestyles that will contribute to a healthier nation, a decrease in the country’s health bill and greater levels of productivity. Sport and recreation is all about an active lifestyle and will, therefore, play a major role in this regard. This calls, obviously, for joint initiatives with the Departments of Health and Education.

Sport and recreation continues to be a vehicle amongst the youth in particular. It promotes positive experiences. We aim to counter antisocial behaviour and to promote a sense of belonging. We aim to assist, through sport, a community spirit in pursuit of greater social cohesion, crime prevention and moral regeneration.

The President emphasised the need for promoting co-operative governance in our society, especially between the three spheres of government. Sport and recreation is delivered at the local level, where communities participate socially, recreationally and in formal sport and recreational clubs. We have to ensure that the structures at these levels are sufficiently capacitated to ensure that sport and recreation services are delivered, and in a way that provides the basis for getting the nation to play.

We have to ensure that the Integrated Development Programmes of local authorities, the Growth and Development Strategies of the provinces and the National Spatial Perspective of the national Government are in sync. This is an objective of our Government that we dare not fail. In particular, we have to ensure that the local sphere of government continues to prioritise and invest in sport and recreation facilities, getting our nation to play, and improving the quality of life of our people.

When we think of the needs of the majority of the people of our country, the most important and pressing need is job creation, income generation and poverty alleviation. As Sport and Recreation, we have taken up the challenge. We commit to this with the knowledge that certain local authorities are under pressure not to prioritise sport and recreation in terms of expenditure.

We trust that all local authorities will assist in ensuring that we get the nation to play in such a way that sport and recreation will affect the lives of our people on a daily basis. We ask for the commitment of the local authorities to our programmes, because it is in our communities where the Makhaya Ntinis, the Lucas Radebes, the Ezekiel Sepengs and the Bakkies Bothas are. In fact, our communities and our youth deserve better opportunities.

Sport and recreation also contributes to the economic objectives as set out by Government in other ways. As part of the national strategy for hosting international events in our country, we have turned to the lucrative world of bidding for and hosting major sport events. As a matter of interest, we conducted an economic impact study on the 2003 Cricket World Cup that was hosted by South Africa. It is estimated that the economic impact of the Cricket World Cup on South Africa, in terms of South African economic activity, was R2 billion. In terms of the net foreign spending in the country, the economic impact was R1,1 billion. That indicates the benefits for the economy when such events are hosted.

Foreign visitors, for instance, viewed the 2003 Cricket World Cup in a very positive light. The main concern of visitors before the event was safety and security. However, this concern showed the biggest improvement in ratings before and after the event. In fact, 99% of visitors indicated that they would return to South Africa and would recommend it as a destination to others.

May I just say to this august House that the findings of this survey are published on our website. Just click there and get to know what this is all about.

The Cricket World Cup is a minor international event. The Soccer World Cup is the second biggest sports spectacle in the world, surpassed only by the Olympic Games. The benefits to our country of that event in 2010 will be immense. We will have to plan and prepare together to ensure that we reap the maximum benefit from it. We must ensure that the continent and our region benefits. It is our duty to consolidate as Africans and to show the world who we are, what we are and what it is that we can offer.

Whilst on the hosting of international events, we must refer to bidding in general. While we are acutely aware of the extent to which hosting major international events is prestigious to federations and to our country, we have to do it in a responsible way. We do not want to be seen to be gluttonous by other countries. We also do not want to offend African and other countries by being too robust in competing for such events. To manage the situation, we are in the process of finalising our bidding and hosting strategy for sporting events. This will be part of the national strategy for hosting international events.

In our view, the starting place to achieve success at the elite, international level, is to get the basics right. Community clubs must be revived and our children in township and village schools must be assisted to participate in sport. School sport is a nursery for participants in senior competitions. School sport is a crucial lever in empowering young people towards healthy and active, but disciplined lifestyles. There is no short cut to this. There are many reasons for nonparticipation in sport by most schoolchildren. One key reason is the absence of a well-oiled machine to organise and manage school sport. Township and village schools need the most support in this regard.

We are strongly arguing here for focused attention on the school and community clubs in building a broad base for talent scouting, developing and nurturing. This is the mass that will transform society and eventually deracialise it. We must go back to Wednesday afternoons as school sports day. But this cannot happen by chance. The Department of Education and our department are currently fine-tuning how this vision should be implemented.

This presentation cannot be complete if we say nothing about transformation in sport. We are fully aware that sport is a voluntary association and part of the organs of civil society. But even this characterisation of sport does not afford it immunity from changing towards a nonracial and nonsexist dispensation. As such, Government cannot fold its arms when things go against the grain of our strategic objectives and contrary to the spirit of our Constitution. This is why we will guide and assist federations on policy-related issues and on issues that impact on change.

In this context, we have already pronounced that we will not ask federations to go back to quotas. It is important to remember that the federations themselves used quotas as a tool to encourage respresentivity in our teams. The federations have since abandoned quotas. We are not going to revive them.

But nobody can deny that the intended development of black talent never really resulted from quotas. Black children from ex-model C schools had their talent developed, and it blossomed. They were then window-shopped for the purpose of window-dressing provincial and national teams. Their talent was relegated to a status of a tolerated quota player. This diminished the dignity and pride of talented black players. They continue to be seen as outsiders who must be subjected to the paternalistic attitudes of racist relics.

Our focus will rather be to build the right attitude and skills from below. The dinosaurs at the professional and top levels will perish by attrition. We want to encourage South Africans and young players not to be derailed from nation-building and reconciliation by such racist pranks as the flags of apartheid South Africa that often appear at some of our sports stadiums. All our youth must side with the future. The future is a united, nonracial and nonsexist South Africa. Our teams must now build towards that.

To conclude, sport is always a reflection of the type of society a ruling class is trying to build. Our Government is trying to build a united, nonracial and responsible society. We are trying to restore the dignity of all our people and infuse them with a spirit of caring and tolerance for others’ differences. We hope to fast-track the catch-up programmes for previously disadvantaged groups and communities. We are confident that there are many South Africans from all walks of life who are ready to enter into this contract with us. Now is the time! ``Nako ya Afrika e fitlhile. Ke a go leboga.’’ [Africa’s time has come. I thank you.] [Applause.]

Mr B J TOLO: Hon Chair, hon Minister, Deputy Ministers, MECs present here, all special delegates and hon members, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister of Education and his Deputy - and, of course, I must also include the Minister and Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation

• on their appointment to head - politically - this very important department in our country. This department is at the centre of our transformation agenda.

Clause 29, section 1 of our Constitution states in no uncertain terms that, and I quote:

(i) Everyone has the right -

   (a)  to a basic education, including adult basic education; and


   (b)  to  further  education,  which  the  state,  through  reasonable
       measures, must make progressively available and accessible.

This is the cornerstone of the mandate of the Department of Education at the national and provincial levels. Since the advent of the democratic order in our country, the education authority has been hard at work to realise its noble and lofty ideals. In this regard, we can safely say that there has been a remarkable achievement in dismantling the fragmented apartheid education system and, on its ruins, building a democratic system of education poised to produce balanced learners who will contribute meaningfully to the growth and development of our country.

The entire legislative framework is now in place and the department can now only move from victory to victory. This does not suggest, of course, that there are no challenges, as the road ahead is not adorned with roses. The department itself has identified five priority areas which it would want to deal with in the next five years. As a committee, we agree with them, and in our oversight work we will be watching with keen interest how the department addresses these problems.

A review that the department undertook last year reveals that there are many hidden costs, as the Minister has indicated, that affect our children in schools, especially in the previously disadvantaged areas. These range from lunches to learning materials. It was also found that there are many schools out there which are breaking the law by not exempting students from poor families from paying school fees.

Some schools continue to withhold learners’ reports and others exclude them from participating in some school activities because of the inability of their parents to pay school fees. We are saying that in addressing these problems the department, including the provinces, must also consider criminal charges against such schools. This is so because it is clear that they are disregarding the supreme law and other laws of our country.

Moreover, the Freedom Charter, our policy document, says, and I quote: ``The doors of learning and culture shall be opened.’’ It does not say that these will be open only to those who have money, but to all. In this regard, we also welcome the idea of looking at the possibility of abolishing school fees in the poorest schools.

Adult basic education is a prerequisite if we are serious about banishing illiteracy in our country. This is a legacy we inherited and it is a factor to the further development of our country. We agree that Government alone will not succeed in the war against illiteracy if communities and nongovernmental organisations are not putting the shoulder to the wheel. We, therefore, call upon public representatives, here and elsewhere in our country, to take the lead in the struggle against ignorance. We cannot afford to have illiteracy continuing unabated in this world of science and technology, lest we remain on the periphery in this globalising world.

The decision to move the National Schools Nutrition Programme from the Department of Health to the Department of Education was a correct one. This will go a long way towards ensuring proper monitoring, because it is the education officials who are at schools at all times. Besides, this will mean that the department will be responsible for the overall development of the child when at school. One educationist, called Duminy, once said: ``The whole child goes to school.

Certain provinces have identified some challenges with this programme where, for example, you have two children from the same poor family. One is given food and the other is not, because he is above Grade Seven. The reality is that both these children are hungry. The question is: Is it proper to give food to one and deny the other? But we can say with pride that some provinces are using creative methods to address this problem, and we hope that they will share those methods with us here today, because provinces are represented here today.

The President, in his state of the nation address, raised very pertinent issues relating to education. For the sake of this debate, we’ll confine ourselves to those issues that are concurrent or relate to section 76 only. He said, and I quote:

By the end of this financial year we shall ensure that there is no learner and student learning under a tree, mud school or any other dangerous conditions that expose learners and teachers to the elements.

Furthermore, he said:

… we expect all schools to have access to clean water and sanitation, on which I will lay more emphasis in this financial year.

The national department is responsible for norms and standards, policy formulation and its monitoring. It is the provinces that must see to it that there is realisation of these directives from the President. Now that the provinces are represented here today, they must tell us of the programmes they have put in place to realise these in this financial year, as the President directed. Do they have the necessary budget to do so? Do they have the necessary capacity? What is it that they want Treasury or the national department to help them with? Will they augment their budget with provinces’ own revenue to address these problems? Provinces must shout for help now. They must not wait until the end of the financial year, when we ask them how far they have gone, only to tell us that they did not have the required resources.

Addressing the Ghanaian Parliament on the noble task of teaching, on 6 December 1960, Kwame Nkrumah said, and I quote:

Our teachers, in whose hands, metaphorically speaking, lies the future of Ghana, must be dedicated men and women. Their efficiency must be self- evident, for I believe and know it to be true that the more efficient a person is in his profession, the more likely he is to regard it as a vocation, and subsequently the more dedicated he would be.

This truism was said more than forty years ago, yet it is so relevant and so fresh even today. However, we must add that dedication needs recognition and reward, and that we must endeavour to recognise and reward our teachers in order for them to know how we value them. Many teachers out there, I can tell you, have very low self-esteem.

When we address the problem of rampant poverty in schools, we believe that we must adopt a holistic approach and also address the problem of poverty among teachers. I come from that situation and I know how it is. We say this conscious of the competing priorities of Government. We also know that the best investment that any government can make is investment in the grey matter between the ears of a child.

We regard as one of the most important functions of Sport and Recreation, the provision of sporting facilities for the nation to pursue its interests and hobbies in an organised manner. This enables young people to discover and develop their talents to the advantage of the nation. Sports and recreation instil in young people high regard for great virtues and patriotism, and unselfish service to their communities and the country in general.

Sport and Recreation has, since the advent of democracy in our country, laid a solid foundation for infrastructure development through the flagship programme known as Building for Sport and Recreation. At the centre of this programme is, in fact, the creation and upgrading of sports facilities. But, creation of infrastructure alone would not address the problem if the Ministry of Sport and Recreation is itself not transformed to broaden access, as we know where we are coming from.

We have to move away from the situation in which certain sports are associated with certain racial groups or seen to be belonging to a certain elite. When a South African team participates in international sporting activities, it must not be mistaken for a European team. It must truly represent the demographics of this country. Of course, a lot has been done in trying to realise this.

School sports can play a pivotal role in moulding balanced children. We believe that co-operation between the Departments of Education and Sport and Recreation will be at the centre of successfully implementing this programme. We, therefore, believe that proper education can only take place if our boys and girls are healthy, have a healthy mind in a healthy body’’, as they say.

In conclusion, may I say, as it is said, and I quote: A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring. There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again.

I thank you. [Applause.]

Ms O TSOPO (Free State): Madam Chair, hon Minister Ms Pandor, Deputy Ministers, colleagues in education, sports and recreation, hon NCOP members, ladies and gentlemen, the hon Minister, Ms Naledi Pandor, addressed key issues of our education system during her budget speech today. In support of her speech, I will highlight some, though not all, the issues or challenges facing the Free State department of education.

One of the bigger challenges facing us is the implementation of the employment equity plan within the department. This is in line with the departmental strategies and targets. We need to increase the number of persons with disabilities employed by the department from 0,5% to 2% over the next two years.

We will also be addressing the poor male: female ratio at management level, including school management level, starting from this financial year. This will be done on merit, as we cannot afford to compromise quality service delivery to our deserving communities. As the Minister has stated before, there are many more women than men in our country’s demographic profile. Therefore, the social progress of our country requires that we nurture all our talent.

In order to improve effectiveness and efficiency, as well as eliminate duplication and wastage, the department has already deployed its managers, starting from chief directors to assistant managers. The said officials assumed their new roles on 14 June 2004, and this was done during the first phase of this process as there are still other phases to come. As a department, we will also be filling several critical vacant posts, especially the eight accountant posts, mainly to increase capacity at district level and establish a fully-fledged internal audit unit.

Since the inception of the skills levy and skills development legislation, the Free State department of education has made available 1% of its salary bill for the human resource development of its employees. For this financial year, special focus will be on employees of the lowest level of the organisation. On the other hand, the department wants to accelerate the elimination of unqualified and underqualified educators within our system during the MTEF period.

Jaaka re tswelela go aga le go maatlafatsa Lefapha la Thuto le le tsweletsang dikgatlhegelo tsa baagi, re tlile go neelana ka tlhokomelo e e tseneletseng le kemonokeng go malapa a a sa itsholelang le bana ba ba sotlegang, ka go ba tlamela ka dipalangwa le go ba isa kwa dikolong mo ngwageng ono wa ditshelete. Seno le lebisitswe go bana ba ba tsamayang ka dinao sekgala sa dikilometara di fela 21. R4 milione di beetswe kwa thoko go tsweletsa lenaane le kwa didikeng tsa Xhariep le Thabo Mofutsanyane.

Go ntlafatsa maemo a thuto a bana ba ba nnang kwa dipolaseng, re butse dihosetele tse di neng di tswetswe go neela bana bano lefelo la bonno jwa maemo a a kwa godimo kwa dikolong tse di gaufi le ditoropo. Barutwana ba le 822 gape ba neelwa dijo tsa maemo a a kwa godimo tse di nang le dikotla e bile di maatlafatsa mmele. R9 milione di beetswe thoko go tsamaisa lenaane le. Go ya ka dipalopalo tsa lefapha la rona, go na le bana ba dikhutsana ba le 31 000 kwa dikolong tsa poforense ya Foreisetata. Bana bano ba dikhutsana ga ba a tshwanela go duedisiwa madi a sekolo e bile seno se totofaleditswe dikolo gore di se ka tsa tlhola di ikgatholosa molawana ono. Go thusa bana ba dikhutsana le dikolo tseo ba tsenang kwa go tsona, mo ngwageng ono wa ditshelete, lefapha le beetse thoko R1,5 milione.

Go fetisetswa ga lenaneo la phepo ya bana go tswa kwa Lefapheng la Boitekanelo go tla kwa Lefapheng la Thuto go tsamaile sentle. Ga jaana, lenaneo la phepo le tsamaya sentle kwa dikgaolong tsotlhe jaaka go rulagantswe. Barutwana ba le 159 082 ba ba fitlhelwang bontsi kwa dikgaolong tsa magae ba bona maungo go tswa mo lenaneong le. Re ikaelela go atolosa lenaneo le go fitlha go bana ba le 287 000 mo ngwageng o o tlang, go fitlha re akaretsa le bana ba dikolo tsa sekontari. (Translation of Setswana paragraphs follows.)

[As we continue to develop and strengthen the Department of Education, which has the interests of our nation at heart, we are going to offer thorough care and support to poor households and struggling children by providing them with transport to school in this financial year. This is only meant for children who walk a distance of 21 km. Four million rand have been put aside to implement the programme in Xhariep and Thabo Mofutsanyane.

To improve the standard of education of children staying on farms, we opened hostels that had been closed to give these children a place of a high standard to stay close to schools near towns. The 822 learners are also being given nutritious food of top quality that is good for healthy bodies. Nine million rand is being put aside to carry this programme forward.

According to the statistics of the department, there are 31 000 orphans in schools in the Free State. These orphans must not be made to pay school fees, and I want to emphasise that schools should not to ignore this principle. To help orphans and the schools they are attending, the department has put aside R1,5 million for this financial year.

The transfer of the feeding programme for children from the Department of Health to the Department of Education was well done. At present the feeding programme is going well in all the regions, as planned. The 159 082 learners who are found in those rural regions benefit from this programme. We intend to expand this programme to 287 000 children next year, until we cover learners at secondary schools.]

We have already made strides regarding further education and training, and have already signed learnership contracts. To date, 84 learnership contracts have been signed between further education and training colleges and the following Sector Education and Training Authorities: the Primary Agriculture Education and Training Authority, the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Seta and the Forestry Industry Education and Training Authority.

Three new programmes and learnerships will be introduced this year, and the enrolment at further education and training colleges increased by 15% in

1. We are currently mobilising to ensure that we increase this percentage in this financial year. The budget for the further education and training sector was therefore increased by 12% to R128,978 million. In addition to this, R1,08 million was set aside for maintenance.

As regard adult basic education and training, our challenge is to align further education and training activities with adult basic education and training activities to ensure that this sector becomes more effective. As the President mentioned during his state of the nation address, we shall be expanding the reach of adult basic education and training programmes, aligning them with the training objectives of the Expanded Public Works Programme.

We are indeed committed to changing the way our adult basic education and training centres are run. We are in the process of establishing effective mechanisms and strategies to attract more learners to the centres. The budget allocated this year is R85, 060 million.

Mo lephateng la thekenoloji, re setse re tsentse tirisong lenaneo la E- Learning. Seno se kobiseditswe go re kgontsha go tsweletsa le go diragatsa ka tsenelelo tirokgolo ya lefapha e leng tlamelo ya kharikhulamo kwa ditheong tsa rona. Go thankgolola lenaneo le la E-Education, go beetswe thoko R30 milione mo ngwageng ono wa ditshelete. (Translation of Setswana paragraph follows.)

[In the field of technology we have already implemented the E-Learning programme. This was done with the main intention of developing and implementing the department’s main task, which is to provide curriculums at our institutions. To launch the E-Learning programme R30 million has been set aside in this year’s budget.]

In 1994 our department inherited huge backlogs in classrooms and related infrastructure at the historically disadvantaged areas within the province. The department needed to build 165 new schools in order to provide access for learners in these areas. This backlog was reduced from 165 in 1994, to 49 in 2004, and was achieved in partnership with the department of public works, roads and transport.

In 1994 there were 71 platoon schools in the province, and by the end of 2004, there will only be 19 platoon schools. A further 10 platoon schools are envisaged to be built within the MTEF period, thus effectively reducing them to nine. An amount of R10 million has been allocated for the day-to- day maintenance of schools, while R31,28 million has been allocated to school renovations, and R122,598 has been allocated for capital works in this financial year.

Maitlhomo-magolo a rona jaaka lefapha, ke go itlhaganedisa mananeo a tlamelo ya metsi, motlakase, kgelelo ya leswe le ditirelo tsa tlhaeletsano ya megala go botlhe ba ga jaana ba sa golaganang ka gope. Seno ke go ya ka lekwalo la rona la maikesetso, ke go re, manifesto. Go fitlhelela seno, re tshwanetse go dirisana mmogo ka semphato le maphata a tshwana le Lefapha la Merero ya Metsi le Dikgwa, gammogo le ditlamo tsa Eskom le Telkom.

Dikolo di ka nna 260 di tlile go ntshwafadiwa le go tlhabololwa ngwaga le ngwaga mo sebakeng sa dingwaga di le tharo tse di tlang. Bokana ka 60% tsa mananeo ano a thuso e tlile go nna karolo ya tomagano ya thuto kwa dikgaolong tsa magae. Seno se tlile go thusa go tokafatsa maemo a thuto le thutego kwa dikolong tsa rona go ralala porofense. Maemo a tlhaeletsano a tla nolofatsa tiro ya baamegi botlhe ba thuto go ya ka kgolagano le go tshotla dintlha tsotlhe tse di botlhokwa tse di amang merero ya thuto ya setshaba sa rona. (Translation of Setswana paragraphs follows.)

[Our main aim as the department, is to speed up the projects for supplying water, electricity, sewage and telecommunication services to all people who are not connected at all now. This is in line with our declaration of intent or manifesto. In order to achieve this, we must work in partnership with departments such as the Department of Water Affairs and Environmental Affairs and Forestry, together with Eskom and Telkom.

About 260 schools will be revamped and renovated yearly in the next three years. As much as 60% of these aid programmes will be part of our education action plan in rural areas. This will help to improve the standard of teaching and learning in our schools throughout the province. The standard of telecommunications will make it easier for those who are involved in education, where important issues are discussed in relation to national education in our country.]

In conclusion, this really is a mammoth and daunting task we are faced with. However, we still recommit ourselves as the Free State department of education to living up to our vision of improving the quality of life of all Free State citizens, by providing quality, lifelong learning, education and training.

I therefore support the budget speech of the Minister. [Applause.] Ms D ROBINSON: Madam Chair, hon Ministers and hon members, firstly, I would like to congratulate Minister Pandor on her appointment. It’s an appointment that many have welcomed, as we know that she has the interests of quality education at heart - quality as it applies to learners and educators alike. I was also glad to hear that she shares my love for books and the need for libraries - a great lady to have at the helm!

I was also encouraged to read that the Minister had some genuine concerns about the impact and implementation of OBE. I trust that the issue of continuous assessment will be one that you will pay attention to, as this is one of the main causes of low morale experienced by educators. Many of them feel that they are drowning in endless paperwork and do not have enough time to get on with the job of teaching. Outcomes-based education has also become very expensive for parents as the departments do not all provide the resources. Many of the teachers, especially in the rural areas, have not been adequately trained, so they struggle to cope. Many schools suffer the additional disadvantage of being far from libraries and so have no access to reference works.

So, I will renew the call I made last week for increased spending on libraries, but this time in the words of Eleanor Sisulu and the historian, Paul Zeleza - for your benefit, Mr Dugmore. Books and libraries are clearly not a developmental luxury but an essential, especially in the information age. A culture of literacy and reading is essential, not only for cultural growth but also for economic growth and development. We need to lobby for the three Ls - language, literature and libraries. We need to convince those who control the national purse strings: no books, no renaissance.

When we speak about the needs of learners, we must never forget that the morale of educators is also a vital factor, that educators’ rights must also be protected - not just those of the learners. It seems as if there is an imbalance, and the teachers are left feeling inhibited, nervous and vulnerable because the Big Brother is watching. The threat of hearings hangs over their heads like the sword of Damocles.

For effective functioning, there should be mutual respect between learners, educators and the provincial departments. The leadership style of some departments leaves much to be desired. High-handed autocratic attitudes, lack of adequate communication on issues that affect teachers - both administrative and professional - lead to demotivation.

The DA is concerned that some provinces, such as Limpopo, have not yet finalised their teachers’ redeployment programme. There are teachers who have been employed for more than seven years but are still regarded as temporary. They have to wait for up to three months or more to receive their pay. The usually vocal teachers’ union, Sadtu, is mum because they have lost touch with their mandate. What has happened to the Batho Pele service standards? This is a problem that is of great concern to the DA, and I call for an urgent investigation.

The loss of music and art tuition to the school system has been a tremendous blow to our society. Not only has our cultural landscape been denuded, but the talents of many pupils are being stunted. Many who could make a living as musicians or composers are being denied this. We urgently need to re-employ all those music and art teachers who can add value to the lives of our talented youth. This policy has affected particularly the poor, who cannot afford to have private lessons. We need to encourage South African composers and musicians to grace our big festivals and celebrations. Why not arrange competitions and sponsorships for the talented? Why should we import music from abroad? South African talent should be nurtured. We need well-rounded citizens.

One of the challenges South Africa faces is the growing concern of parents from all socioeconomic backgrounds about the quality of education of their children. Many attempts have been made to assure parents that all the changes that have been made and the increased spending on education are evidence of progress. But we cannot just accept that all the spending is necessarily investment in the future. How the funds are applied is vital.

The declining matriculation exemption passes and the poor performance of South African learners in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, Timms, is cause for concern. Parents fear that this will have a negative impact on the learning and earning capacity of their children as they now compete in a more open economy. They also know that they are having to pay more and more for their children’s education and they wonder whether they are getting value for money. Similar concerns about quality have been expressed at the level of the state. One example is from the review of financing, resourcing and cost of education in public schools. There is considerable evidence that indicates that the quality of education in South African schools is worryingly low, relative to what South Africans spend on schooling.

Scores that measure reading skills amongst Tanzanian learners are about 50% higher than South Africans scores. This confirms the increasing concern about the quality of the educational outcomes as well as about uneven distribution. Over the past decade, the apartheid barriers to education have been dismantled and we have moved, through transformation, to a more equitable dispensation. We welcome this, but the real challenge lies in how we deal with the issue of quality, as this will determine the future of our country. This will also be the deciding factor when parents decide where to enrol their children.

What are parents asking for? They are asking for safe and stable schools. This refers not only to the safety of the school environment but also to substance abuse and disease. They want strong management and leadership; provision of clear, understandable and accurate information about what their children will be learning at school; some informed discussion at school level about subject choice, standards and learning material; properly qualified and well-prepared educators equipped to deal with the curriculum - and I welcome the news that you have given us about improvements in this area; adequate arrangements for children to receive learning support material; a credible and understandable assessment centre that reflects progress; reporting on this progress that is clear, consistent and regular; details of and assurance about the validity and status of qualifications to be obtained at various points of possible exit from schooling, ie General Education and Training Certificate, and Further Education and Training Certificate; and clear, believable benchmarks that show the health of the system.

We are indeed heartened to hear how Minister Stofile is wanting to revive the culture of sport at school. That time will be set aside. The discipline that comes with participation in sport and being part of a team builds character and can only be beneficial to our learners and increase their self-esteem. We must never underestimate the value of role models and our sporting heroes. Increased involvement and interest in sport will help to reduce delinquency, crime and drug abuse - problems that beset our youth.

Efforts to encourage indigenous sport, particularly morabaraba and moruba, are to be commended. Striving for excellence, whether in sport or education, is what will make South Africa a winning nation. Let this be the goal that unites us for the mutual benefit of all our people. Enkosi kakhulu! [Thank you very much.] [Applause.]

Mr F ADAMS: Hon Chair of Chairs, hon Ministers, hon MECs, special delegates and hon members of the House, I want to start by congratulating the hon Mrs Naledi Pandor on her election as Minister of Education, Mr Enver Surty as Deputy Minister of Education, and Mr Gert Oosthuizen as Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation. I know that you will do well in your portfolios, and we wish you all good luck and strength in your terms of office.

Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. Education is one of the most important long-term investments a country can make. The first decade of our democratic Government witnessed significant reform in education. Major achievements in education have been made in the past, and I am glad to hear the Minister announce that the Government will still be looking at ways to improve and enhance our education system.

An extremely worrying factor is the drug abuse in our schools. As we have seen in the media, some of our schools have already become one-stop shops for selling drugs to our students at school. We must also recognise that substance abuse is a complex problem and that interventions must be relevant to the particular context. In all cases a supportive response, aimed at correcting the problem, is encouraged. Random drug testing and searches must be encouraged at schools and parents must be involved as soon as possible.

We must actively try to promote the support base between teacher, parent and student at our schools. Children learn best when parents and teachers work together in partnership and when they share responsibility for this partnership. Through this partnership, we should and would be able to root out this drug abuse evil in our schools. Every child in South Africa must have a first-rate education, because there are no second-rated children and no second-rated dreams.

Sport and recreational programmes can and will play an important role, not only in delivering services and highly needed benefits to the poor in South Africa, but also by providing income and training, and by building and developing skills. The fabric of South African society is continually being transformed, creating greater stability and peace and laying the foundation for creating opportunities and circumstances in which both the individual and collective human potential of the nation can truly come to fruition.

Ministers, the New NP supports the goals set out by you and your department and we would like to thank you and your provincial counterparts. We would like to help you turn the tide to build and strengthen a people’s contract for a better South Africa. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mr C DUGMORE (Western Cape): Madam Chairperson, our national Minister and Deputy Minister of Education and Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation, MECs, hon members, invited guests and comrades, I think we are indeed very fortunate to have the combination of Ministers Pandor and Surty who worked so closely and effectively within the NCOP, as many of us who have spoken here previously would bear testimony to. To have the two of them working together, I am sure, fills us all with great hope for education in our country. I know that we in the Western Cape will not abuse the fact that our national Minister is actually from this province, but we will definitely be calling on her from time to time to fulfil a special role.

It is really strange that Mrs Robinson doesn’t appear to have leant her lesson, because when we were here last week she made certain very incorrect and confusing statements about books. I think it is clear that she should follow the example of the New NP which has now actually adopted the Freedom Charter which talks about a South Africa that belongs to all who live in it and which lays the basis for the people’s contract that our President is talking about, because when she talks about books all she can say is money.

The last time we were in this House I gave her the example of a school which initiated a library project with the help of the local authority - this is Pelican Park. They actually make that school available to the community every afternoon, every Saturday. I would appeal to her, in the context that we are also discussing sport here today, to follow the example of Graeme Smith’s partner, Minki van der Westhuizen, who is taking clear steps to collect learning materials and helping to distribute those learning materials. Young people like that show more wisdom and commitment than Mrs Robinson and all the people in the DA, because all they can actually do is to come here and complain.

The whole issue of funding our libraries, all of us know, is part of the process of our local authorities, our provinces, looking at the issues of powers and functions. What is also strange to me is that she talks in this House about her passion for sport. Does she know that one of the former MECs for education in the Western Cape - who was and still is a member of her party - actively discouraged sport in school, and said that all that was important was the issue of time-on-task, learning and reading? And yet this DA is so confused after this election that they continue to send out mixed messages - the one doesn’t know what the other one is actually saying. [Interjections.]

We have seen once again that the New NP’s Mr Adams, who spoke before me, focused on a real issue confronting our learners, that of tik and the problem of drugs. It appears that this DA is living in another world. [Interjections.] Our Government welcomes the sentiments expressed by our national Minister, both in the National Assembly last week and again here today in the National Council of Provinces.

I want to inform members of this House that our Minister has already attended a number of meetings in our province. I can assure you, at the FET workshop for teachers in one of our districts, of the response of our teachers and managers to our Minister’s statement that she is working towards a system in which managers in our education system manage a climate for our teachers to teach and learners to learn. I think it is this decisiveness and understanding of how we need to move that is inspiring people in regard to the leadership that our Minister is actually giving. From our side in the province, we commit ourselves to taking forward her call to improve access to quality education and better performance through quality service and the creation of opportunities for all.

In fact, the manner in which, in particular today, the DA who spoke just previously have, for instance, refused to acknowledge - as our Ministers informed this House again today - the progress which has actually been achieved is, I think, extremely disappointing. I think that we need to have an honesty in this debate to actually recognise that for the vast majority of South Africans, there has been an improvement in our education system. People can feel that. It is not surprising that in 1994, 60% of the people voted for the ANC and now in 2004 it has reached 70%. Something must be going well that our people, and in particular our youth, support this. Yet the DA, as I said ….

… hulle lewe in ‘n ander wêreld. Hulle weet nie wat aangaan in hulle eie areas nie. Hulle kom hierso en praat van dinge wat die gewone mense op die grondvlak nie eintlik verstaan nie. [Tussenwepsels.] [… they are living in another world. They do not know what is happening in their own areas. They come here and talk about things that people at grassroots level do not really understand. [Interjections.]]

So, our Premier in our province has adopted the strategy of Ikhapa Elihlumayo - growing the Cape - and, in fact, this is a strategy which informs the vision that we have set for our province of the Western Cape as a home for all.

Intshonakoloni ikhayalethu sonke. [The Western Cape is a home to all.]

Die Wes Kaap is ‘n tuiste vir almal. [The Western Cape is a home to all.]

So the strategy to get to the home for all is Ikhapa Elihlumayo, and we have been challenged as a department to in fact provide the human resource personnel for the Western Cape education department.

I would like to thank our national Minister again. I am not sure whether members are aware that the framework for developing a human resource and skills development strategy for the Western Cape was, in fact, developed by a committee of Dr Franklin Sonn and our hon Minister. It has some fantastic proposals here about how we need to develop our human resources to actually align them not only with the skills that our economy needs, but also to create entrepreneurship and the environment in which further wealth creation can actually happen. In fact, this strategy was basically endorsed by the Provincial Growth and Development Summit in the Western Cape where many of the resolutions endorsed the report which our national Minister was involved in. I am very happy as well that our Minister has raised the issue of the functions of national government and the functions of provinces.

Do you know, hon members, that in this province we have had a problem, because previous MECs, in particular from the DA, have seen fit to actually declare a policy war against the national government - going to court, fighting at every Council of Education Minister’s meeting, so much so that learning and teaching have actually been disrupted in this province? That has actually been a policy dichotomy which they have created. What really shocked me was that I thought when the hon member responsible had been redeployed to the National Assembly, that there might be a change. But in response to our National Minister’s speech in the NCOP, you know what she said? She said that given that there wasn’t adequate literacy and numeracy, which we acknowledge as an issue in our province, parents should go to the Constitutional Court; take the government to court.

Nou, waarmee is sy besig? Wie se geld wil sy nou al weer mors? [Now what is she doing? Whose money does she want to waste now?]

I want to request that the DA accept that this government has a democratic and a legitimate mandate, that as we developed outcomes-based education, we revised the national curriculum, and we are moving, and that it is not good for members to try to create different loyalties among certain Education department officials, which actually undermines the very mission of our Education department.

Hulle veroorsaak soveel verwarring hierso in die Wes Kaap … [They are causing so much confusion here in the Western Cape … ]

… that they are actually impacting on our ability to achieve what our national Minister and the Deputy Minister are trying to achieve. We have had skirmishes, court battles, officials being misused and abused, and a very negative climate actually being created. The one major problem that we have not come to accept is that people always want to give the impression that the Western Cape is better, etc, and in many ways we are proud of what we have achieved, but do you know that in our province five years ago there were only 20 African students doing maths on the higher grade? Twenty! And because of the history of how our province has developed, many coloured learners have been directed towards just being artisans because there was a preference in this way. They were not encouraged to actually do maths on the higher grade, yet people from the party that we all know so well want to stand up and say the matric results were the best.

However, if you actually look at this, why does Limpopo - a province which, as our Minister has informed us today, still has serious problems - do so well in higher grade? What have they actually been able to do right that we in the Western Cape and other provinces haven’t? I think we need not to have study tours to Australia, but rather check what it is that Limpopo is doing right that they are doing so fantastically well when it comes to higher grade mathematics, because clearly they are achieving something.

But, of course, the DA will just say money, money, money. They should follow, as I said before, what the NNP did and look at the Freedom Charter.

Kyk na daardie Vryheidsmanifes. [Look at that Freedom Charter.]

Ukuba uyayifunda laFreedom Charter uyabona, uzakuvuma ukuba kunenyani phakathi kweFreedom Charter, iinyani uyabona. [If you read the Freedom Charter you will agree that there is truth in it, you see.]

En dan sal ons begin om te werk. [And then we will start working.]

That is what we actually need to do. I am very happy that the national Minister has referred to the challenges that we face in literacy and numeracy.

Maar, Die Burger is nie reg as hulle sê dat een uit ses in die Wes - Kaap kan tel nie. [But Die Burger is not right when they say that one out of six can count in the Western Cape.]

This was a survey done with our Grade sixes, building on a previous survey done with Grade threes. Clearly, it is a matter of great concern, which our national Minister also talked about in the National Assembly, that our Grade sixes are not performing at the level that they should be. But this does not mean that they cannot read and write. Already, our department has put 100 books into each and every school. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mrs A MOTSHEKGA (Gauteng): Chair, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, MECs present, members of the NCOP, permanent delegates, comrades, ladies and gentlemen, as Gauteng we want to start off by stating that we fully support the Minister’s Vote and are committing ourselves to ensuring that we implement to the letter all the priorities identified in the Vote. After the Friday debate we requested the department to study closely the Minister’s Vote to see if there were any gaps in our plans and what the Minister has announced as priorities. Priorities in education, and the cycle we will be engaging in are expressed formally in various documents from our manifesto as the ruling party to the President’s state of the nation address, the Minister’s input, the Premier’s priorities - these are all contained in the priorities that we will be announcing on the 30th of this month as the province. On the whole these priorities strongly emphasise education’s role in transforming society, contributing to the country’s economic growth, bringing about social equity and development.

Minister, we are quite confident that our predecessors have made significant gains in the first decade of freedom and democracy in achieving a viable public schooling system. The challenge in the next period is to consolidate the advances made since 1994 and move towards quality, excellence and innovation in schooling whilst continuing to broaden access. As the province we went into a workshop immediately after the elections. In subsequent meetings we endorsed amongst other things the need to ensure universal access to early childhood development. This is recognised internationally as important for future sustainability. We also committed ourselves to improving the responsiveness of our education and training systems to the changing needs of our economy and particularly the growth aspect which the Gauteng province is committed to.

Based on this we have been requested as the department to be the lead department in developing skills programme for the province, and hence we will be looking forward to a discussion with the Department of Labour to see how those inform the programme that we have to develop for the province. We also committed ourselves to ensuring that our training programmes are able to respond to the fact many people do not get jobs in the formal economy in the short term, yet require increased skills to survive and improve the quality of their lives. Such skills include Abet, life skills and other practical skills for self-employment.

We also committed ourselves to paying particular attention to the skills that would lead to sustainable livelihoods in the rebuilding of our communities and families and that would reduce social conflict, domestic violence and the abuse of women and children. These will include parenting, life skills, awareness of substance abuse, and education about HIV and Aids, as well as educating our kids about the problems of teenage pregnancy. We will be putting strong emphasis on the appropriate skilling of youth including through learnerships.

Again, we will be looking for your guidance in terms of national learnerships that have been put in place and as a province we will also be awaiting guidance from the national department. We will also be improving investment in innovation research and development by the private sector through working closely with higher institutions to make sure that they capacitate us as a province. One of the challenges that we see as a province is that of implementing inclusive education for children with special needs. There are still some problems that are not going away. I think we have not made the progress that we would want to make within the sector of special needs education.

Our other challenge is ensuring success in our efforts to improve learning in and the teaching of mathematics, science and technology. I was especially tasked by the Premier to give outputs in terms of how we ensure that our children are not registered only for standard grade maths, but are assisted to participate in higher grade maths, paying special attention in particular to the girl-child and encouraging girl-children to participate in the science and maths programme. As a province we will also be harnessing e-pedagogy and Gauteng online for the benefit of our learners and teachers, because we also want to fight the digital divide which manifests itself as a divide between the poor and the rich.

We will be improving the use of school infrastructure by the broader community, including IT, because we also want to turn our schools into community centres and promote life skills, citizenship and moral regeneration issues through the schooling system. We are quite confident that we have had quite a number of successes especially in making public education a viable system. We have successfully transformed the system and governance of education delivery in Gauteng. We have a single administration and have successfully completed the second elections for our school governing bodies. We have set up a number of councils and bodies which support and advise us as government and we have improved our infrastructure in many respects. I think we have also fought the backlog.

We think that one of our achievements has been improving the level of quality in education in our province by increasing the level of literacy. We also think that we have been able to dent, though not quite adequately, the level of illiteracy in the province. So we will also be strengthening our efforts, as also mentioned in your speech, Minister, in terms of strengthening our Abet sector to make sure that it helps us, finally, to break the back of illiteracy. The province has, over the last 10 years, increased access to primary and school education. The Western Cape delegate mentioned in his speech that we have a unique feature in that we have an amazing ingrowth of learners. Currently, I know my department is panicking about what we are going to do in admissions, because I am told it does not matter how much we have planned, come January there are new learners who have moved into the province making planning impossible. So we are also confronted with that problem, but we are sure we will be able to manage and make sure that no child is turned away or is not given access to education.

We also think that we have improved qualitatively, not only quantitatively, in terms of increasing access to our education, because, as the matric results indicate, our current average now shows that we have moved from 78% to 85%. The number of schools that had poor pass rates has been reduced dramatically - no school in Gauteng in the past year produced results below 15%.

In terms of infrastructure, we think we have in a way tried to address the inherited backlogs in infrastructure, though unfortunately as a province we also have the unique factor in that our good infrastructure is locked in nongrowing areas. Therefore we are running empty schools, and have no schools in areas where there are people. We are also trying to address that. The gains made in the sphere of education and training must be leveraged to increase numbers in higher levels of learning, especially in the fields aligned to the required skill sets of growing economic sectors. Hopefully, the above-mentioned and other initiatives will result in a changed skills profile in our population. Skills development outcomes must be increasingly aligned with job opportunities forecasted from the growing sector.

We will be giving more attention, as I said earlier, Minister, to early childhood development. Only 25% of children up to the age of six in Gauteng are attending the ECD site and those not attending are most likely to be deeply poor and vulnerable to health and other social risks. There are significant societal benefits from investing in our young people. Again, the department is ensuring access to education in all the provinces. Despite the fact that we say we have abnormal growth, we are fighting hard to make sure that no child is turned away from our schools.

Some of our findings indicate that whilst we have improved in terms of quality, the dropout rate, especially amongst our secondary learners, is unacceptable. This is one of the areas that we will be addressing to make sure that we understand what causes our learners to drop out at such a high rate between Grades 9 and 11 and to ensure that we arrest that growth. In the meantime we are also looking at ensuring that we give more attention to and put more pressure on primary education.

We feel it is quite unfair to allow children to go through a weak education system, only putting pressure on them when they get to matric. We will pay more special attention to our primary education. There has been substantial improvement in learner performance across all the districts in the senior certificate examinations and, as I said, the pass rate has improved and we think that we will not go into reverse in that regard, but will improve quite dramatically.

Our vision as a department is smart service delivery of quality public education, which promotes a dynamic citizenship for socioeconomic growth and development of Gauteng and South Africa in general. We want to be at the cutting edge of curriculum delivery and provide access to quality lifelong learning and opportunities. This will be shaped by the principles of transformation, equity, redress and ubuntu. The emerging five themes from our plans are those of developing the spirit of learning and teaching and contributing to the national identity; implementing a technology- enabled environment; providing high and quality and effective education; developing the capacity to ensure efficient delivery of education; and contributing to economic growth, poverty alleviation and job creation.

Before I run out of time, Minister, I want to quickly respond to some of the issues that I think were raised in your speech, which we will undertake. I think one of the things that the Minister raised was the whole question about poverty and making sure that we address poverty among our children. I am proud to say, Minister, that as a province, under the leadership of Social Development, we have agreed on a single window package of services for children in difficult situations. As education, we are excited about the programme, because we think it will benefit greatly our constituencies who are our learners. This package, amongst other things, will ensure that children are given uniforms, are exempted from paying fees before they are even harassed into motivating why they can’t pay, have identification to allow them to go through a medical system. We are also negotiating with the transport system to make sure that all children within the package are not being harassed or they are exempted from expenses.

In terms of what the Premier was saying and what you have said Minister, I think the whole idea is to make the education system affordable so that it’s not the safety net that we rely on, but is pro poor and friendly to the poor. As I said, we are looking at ensuring that we have a skills programme that enables us to respond to the needs of the province, and we will be awaiting the results of your negotiations with Labour and see how we can fit in as a province.

The other issue that was raised in your address and also in the President’s address is the issue of infrastructure. And, again, we are putting plans in place to make sure that we address the needs of infrastructure in our province despite the fact that we have abnormal growth and very abnormal situations. For instance, we will have primary schools with up to 3 000 children because of the lack of infrastructure. We are putting plans in place to make sure that we are able to address that. We are also working hard to make sure that along national guidelines the FET sector, the Abet sector, the ECD sector also transform to enable them to respond to the needs and the priorities identified by yourself and the President.

And in relation to clean water and sanitation, the province has committed itself to meeting this challenge, and where necessary, we will even be bringing in potable water where we have no bulk provision of water to make sure that we are able to provide water in our schools. In relation to the chairperson’s view about nutrition, we as Gauteng are proud to say we have even begun to pilot school nutrition or school programmes in poor areas for high school children. Although we do not have a huge budget, we are hoping that we will be able to address this need. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Ms J MASILO: Thank you hon Chairperson. Hon Minister of Education, Deputy Ministers present here today, hon members of the House, MECs from the provinces and special delegates, I wish to extend my congratulations to both the Minister of Education and the Minister of Sport and Recreation. We are fully aware of the enormous responsibilities that these two Ministries encompass.

When the ANC envisaged and drafted the Reconstruction and Development Programme, we wanted to ensure that we moved away from the gutter education that was our inheritance from the past. In the January 8 statement, the President of the ANC and the Republic of South Africa commented on the fact that one of our victories in the struggle against poverty should be to build more classrooms so that none of our children should study under trees. The department has responded in its budget by accelerating the school building programme to adhere to the President’s call that no learner will learn under a tree or in a mud school by the end of the year.

The ANC has consistently insisted that everyone should have access to education. More particularly, the poor should have quality education that will break the cycle of poverty that was the status quo in the past. We commend the department’s focus on the subsidy to schools, particularly those that are serving the needs of the poor communities. This will help a lot in the funding structures at these schools to ensure that these schools are adequately provided for in terms of infrastructure and basic educational resources.

This will also ensure that poor communities are not forced to pay school fees that are beyond their means. The Department of Education is also called upon by the President to expand the reach of the Abet programme and align it with the training objectives of the Expanded Public Works Programme. As the ANC we envisaged that the Abet programme would give back to our people the education they had been denied, and have the high levels of illiteracy eradicated completely. It becomes important, therefore, that the department strengthens its monitoring and evaluation reporting structure on this Abet programme to ensure that a province such as the North West can have an efficiently run programme that will not be closed unnecessarily. We also need to ensure that educators are paid on time. Essentially, we are asking the department to clear away any and all maladministration practices.

The ANC has to congratulate the department on the improvement in the examination results generally, but in particular, matriculation results. Abet candidates have in the past suffered a great disadvantage with regard to examination results. The department has addressed Abet examinations through its national policy that requires provincial departments on education to establish examination boards. It would then be the responsibility of these boards to facilitate the process of policy formulation on examinations and any other matters such as examinations in adult centres in provinces.

The President highlighted the need to extend basic infrastructure such as water and sanitation to all schools by the end of this year. We know that our children find it difficult enough to come to school, fight for the monies to pay school fees, buy school text books. We need, at least, to ensure that while they are at school they have the basic running water and toilets to perform their ablutions.

A new danger has crept into our schools, namely that young people are becoming targets of drug and substance abuse. Increasingly schools, even primary schools, are reporting a huge increase in the number of young children who become dependent on drugs. Poorer children resort to stealing from neighbours, friends and even strangers to pay for their new habit, and richer children steal things from their parents and sell them. All of this means that we now have a large group of young children resorting to antisocial behaviour in order to maintain their addiction.

Parents and teachers are fighting an almost losing battle to try and turn back the tide of substance abuse. All of us should be vigilant to ensure that our vulnerable children are not used by druglords. ``Your child is my child; my child is your child.’’

We believe that all the relevant departments should work with the Department of Education to fight against poverty. Some of the areas have already been outlined by the department, such as investing in a basic minimum package to relieve the poorest learners from paying schools fees by giving them a 40% learner subsidy, particularly learners from rural and farming areas.

Other poverty relief options are transport subsidies and boarding allowances. In the North West province, for instance, boarding facilities are being implemented and are accommodated in the 2003-04 budget. Halala North West, halala! For children from far away rural and farming areas food security is already being budgeted for in this budget cycle through the Food Nutrition Programme as well as through food gardens. The Department of Health has handed over this responsibility to the Department of Education, as from April 2004. As the ANC we are happy to support Budget Vote 15: Education. [Applause.]

Mrs J N VILAKAZI: Chairperson, hon Ministers and hon members, I echo all members in congratulating our Ministers. Education is power; without education the future is uncertain, disempowering and gloomy. That is why parents from all walks of life do everything within their power to educate their children at all levels, arming them with the knowledge, wisdom and power they deserve in life, but this depends on the capacity and capability of both parents and children.

The Department of Education embraces every facet necessary for the promotion of effective education in the national and provincial spheres of government. The programmes formulated are testimony to this endeavour. In order to drive these programmes in all areas meaningfully and effectively, poor people must be taken into consideration, as it is mostly poor people who suffer when they fail to fulfil their obligations as parents owing to the socioeconomic problems they are faced with, for instance poverty, unemployment, low income, illness and other factors currently engulfing the normal societal status of individuals and their families.

The Constitution of the country clearly stipulates that everyone has a right to education, but when it comes to achieving this for some parents who fall within the bracket I have just mentioned, educating children becomes a heavy task, a struggle and a burden they cannot carry. This is manifested by a failure to pay school fees, and buy books, school uniforms and other requirements that are needed. Most families, especially in the rural areas, depend on the old age pension of a family member for survival. A pensioner becomes the breadwinner for all the family members, young and old.

Education therefore becomes affordable to middle class and high society only. We are living in a country of haves and have-nots. The Department of Education is the only hope when it comes to easing the pressures and burdens, some of which I have just mentioned, experienced by the poor families.

Children from these families are chased away from schools as a way to force parents to pay school fees. If nothing can be done to assist them, they end up leaving school miserable and dejected, and, worse than that, uneducated. Some children walk very long distances to the nearest school. My Minister mentioned that in her speech. When they reach school they are tired, hungry and listless, and their concentration becomes affected.

The masters of the previous undemocratic government contributed a great deal to the problems I have just mentioned. We salute the present Government for introducing the feeding scheme at schools as a means to promote good teacher-child relationships and effective education.

Imfundo iyisikhali sanamuhla. Bonke abantwana bayayidinga empilweni yabo yonke. Imfundo iyifa kodwa manje ubunzima obuhlangabezana nabazali abaphokophelele ukufundisa abantwana babo kwenza imfundo ibe wumqansa kubazali. Kukhona inkinga yemali yesikole. Umnyango uyagcizelela ukuthi abantwana abangaxoshelwa le mali, kodwa bayaxoshwa nsuku zonke kuthi abanye bajeziswe ngokuthi bangahlolwa ezifundweni zabo. Abanye abayitholi imiphumela yabo uma kwenzekile bahlolwa. Unya lolu mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe, asazi ukuthi uzolulungisa kanjani.

Imikhandlu ephethe izikole okwakungezabamhlophe bodwa ayifuni ukuxuba izinhlanga. Umuntu uye athole ukuthi isikole sixube abantwana bezinhlanga zonke kodwa umkhandlu ugcwale abebala bodwa, bese kuba khona oyedwa welinye ibala ukugcina icala lokuthi umkhandlu uxubile. Akukuhle neze lokhu. KwaZulu-Natali, lapho ngivela khona, kukhona lokhu. Lokhu engikhuluma ngakho akusiwo amabunge nje.

Ngize kwimifundaze - uxhaso lwemali yokufunda kulabo asebezophothula izifundo sengathi lunganezelelwa. Imali iyinkinga kubazali abahola kancane. Ngasohlangothini lolimi, uma ufuna ukugqilaza umuntu, mncishe ulimi lwakhe. Izingane zethu zisaxakwa ngolimi lwesiNgisi nesiBhunu nanamhlanje. Kanti siyofika nini isikhathi lapho ingane izozikhethela ulimi eluthandayo?

Maqondana nezinsiza-kufunda ezikoleni ezisemakhaya, umthwalo womnyango ukugcwalisa lezi zidingo ukuze abantwana bafunde ngenkululeko. Siyethemba ukuthi isabiwomali somnyango siyokwazi ukwengeza kuthi xaxa kule ndima. Umnyango onezidingo eziningi kakhulu lo wemfundo. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)

[Education is a weapon nowadays. All the children need it throughout their lives. It is an inheritance, but now the difficulties encountered by parents who are determined to educate their children make education a serious problem for parents. There is the problem of school fees. The department stresses the fact that children should not be dismissed from school because of school fees. But every day some learners are dismissed from school, while others are punished by being excluded from examinations. In certain cases those who are examined have their examination results withheld from them. This is very cruel, hon Minister, and we wonder how you are going to rectify this.

The previously white school governing bodies do not want racial diversity. One finds that the school is multiracial, and yet the school governing body is dominated by white people, save for one person of colour who is made a token just to give the impression that the governing body is multiracial. This is not fair. In KwaZulu-Natal, where I come from, the scenario I am referring to here is a reality.

On the subject of bursaries, it would be a good idea to increase financial assistance to students at the final level of study. Money is a real problem to parents with a low income. Regarding the issue of language, if you want to enslave a person, deprive him of his language. Our children are still being bombarded with English and Afrikaans even today. When will the time ever come when children can make their choice regarding language?

As far as teaching resources in rural schools are concerned, it is the responsibility of the department to satisfy these needs so that children can learn freely. We hope that the department’s budget will be able to provide more funds in this area. The Department of Education has a lot of needs.]

The IFP supports all measurable objectives of the department’s strategic plan, that is further education and training, as they empower the educator with more knowledge to plant, develop, evaluate and maintain national policy and systems for further education and training, including national assessments and quality assurance systems. Programme 6, as we have stated, focuses on an effective and efficient higher education system that contributes to fulfilling South Africa’s human resource, research, and knowledge needs. The department should monitor the transformation process in all schools in order to pay more attention to educators, school governing bodies and languages. Governing bodies must portray the demographic structures of the institutions. This should apply to educators as well. Children must be free to select the language of their choice.

The department is faced with the massive task of building, upgrading and renovating schools where these needs arise. We are also aware of the need for human resource development in all categories. Your budget clearly defines this. We just hope that all moneys will be utilised effectively to avoid roll-overs. KwaZulu-Natal has a high demand for capital and human resources. The IFP supports the Budget Vote. I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Mrs P McKAY (KwaZulu-Natal): Madam Chair, Madam Minister, Mr Deputy Minister, MECs, NCOP members and special delegates, I have listened with interest today to what is happening in education and what is intended to happen. I have a concern, coming from KwaZulu-Natal, in that we are now on our seventh Minister of education and things have not gone very well in our province. We have 3 million learners, 75 000 educators, 10 000 support staff, and I am afraid things are pretty much in disarray. Nevertheless, our Minister, Ina Cronjé, has in the two months since she has been sworn in travelled the length and breadth of the province to try to get a handle on what is going on so that she can prioritise what needs to be prioritised.

We are aware that the role of education is fundamental. I attended a meeting here in this city about three years ago that was hosted by the Minister of Social Development, the hon Dr Skweyiya. Ninety-two countries attended the meeting, which was on the issue of eradicating poverty especially in developing countries. What came out of that meeting was education, education and more education.

I have heard concerns, including that of our hon Minister, who was on TV this morning, about the Social Development budget increasing and thereby impacting negatively on other budgets, including that of Education. I think we all know that the long-term prognosis for this country is to spend money on education so that we can gradually wean people off the need for social security. We heard Mrs Vilakazi speak about how many people are dependent on their old age pensions. We are well aware of this, but the future of the country is to educate people so that they will become employable, be able to go out to work and turn this situation around.

I am very sad to say that we are still picking up a lot of problems in our province. We have stories, for example, of teachers sharing classrooms. A school recently came to my attention where the teachers teach biweekly. They put 80 children in the classroom, and the one teacher teaches the one week and the other teacher the other week.

We still have problems on payday. If you go into the townships you will not find the children in school. How do you develop a culture of education when the teachers are not willing to educate? We have to do something about that, and our Minister has committed herself to ensuring that this sort of practice is eradicated.

We are also looking at the relevant curricula in terms of what we should be doing. For example, the issue of children walking to school has been mentioned by Mrs Vilakazi and others. Our province is in consultation with the Minister and the Department of Transport about trying to provide transport so that children need not walk these long distances to school. Today is the shortest day of the year and many children will have set out to go to school in the dark this morning, and will return in the dark if they haven’t already dropped out owing to the problem of having to walk those long distances.

Curricula have to be relevant for children such as street children who drop out of school. If one wants to reintegrate them back into society, you cannot put them in a normal classroom. There has to be specialised education for them, which is on the cards in terms of schools for further education and training.

The same goes for children who are dropping out of school in droves because their parents are ill and dying from Aids. Many children are now having to leave the classroom to look after siblings and to try to nurse sick and dying parents. These children will need to come back into the system and eventually catch up, and the system needs to be geared up to cope with this.

There is concern in our province about schools not being able to manage their budgets, and our Minister went to a school … Oh, my time has expired. Thank you very much. This was my first time speaking here. We support the Budget. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Ms P WILLIAMS (Northern Cape): Hon Chair, I was confused just now; I thought I was in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Hon Chairperson, Minister Pandor and Deputy Ministers Oosthuizen and Surty, special delegates, comrades, ladies and gentlemen, the Northern Cape province congratulates Minister Naledi Pandor on her appointment as national Minister of Education.

En in die Afrikaans van die Noord-Kaap wil ons vir u sterkte, gesondheid en wysheid toewens vir die volgende vyf jaar. [And in the Afrikaans of the Northern Cape, we wish you strength, health and wisdom for the next five years.]

Allow me, hon Chairperson, to begin my speech by recalling the words of Gabriel Mistral, a Nobel Prize-winning poet from Chile in his poem entitled His name is:

We are guilty of many errors And many faults But our worst crime is abandoning the children Neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need Can wait The child cannot Right now is the time his bones are being formed His blood is being made And his senses are being developed To him we cannot answer: Tomorrow! His name is Today.

The results of the Senior Certificate examinations and all our work in education is centred on the wellbeing of our children. And this is because the steps we take today will determine the future prosperity of our country, which ultimately belongs to our young people, and future generations that will follow. We cannot and dare not let them down. It is with this thought in mind that we as a Northern Cape province presents the following priorities: to improve school functionality and ensure quality education in schools, the successful implementation of the integrated quality management system, presents a central plan for the attainment of these objectives. The three systems constitute the IQMS, this is whole school evaluation development al appraisal system, and performance management. And all three are critical for ensuring school functionality and quality education in schools. The necessary structures, including a provincial training team, have been set up for implementation. All schools, including the principal and educator, have been at training and an information manual is now being distributed to schools.

The Northern Cape education department remains totally committed to the full and effective implementation of the IQMS. The school management development programme is also a priority and is geared at improving the efficiency of the school management, ie principals, deputies and heads of departments. A dedicated unit in the department was established for this purpose. The unit has already concluded training on a generic school management module for all principals with less than three years experience. The school governing body training indicates the critical nature of school governance to ensure that schools are functional and that quality education in schools is assured.

The Northern Cape education department has the responsibility of being the provincial custodian and team driver for human resource and skills development. The department is now concluding the development of a provincial human resource and skills development strategy and plan. This plan will be clearly aligned to the socioeconomic growth plans of the province.

A provincial skills development forum has ensured that all departments have a workplace forum in place. The province has already launched its internship programme by identifying and placing 200 interns. In line with the Minister’s speech, strengthening the FET college sector is crucial for human resource and skills development. The two merged FET colleges will elect new councils and have started to realign its programme offerings to be more responsive. Both colleges are already offering a variety of learnerships and positioning themselves to becoming the public providers of choice.

Skills development in the ABET sector further adds to this strategy. Skills programmes are offered in 20 centres, also in conjunction with the FET colleges. Our school food security programme is at the core of our endeavours to fight poverty and also represents a key initiative to support the objectives of the Expanded Public Works Programme. A total of 178 000 learners in 575 schools and community ECD sites are being fed. Food gardens are being established at all primary schools.

The hon member from the DA was very concerned about the high cost of education and the impact of that on the poor learner. We as a province are saying that we fund through the funding norms and standards of public schools, that fund poor schools six times more than the rest of the other schools.

Our commitment to transforming the curriculum, teaching and learning methodologies remain unchanged. All preparations for implementing the revised national curriculum statement in the intermediate phase in 2005 are in place. All intermediate phase educators will be trained in the winter vacations. Advocacy for outcomes-based education in the FET phase has already started. All schools with a learner enrolment in excess of 100 already have a computer laboratory of at least 10 computers. This amounts to 86% of all schools in the province. A project currently underway funded by USAID aims to install internet connectivity and e-mail facilities at 254 schools. An ICT curriculum unit is being established to ensure that ICT are infused into the curriculum at all learning and teaching activities. In conclusion, our other priorities are to implement the ABET Act and ensure growth in the sector and to expand provision of education to learners with barriers to learning by implementing White Paper No 6. We will also expand access to reception year, Grade R. and ECD programmes, focus on mathematics, science and technology, improve school infrastructure, as agreed upon by the National Minister and provinces, special focus on delivery in nodal areas - that is Galeshewe and Kgalagadi

• and to fight HIV/Aids. We therefore support the budget of the national Minister. I thank you. [Applause.]

Rev E ADOLPH: Hon Chairperson, National Minister, Deputy Minister, the director-general of the Department of Education, MECs and all members of this House, let me take this opportunity to congratulate Mrs Pandor on this new and challenging portfolio in which you involve yourself and your Deputy. You have also inherited a number of challenges within the education department. We have to commend your predecessors for achieving a lot of success in terms of restructuring the department, in terms of equity and a host of other issues.

I don’t have much time, however. There are such a lot of tangible issues that you need to tackle, but I will restrict myself to a couple of them. First of all, I’d like you to know that you have a budget of which more than 80% is being spent on salaries for teachers and educators, and that that the rest will be spent on development and entrepreneurship as well as capital projects. I’m not sure whether you will beat the deadline by building 95 new schools by the end of this financial year, as no child should be taught under a tree. That is the President’s obligation and his instruction to us, by the end of March 2005. With this little and inadequate budget, I’d like to know how you will be achieving this idea, and also your vision of abolition school fees.

Let me get back to basics. We in the ID are very concerned about the accessibility to school institutions for our learners. We are concerned about the exclusion of poor learners out of the education stream. It is sad to note that parents have to use social grants to pay the school fees, to keep their children in school, whereas it is a Constitutional obligation that every child should have free access to school and education. How come they have been excluded by huge amounts of money for textbooks, etc? I’m also concerned about the fact that in some cases - I wouldn’t say all cases - that you are struggling with the problem of incompetent managers at district level and other levels so as to implement your priorities and policies according to the target set by the department itself. I would also like to focus your attention on the fact that you are struggling with a shortage of teachers and educators. It is time maybe that we reconsider the positions of those qualified, skilful educators, especially in the scarce subjects like mathematics, science and technology. They took severance packages a couple of years ago; they are sitting at home currently, they have the skills, and they are unemployed. Why can’t you consider bringing them back and enhancing quality education to our learners instead of retraining them? It would be a more cost-effective process incorporating within the system again. Thank you. My other concern is integration in the school system. [Interjection.] [Time expired.]

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF EDUCATION: Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister Oosthuizen, hon MECs, members of the NCOP, and special delegates, it is indeed a pleasure to be back home. Several months ago, prior to the elections, when I bade farewell to the members of the NCOP, I casually remarked that it appears as if my destiny is intertwined with the destiny of my Minister. Little did I realise the prophetic importance of the statement which brings us together at this moment in time to face what I may describe as, perhaps, the most significant and critical challenge for the future of our country.

Given her extraordinary ability and commitment, and the past co-operation we both received from the provinces, I am cautiously confident that we will achieve a measure of success in providing quality education to our people, especially the poorest of the poor, for the reasons set out by Mrs Vilakazi, and the challenges that have been enumerated by Mr Adolph in terms of the constraints with regard to the budget, etc.

It is a special privilege for me to participate in this debate, and I am sure I do not have to persuade anyone of my attachment to the NCOP. More importantly, the manner in which your Select Committee on Education and Recreation is structured, makes the committee the ideal vehicle to develop a holistic view of the scope and the breadth of education. We will be the first to agree that sport and recreation, arts and culture, and science and technology are essential components of the spectrum and rich fabric of education. An integrated approach to education and training must therefore be the correct approach. Incidental to this exercise is the need to co- operate and integrate our initiatives and programmes.

I wish to focus today on a number of initiatives and programmes of the Department of Education, which will give us the flavour of the kind of work that is being done. It will also identify some critical areas of work, and where urgent interventions are needed. The first initiative is named Dinaledi, but not after the Minister of Education. This programme is a comprehensive attempt to deal with the real concerns about the extent and the quality of the teaching of mathematics, science and technology. One hundred and two schools have been selected by the provinces as the lead institutions for Dinaledi. Over the past two years these schools have been provided with additional facilities and resources, including libraries, and teachers have been targeted for special training in these areas. Already we have seen some of the effects of these interventions, with the Dinaledi schools achieving much better results in these subjects in the matriculation examinations. However, much more has to be done. Dinaledi is not just about these 102 selected schools. It is intended to create sustainable models for improving the quality of teaching and learning in mathematics, science and technology. Furthermore, it is to encourage many more learners, especially girls, to take these subjects, which are critical for the development and growth of our nation. The planned introduction of a compulsory mathematics programme for every child in the new FET curriculum, either in the form of mathematical literacy, or more traditional forms of mathematics, is an indication of our seriousness in this matter.

It is our view, Mr Dugmore, to increase the learnerships from 20 to more than 2 000 in the Western Cape, with this kind of programme that we envisage. To expand these programmes to rural schools and more townships, the matter of salary incentives to encourage teachers with these scarce skills to work in hardship posts and in rural areas is under consideration. This may also help the migration of learners from township schools to more privileged schools in urban areas, as indicated by the MEC from Gauteng. We must also co-ordinate closely with the Department of Science and Technology and the Department Labour, to respond to the vocational and career paths in the research and development areas that are necessary to match the acquired skills.

Also, at school level, but with a very different orientation - I am sure Mrs Robinson will be glad to hear this - we have given renewed attention to the role of sport and recreation. A healthy mind needs a healthy body, and all schools should include time for physical education, and for organised recreation. These are part of the curriculum, and not just a “nice to have” addition to teaching and learning. In so far as the issue of Wednesday is concerned, you will have to confer with our hon Minister of Education, who will develop a particular policy, Mr Oosthuizen.

For this purpose we are working with Sport and Recreation South Africa to ensure the proper integration, co-ordination and management of sport at school. We are quite clear that school sport is the domain of education, and we will take responsibility for its support. But at the highest levels of representative, competitive sport, we need to acknowledge the role of national sports associations and federations. These bodies should be providing guidance and support to schools, to ensure that learners have an opportunity to explore a variety of sporting codes, some of which they may not have been aware of before.

The recent media story about a young boy from Langa who has become a champion horse rider, is a good example of the extraordinary talent of our people, who need to be given opportunities to develop. The further advantage of developing ability in different codes is quite clear from the weekend. We were disheartened when we heard how Bafana Bafana lost 3-0 to Ghana, but at the same time we celebrated the victory of the Springboks in rugby and the victory of Retief Goosen in the United States Open. So, this certainly is, as the Deputy Minister correctly pointed out, a vehicle for nation-building and reconciliation.

As we pay attention to school sport and recreation, we must be mindful that there are many indigenous games that have a particular meaning and place in different communities. By promoting these activities we will be able to promote social cohesion. Similarly, as we promote recreational activities such as chess to stimulate learners’ creativity and thinking, similar goals can be achieved when learners participate in playing morabaraba and diketo. I am sure, Ms Robinson, we would like to hear that you are drawing closer to the ethos of the ANC in terms of how education should be developed holistically.

Social cohesion will also be promoted through the revival of arts and culture in all our schools. Local government structures have a critical role to play in this area through co-ordinating programmes on the diverse indigenous customs. The promotion of an inter-generation dialogue programme between elders and the youth is an important strategy that can be considered by our local government structures. These programmes can be facilitated with the local Department of Education. A recent review of school governance found that school governing bodies had found a high degree of support among all communities, both rich and poor.

This is very positive, and provides a foundation for further development. But the report also noted that these governing bodies were constrained by the fact that they could only impact upon an individual school, and that there were no provisions for schools to co-operate outside of their school fences. In some instances schools have initiated an organic clustering process, to facilitate a more collective approach, and a sharing of resources and facilities. This is very healthy and commendable. We cannot promise every school all the facilities it desires, because of the constraints referred to by Mr Adolph. But there is no reason why every child should not have access to such facilities, if these were more centrally provided, and made available to a range of local schools.

The challenge to historically privileged schools is to twin with or cluster with other schools and make their amenities and their facilities available, so that they could then say that they have contributed to the integration of our society, and the development at all levels in terms of education. This certainly points us to the significant role of local government structures, that is municipalities and district councils, in supporting the delivery of education. It is much easier for a local municipality to send in a grader to level a field than for Public Works or Education to go out and tender, to get a contractor on site for the same purpose.

While Mr Oosthuizen is busy with the proverbial levelling of the playing fields politically, our concern is about providing level playing fields, and Mr Setona in the Free State is quite aware of the challenges of playing soccer on an uneven playing field. A community library may be built in a location that allows a number of schools to use it during the morning, with the community using it in the afternoon and evenings. We must at the same time acknowledge and recognise that there are many municipalities and district councils, such as the one that I am from, the Bojanala District Council, that have included the provision of resources both in terms of infrastructure and services in their strategic plans.

The role of the South African Local Government Association in promoting awareness among municipalities in relation to education provision must also be recognised. We should scrutinise the integrated development plans of local government, with a view of asking how these IDPs relate to the challenges of education provision. We must also ask about the role of ward committees in the educational sector, and encourage the establishment of education desks at municipalities, district councils, and the substructures of metropolitan areas. Mr Dugmore is correct that it is necessary to secure the ownership of public schools by communities, and for schools to become the centres of community life.

Remember, they are public schools, not state schools. Use them after hours for social, cultural, religious and sporting activities. This engenders a wonderful sense of community spirit and enhances ownership of the institution, and also contributes to safeguarding its assets from vandalism and theft. We will therefore be continuing our dialogue with Salga, to ensure that they also contribute to the provision of educational services such as water and electricity, and where possible to provide these at preferential rates.

In short, we are calling for an approach that involves a number of national government departments, provincial governments, especially the department of education, as well as local governments. We will also expect our people to contribute whatever they are able to, not merely in monetary terms, but also in terms of time and support for the school, its principal, its teachers, and its learners. Bear in mind that we decided in the Reconstruction and Development Programme that we lead a people-driven and people-centred revolution, not a bureaucratic one.

Education is the responsibility of all of us, and quality education, to which we are committed, will only become a reality when we have mobilised every possible resource and every possible person to make their special contribution. Our vision is a shared vision and our task must therefore be a shared task. I thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]

Mrs A N D QIKANI: Hon Deputy Chair of Committees, hon Ministers, hon MECs from different provinces, and hon members, I greet you all. Hon Minister, allow me the opportunity to congratulate you on your appointment to the education portfolio and also the Deputy Minister.

The range of challenges facing the department is wide and each of these challenges requires urgent attention. The highest priority is to ensure that our children leave school with the ability to become productive participants in the social and economic life of our society.

Apho ndisuka khona, eMpuma Koloni, emaphandleni, apho izikolo zisesezingxondorheni, kuninzi ekusafuna ingqwalasela yesebe. Iititshala ezifundisa phaya azifuni kuhlala ngenxa yeemeko kweezo lali, itsho ke imfundo ebantwaneni iqhwalele ngamandla.

Kufuneka umgangato wezikolo ufane kanye nowezasezidolophini, nemfundo ngokunjalo, ukwenzela neetitshala ezi zingabathathi abantwana bazo zibase kwizikolo ezisezidolophini. Wofika abantwana bezishiya izikolo zasezilalini besiya ezidolophini. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)

[Where I come from, the rural areas of the Eastern Cape, where schools are still inaccessible, there is a lot that still needs the attention of the department. The teachers who teach there are no longer interested in staying because of the conditions prevailing in those areas, and this results in great non-delivery of proper educations to learners.

The standards of schools and education should be improved to the same levels as those in the urban areas so that teachers would not send their own children to schools in the urban areas. You will find learners moving from schools in the rural areas to the urban areas.]

Another pressing challenge, Chairperson, is to ensure that every school has classrooms, water, sanitation, electricity, libraries and sport facilities. Nabo aba bantwana kufanele bazifumise bonwabile ezikolweni zabo. Ndiyavuya ukuva uMphathiswa esitsho ukuba ngokuphela kwalo nyaka, ziya kube ziqwalaselwe ezo zinto.

Okokugqibela, kufuneka zikhuselwe kangangoko iititshala nabantwana kwizikrelemnqa ezibavingcela ezindlwini nasezindleleni xa besiya esikolweni. Siyabulela ke ukuva uMphathiswa ethetha ngesondlo sabantwana ezikolweni, itsho loo nto abantwana bakhuthazeke, baye esikolweni. Nabo kungekho nto kumakwabo, baya esikolweni besazi ukuba kukho into abaza kuyifumana, kutsho ke kube lulutho kubo bafumane imfundo ebhetele. Enkosi. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)

[They also, these learners, are supposed to be happy at their schools. I am happy to hear the Minister saying that by the end of this year these issues will have been addressed.

Finally, teachers and learners are supposed to be protected against criminals who attack them in their homes and on the road on their way to school. We are thankful to hear the Minister speaking about the feeding scheme of learners whilst at school; that alone will encourage learners to attend school. They also have nothing at their homes; they go to school knowing there is something to their benefit; it is to their advantage to achieve a better education. I thank you.]

Mr M MATOMELA: Deputy Chair of Committees, thank you very much. Hon Minister, Deputy Minister, MECs and hon members, since the department was established as one single department in 1995/96, we have faced many challenges as department. The path has not been easy, but we are much closer today to realising the ideal of a stable department. The fact that we have appointed a permanent secretary and people in key management areas like finance, enables us now proudly to say that we have people who seem to understand what they are doing. And therefore we want to ensure the hon Minister that the issue is going to be attended to.

We have a provincial growth and development plan in the Eastern Cape, and each department is expected to align its programmes to that plan. The Department of Education plays a critical role in the human resource development strategy of the province. It is therefore essential that if the province is to attain its full potential its public education system must provide learners who are equipped with the necessary skills to impact on the economy. In this area, we are looking in particular at two sectors, that is the adult Basic education and training and further education and training, especially the FET colleges.

In the province, as a result of our vision for appropriate skilling of our future and present workforce, captured in our provincial growth and development plan, we had already decided to allocate more resources to FET colleges over the MTEF period. We have allocated R166 million during this financial year. It is expected that such resources will be used to improve infrastructure, equipment and curricular offerings, so as to enable them to meet their goals, as set out in the provincial growth and development plan.

In the field of ABET, the Eastern Cape has been doing very well. We want to indicate, of course, that even after 10 years of freedom, the illiteracy rate in the Eastern Cape remains unacceptably high. The inability to read and write or to function effectively as a citizen and employee condemns thousands of our people to unemployment and permanent poverty.

We have allocated R140 million towards this programme, a further improvement on last year’s allocation. It is worth noting that the ABET programme run by our department goes beyond the formal programmes leading to the academic qualification at ABET level 4. We have begun innovative programmes in agriculture, poultry farming and skills development. These are being well attended.

The opportunity to dovetail our efforts with the Expanded Public Works Programme is very welcome and will definitely boost our efforts. Unfortunately, due to economic factors prevalent in the province, even successful learners who graduate from the ABET programmes are unable to secure employment. So greater skilling and work experience on the EPWP will doubtlessly enhance their future employability, restore their dignity and make them productive members of society.

Chairperson, let me deal with infrastructure. The department faces massive challenges in providing sufficient, suitable classrooms for its learners and teachers in the province. As indicated earlier, the community has built many of the structures where learners are taught. Many of these structures are unsafe and do not conform to minimum standards. The province does not have any learners learning under trees, except to alleviate unanticipated overcrowding, but we have some 890 mud schools, which need to be replaced with safer structures.

Costs are estimated at more than R1 billion. We had planned to eliminate these backlogs by 2006 and the provincial legislature continues to allocate additional resources to this end. We have allocated R498 million for this year. The presidential injunction that no learners should be in such structures by the end of this financial year excites us, as definite steps are going to be taken to redress a situation that we have been struggling with for years. The hon Minister and the Deputy Minister have committed themselves to assist us in dealing with this issue.

The province faces major challenges with regard to funding that may jeopardise all the wonderful plans I have been sharing with you today. Due to overspending in the last two financial years, the department’s bank account was some R602 million in the red as at 31 March 2004. To make matters worse, calculations done in the department would seem to indicate that the department has been underfunded on personnel to the tune of R150 million. Despite continuous interaction with our provincial Treasury, we have not succeeded in getting more funding. The department is currently spending more than 92% of its personnel budget on educators, thus sacrificing administrative support personnel to accommodate this. The result has been a largely dysfunctional head office and a huge vacancy rate in the 24 district offices. It is quite obvious that something must be done.

Of course we know that it is a crime to spend beyond one’s budget in terms of the PFMA, but one surely cannot be expected to deliver an increased level of service and accelerated programmes under these circumstances, and therefore we really need this R150 million. Nothing would please the province more than to see its colleges more productive, its ABET learners gainfully employed and its building programme accelerated, so that its learners receive a quality public education. My officials and I stand ready to deliver on our programmes.

One is reminded of what we are facing in the department regarding the underfunding we experience. I remember in the National Assembly, when the hon Minister was addressing the committee stage, and as she was talking about over-expenditure she looked at me, and we are going to try, hon Minister, to remain within budget, but unfortunately when we do that we are going to go for the soft targets with this infrastructure.

Let me conclude by quoting what Winston Churchill said when he was talking to the USA: ``Give us the tools and we will finish the job.’’ [Applause.] Hon Minister Churchill got his additional warships and aeroplanes. We hope we too shall be given the resources to enable us to finish the job. Thank you very much.

Mr A GRINKER: Mr Chairperson, it’s a daunting prospect for me, after watching the debate of this House for such a long time from the gallery as an official, to now be placed in the lion’s den.

Firstly, allow me to congratulate the new Chairperson of the NCOP on her appointment. She is sitting over there. Secondly, I would like to congratulate the Minister and the Deputy Minister on their appointments, but I would caution with words from the film Spiderman: With great power comes great responsibility.'' Nowhere is this more the case than with the education portfolio in South Africa. It was Diogenes who said: The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.’’

In this regard, I would like to highlight some of the stark challenges facing education in the province of KwaZulu-Natal - the biggest department of education in the country. In KwaZulu-Natal, 333 schools have no toilets; 51% of schools use pit latrines; the backlog in the provision of classrooms is some 14 667 classrooms, which at the present rate of construction will take some nine years to address; 56% of schools are accessible by footpath or gravel road only; 60% of schools do not have mains power; 34% of schools do not have water on site; and only 59% of schools have working science laboratories.

I would like to refer to the two statements made by the President in his state of the nation address, to which the hon chairperson of the select committee referred. With regard to the first issue around the provisioning of classrooms, we welcome the statement by the Minister today that the scope of this programme is to be broadened. Secondly, with regard to the provision of sanitation and water to schools, we have to ask if this programme will indeed be achieved in the timeframe stipulated. We sincerely hope that that will happen, but we need to get more details in this regard. And, I would like to say to the hon chairperson of the select committee: I hope you realise I am indeed shouting at this point in time.

Maybe a start would be made if the national department were to relook at the issue of a new office for the department on the planned government boulevard, which threatens to dramatically increase the administrative expenditure of the department over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period. Perhaps this money would be better spent on the conditional grant for sanitation.

Another environmental factor that is having a devastating effect on education in KwaZulu-Natal is the issue of HIV/Aids. Currently, the department has a budget for 320 substitute educators to cover a base of some 74 000 educators. It’s estimated that a further 2 800 substitute educators are needed to cope with the realities of the pandemic, which is causing many educators to be away from work for extended periods of time. This would require that the department should find the additional R240 million. Already, some 6% of working days are lost due to teacher absenteeism in secondary schools. The national HIV/Aids conditional grant is an important tool in creating awareness around the pandemic but more needs to be done. This may include learning from the private sector, particularly the mines, which, faced with similar challenges, calculated that the most cost-effective strategy was to implement their own antiretroviral roll-out plan. Certainly, Government does not have the same resources as the private sector but, ultimately, this may be the most cost-effective strategy. Many educators could also get ARVs through their medical aid. It’s up to the department to educate staff in this regard and to destigmatise much of the hype that has been created around the taking of such medication.

In the film Jerry Maguire, the professional football player played by Cuba Gooding Junior uttered the following statement to the sport agent - who was played by Tom Cruise: ``Show me the money’’. It is in this context that I would like to raise the issue of unfunded mandates faced by the provincial education department. [Time expired.] [Applause.]

Ms D D PULE: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister of Education, hon Deputy Ministers, hon members of the NCOP and hon MECs present, hon members of different provinces, ladies and gentlemen, let me start by congratulating Madam Chairperson on her appointment; secondly, our new national Minister of Education and the Deputy Ministers; and thirdly, all members of the National Council of Provinces for being elected and re-elected to come and serve the aspirations of the poor majority of our country as public representatives.

The 2004 decisive victory was scored in the context of 10 successful years of transformation in which we have pushed back the frontiers of poverty and rural underdevelopment. I rise today to take part in this debate with full confidence to assure our people that only the ANC can and will do more.

Hon Minister Pandor, your budget speech takes forward the work where your predecessor has left off. It consolidates qualititative advances made in the past decade and for that reason, Mpumalanga fully supports this budget. We support this budget because it contributes to the national effort of ensuring that all children in all points of the country have access to quality education, and of reaching full gross enrolment in primary schools. The budget speaks to the issue of early childhood development, with an understanding that if we strengthen the foundation of our education, primary, secondary and tertiary levels will achieve positive results.

This budget in front of this House today contributes towards building a rational and seamless high education system that will embrace the intellectual professional challenges facing South Africa in the 21st century - an African century. I want to congratulate the department for having won the International Grand Prix Award for best children’s programme at the World Media Festival in Hamburg, Germany. Your budget, hon Minister, gives practical expression to our noble cause of creating a caring society. Our schools have helped mitigate the hardships of hunger faced by poor children from poor households through the feeding scheme or school nutrition programme.

The programme is being transferred from health department to education and we support the move and hope that such transfer will not disrupt the functionality of the programme. However, because of the rural condition of our province, Mpumalanga, the financial resources allocated for this purpose are not enough for the needy learners. We call on the national department to help us introduce measures such as starting school vegetable gardens in order to supplement the diet. For this to happen, we will require the commitment of school communities; water supply and proper security at schools. The extension of this programme, which is to include learners at senior phase and in the FET band is another challenge, hon Minister.

The institute for higher learning in our province remains a priority and we would plead with the Minister to fast-track its delivery. The population of the province has been waiting to see this dream come into reality. I was specifically requested by my portfolio committee to put that issue squarely on the national agenda today. And I hope that the hon Minister will shed light on the progress made thus far when she responds to the budget debate.

The ANC in our province has sought and continues to seek to confront the challenges of children learning under trees and in unsuitable classroom conditions. Although there are no children who attend lessons under trees in Mpumalanga, the classroom condition of overcrowding persists and could undermine the work that the department does. This challenge, based on the funding trend over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, will remain with us for the next seven years, hon Minister.

We still face a number of challenges as a province in relation to providing a better education for all. We still have children learning under asbestos roofs; there are more than 500 schools with no electricity; there are more than 400 schools without any water supply and sanitation. We are, however, expected to improve during this financial year.

Allow me also to indicate, however, that we have made tremendous strides or progress on the provision of scholar transport and amalgamation of farm schools. Our matric results also remain a challenge. Although in the past academic year, 2003, we recorded an increase in the pass rate, the overall performance has not improved and the department has acknowledged the weakness. Plans are being put in place to resolve related problems.

In conclusion, we would like to call upon the national department to help us resolve some of our problems that we have mentioned here. We believe that together we can provide better education for all. I thank you. [Applause.] Mr P MALEFANE: Thank you, Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister and members, I feel privileged and honoured to be given an opportunity to represent the Gauteng province as Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture in this Council. Before I go any further, I would like to start by expressing our gratitude for the magnificent work done by the bid committee and other partners in ensuring that the 2010 Soccer Bid comes to South Africa. We all witnessed the passion of all South Africans and the commitment of the national Government to this event.

We would like to assure you that in Gauteng we would work tirelessly with relevant stakeholders to ensure that all the necessary requirements and infrastructure for an excellent World Cup are effectively and efficiently done and adhered to in our province. Our Premier, comrade Mbazima Shilowa, when he was opening the legislature, also highlighted the 2010 World Cup as one of the key strategic areas for our province. Furthermore, our MEC Barbara Creecy also committed her department to provide available resources to ensure that Gauteng becomes a home for all our visitors during the World Cup in 2010.

As members of the portfolio committee, we will monitor developments on this issue with microscopic eyes. The reason for this is that we have witnessed the role that events of this magnitude play in uniting our people and healing the nation that has been divided by the ills of the most inhumane system in the universe. We witnessed a rainbow nation united for a common cause during the Rugby World Cup and Cricket World Cup respectively staged in our country.

Historically, colonials introduced soccer to Africans to help civilise them but they turned the game into an arena for Africanness. Early teams included players from all South African groups but apartheid strictly segregated sports. Soccer became a sport for blacks in contrast to rugby, which was for the Afrikaner and cricket for the English. White players and fans continually attempted to participate in black soccer throughout the apartheid years, forcing the government to accept integration by 1980. For example, soccer was and remains the urban space for the performance of Africanness by and for Africans, but it is also a major venue for demonstrating and reworking modernity and progress. Black players and fans, because of their acceptance of the players’ Africanness, enthusiastically welcome white players and fans, which South African professional soccer requires.

Therefore, let me submit to you that the paradox of nation-building in many deeply divided societies is one of reconciling ethnic allegiances with overarching loyalty to the state. This is because the forces of ethnicity and nationalism that emerged in our societies tend to be socially and politically salient, thus making the process of nation-building not only difficult, but also complex. Innocent questions about sports can soon lead to fairly heated and complex debates about states, territoriality, governance and representation. With very few exceptions, all states are faced with the problem of managing a sense of national identity and all world sports organisations, are faced with the pressure of changing world relations.

South Africa’s transition to democracy and acceptance as a member of the community of nations have been accompanied by the quest for a new national identity. The ANC-led Government, and former President Mandela personally, encouraged the ritual celebration of the rainbow nation at international sports events such as the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Arts and cultural events such as the 1997 South African Music Awards have also been occasions for celebrating the emergence of the rainbow nation. The by now ubiquitous image of South Africa as the rainbow nation seems to have caught the public imagination. It symbolises the new South Africa, the imaginary nation being constructed in the postapartheid era.

In Africa, most leaders have viewed sports as a means of uniting the disparate ethnic groups contained in their new nation states. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, for one, said that the Springbok jersey worn by South Africa’s national teams could now weld races together rather than dividing them as in the past. In many countries certain sports have become identified with the nation and its distinctive character. Sports have also been created to express a particular national vision.

It was sons and daughters of this country from different races who rose against all odds to dispel the stereotype that restricted certain sports to specific race groups. We know this history too well because among nations South Africa has learned the incredible ability of sports to bring together different communities, as well as develop sporting individuals for their own and that of their families’ economic wellbeing. As demonstrated by the many athletes in this country, sports is a tool against racism, as well as a necessary developmental mechanism, especially in communities that have been ravaged by poverty and underdevelopment.

We view the R1 million from the national Department of Sport and Recreation as a mechanism to support different initiatives of mobilising communities into mass participation, as well as contributing towards building a healthy nation. Though the amount seems to be small, we are confident that it will be increased as we aspire to decrease the health budget by moving away from a society of sick people to that of healthy and recreationally active people. This grant has a direct bearing on the people developing into healthy, skilled and productive people and building an effective and caring government, deepening democracy and nation-building and realising the Constitutional rights of the people of our province and the country at large.

In Gauteng, we regard the establishment of academies in all provinces as fundamental bases for monitoring and developing high performance athletes. Given that over the years, starting from the first Olympic participation of South Africa in 1992, the team that has represented South Africa has been predominantly white and it is imperative that a system has to be devised that will assist in addressing this scenario. Furthermore, that the delivery of the national teams depends on the production of such talent from across all the corners of the country. There is thus a need for a coherent and co-ordinated strategy towards achieving such a goal. As such all provinces and regional structures need to be part of a major planning strategy consistently developing high performance athletes, who will form a pool from which outstanding sport ambassadors can be produced who will compete internationally. The state must unapologetically intervene to make sports both representative and nonracial in our country.

The absence of a process and programme such as the academy would imply that the country would be less competitive globally and that the current narrow development initiatives, which have only delivered a skewed and imbalanced South African team, would be perpetual for a sustained period of time. As we celebrate the decade of democracy, we want to acknowledge that sport in South Africa still has a long and winding road to travel before we can reach the pinnacle of our dreams. Racism and segregation, which are atrocities of the past, are still manifesting themselves in different sporting codes in this country. This is obviously the challenge for all of us if we want to unite our people through sports. Our sports people have the standing and the influence to play a leadership role in achieving our ideal of making sports accessible to all our people, and to further raise sporting standards. Let this budget assist to achieve our dream of having representative nonracial sports in our country, by focusing more on development and less on fire-fighting the problems of commercialised professional sports. Let it not be business as usual. I thank you. [Applause.]

Ms N JAJULA: Thank you, Chairperson. Chairperson and hon members, I rise to congratulate the Ministers in both departments in the cluster, my Minister of Sports and Recreation in absence here, and the education ministers and their deputies.

As a province, Chairperson, sports and recreation in the Eastern Cape aims toward an improved quality of life for the people of the province through sports and recreation in the context of a united, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa.

The above will be achieved through the promotion of an active and healthy lifestyle through sports and recreation programmes.

We have strategic goals that we are aiming towards which are reflected as follows: to increase and enhance mass participation of sports persons and administrators in multiple codes; to promote the creation of economic opportunities and benefits in the sports fields; to realise the social, health and economic benefits for participants; and to facilitate the development of quality infrastructure, opportunities and services to support participation.

For these we have allocated an amount of R6,9 million which is ring-fenced for capital expenditure in a sense to promote infrastructure in sports. We have to transfer R4 million for recreation structures in the province, and R6 million is allocated for personnel in this arena.

We have a strategic focus that will impact on the following aspects. Firstly, the development and promotion of sports and recreation legislation and policy will be finalised within this financial year. It will give direction to the province and strategies on the promotion of athletes towards excellence.

Within the first 100 days of this Government the service delivery in the province will be witnessing the following: We have already started a new sports centre in Willowvale that is worth R400 000. It is part of the Expanded Public Works Programme whereby the local communities are economically benefiting as a result of job creation.

It also includes the establishment of a Sport and Culture Council as a springboard for development of sport and recreation in the rural areas.

In partnership and linkages with the Department of Education we are especially focusing on the following areas of co-operation: the resuscitation of girl guides and boy scouts; the promotion of sports in the province that has taken off in the last two weeks; the emergence of physical education in township and rural schools; funding of sport games and management thereafter.

Furthermore, it will include capacity-building and empowering projects that include training of coaches, especially for mass participation programmes.

We are supporting the Eco-Adventure Challenge with the budget of R200 000 for 24 clubs throughout the province.

Serious commitment has been made to the preparation of athletes in the 12 sporting codes for the 2005 SA Games. An amount of R750 000 has been allocated for this activity. The amount reflected here is going to assist us to achieve a better standard of sports during the next financial year.

The 2010 World Cup project is an enormous task. The preparation of a master plan is already done. The infrastructure development with improved mega facilities is the grand idea of that assistance. In order to promote the juniors in sports, we have the Chris Hani Provincial Soccer Competition that will form part of the preparation for the future Bafana Bafana qualifying starts in 2010. This is going to be set up for the juniors during this month in the Chris Hani district.

The awareness of HIV/Aids throughout sports and recreation programmes will always be a consistent feature in all our tournaments. It is critical, Chairperson, to ensure that the people become aware that in sports you need to be healthy, and to enhance the quality of sports you need to abstain and stay away from situations in which you may be infected with HIV/Aids. We are dealing with this in partnership with the IDPs and business, as well as other departments.

Hon members, I trust that throughout the promotion of sports in general, and an awareness of its values and standards and ethics, the crime rate will definitely drop, and moral standards will be uplifted and health consciousness will be the order of the day.

Sports, therefore, hon members, is not just supposed to be seen as one of the leisure time activities. As a department in the Eastern Cape, Madam Minister of Education, we are requesting your department to see sports as part and parcel of the curriculum. It should not be done just by the way by those educators who are willing to participate in sports, but it has to be seen as one of the professions where our learners could grow up achieving excellence in sport.

Sports can also be a tool effective enough to spearhead reconciliation, nation-building and inspire pride in the genuine national activities.

All the above programmes and strategic focus for the 2004-05 financial year are going to continue to support progress within the Provincial Growth and Development Plan, which includes infrastructure development, human resource development, poverty eradication, institutional transformation, and tourism. That will lead the province to its best capability to create sports as one of the fields in which people can trust and live a healthy lifestyle.

We believe that through sport, as we say, a healthy mind in a healthy body will be taken care of in the province of the Eastern Cape. I thank you, hon members. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Thank you, MEC. Just before we proceed, may I recognise Dr Conroy in the gallery. He is one of the former members of this House. Thank you, Dr Conroy. [Applause.]

Mr J O TLHAGALE: Thank you very much, Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Ministers present, hon special delegates and hon members of this House. I need to say that we welcome the Minister of Education and her Deputy to this House, the House that they have led and nurtured for the past two years. It is a pleasure to have them with us.

Education continues to enjoy the highest priority in terms of budget allocations. However, the process is so complex that the more the allocation is increased to satisfy the needs and demands, the more the needs and demands increase further so that the process continues unabated.

The problem is further aggravated by the fact that the more we grapple with the shortages of classrooms due to increased enrolments in the schools, the more the weak structures of yesteryear are destroyed by natural causes. We need to remember, hon Chairperson, that at that time the general trend of thought was ``dit is goed genoeg vir hulle’’, it is good enough for them.

I think as members of Parliament we need, in our oversight and pastoral visitations to our provinces, to emphasise environmental education in which we encourage tree planting around our schools to serve as wind breaks.

Notwithstanding the above, we are in full support of the President’s priorities which have been corroborated by the hon Minister on several occasions recently to remove the learners from learning under the trees.

With regard to sports and recreation, hon Chairperson, I need to point out that the 2010 World Cup bid has aroused the expectations of a large majority of our people everywhere. Our people are expecting to benefit through work opportunities that could arise and, of course, to be able to attend the games if they are held within their reach.

It is noted with appreciation that the allocation for the 2004-05 financial year is increased by R179,3 million, which would fund the building and upgrading of sports and recreation facilities and of course this would benefit the poor.

In the North West province, hon Chairperson, the initial indications are for the extension of a stadium at Orkney into a 42 000-seat stadium and a similar extension is intended for the Phokeng/Rustenburg stadium. However, it would appear that a 75 000-seat stadium at Mmabatho/Mafikeng is not included among those to be utilized in 2010. It is the nearest to the rural poor that we intend to cater for. Otherwise, the UCDP supports both Budget Votes. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mr J MAFEREKA (Free State): Chairperson, hon Minister of Education, Deputy Ministers, chairpersons present here, permanent delegates, special delegates, ladies and gentlemen, let me also join hands with those who are wishing success to the new Chairperson of the NCOP, Comrade Joyce Kgoali, and the Minister of Education, Ms Naledi Pandor. I must say Ntate [Mr] Mseleku, you are in safe hands. I am saying this, because I have worked with the Minister. She is a committed woman with lots of ability and she is fearless.

I mean fearless, because we were once in Africa, and South Africa had to present its position as far as women were concerned to parliaments. She stood in front of those men in Ghana and told them that in South Africa women have a place in Parliament. There was a big roar in the house. I was frightened. [Laughter.] Because there is only one plane and if you missed it, you would be left behind. There was great unhappiness when we left there, and she repeated it in Malawi and it was endorsed when we were in Trinidad and Tobago. I can say with pride that today at least women are being recognised in all African parliaments because of her leadership in the CPA conferences.

In his budget speech, hon Minister Stofile addressed the key issues which served as challenges to us as Government with regard to sport and recreation, and these include mass participation in school sports; the national sports academy system; transformation and legislation, just to mention a few. These issues have a direct bearing and implication on the province as we are also grappling with them. In support of the Minister’s perspective I would like to address myself to developments in the Free State regarding these issues.

In addressing myself to the matter of sports and recreation in the Free State, I start from a position of strength, since the Free State people’s beloved soccer team, Phunya Sele Sele, has registered a double victory by being readmitted to the PSL, and also by winning the title of championship of the first division league. They are the overall winners. They received R100 000. This will undoubtedly give further impetus to the sporting spirit in the province, particularly amongst the up and coming young stars in our province. We are also delighted that the province has enjoyed much attention with the hosting of the Bafana Bafana and Cape Verde match, the Amabokoboko and Ireland first test match, as well as the ABSA Cup final match.

These sports opportunities boosted the morale of the Free Staters who have often felt marginalised regarding the hosting of such sporting events. I emphasise that these events received massive support in terms of attendance by the Free Staters. As a department, we need to take advantage of this prevailing sporting mood amongst our people. In his budget speech, the Minister raises challenges to the effect that:

Community clubs must be revived and our children in townships and village schools must be assisted to do sport. Work towards this goal in the province is already under way. Our department, together with Sport and Recreation SA, embarked on a Building for Sport and Recreation Programme. This programme consists of the provision of multipurpose sports facilities or the upgrading of existing sports facilities, and is funded by the National Poverty Alleviation Fund. In the previous financial year an amount of R12,4 million was budgeted for the upgrading and construction of 15 basic sport facilities in the five district municipalities of our province. For this financial year an amount of R10 409 371,00 has been allocated to the Free State province and it will be utilised to further advance this objective.

Furthermore, once again in partnership with Sport and Recreation SA, the department is also embarking on a mass participation in sport programme, with the objective to facilitate participation in sport and recreation activities within disadvantaged communities. The focus is on rural communities, which is in line with the challenge raised by the Minister, cited above. For the current financial year, an amount of R1 million has been allocated to the Free State province, and it will be utilised to achieve maximum participation by communities, for example, 20 local municipalities will be targeted to participate in various sporting codes such as aerobics, general gymnastics, fun-runs, big walks, street ball and indigenous games on a weekly basis, with a projected annual participation of 110 000 people.

We aim to achieve the following percentages of the various categories of people participating in sports and recreation: 40% women; 1,5% disabled people; 80% youth; 10% adults and 10% of all the elderly. For the rest of the MTEF period, an amount of R2,6 million has been granted for the 2005-06 financial year, and R4,3 million for the 2006-07 financial year to facilitate mass participation in sport. I have no doubt that we will go a long way in terms of addressing these challenges.

Quality and excellence in sport is our battle cry. The Minister has also raised a challenge in this regard when he stated:

When we host major events in our country, we must also ensure that our own teams participating in them are competitive to maintain the interest of the paying public and to enhance the benefits that can accrue from them. Investment in sport through such ventures as the Sports Academy is thus an absolute necessity, as the Minister suggested. In our province we intend to achieve these goals of quality and excellence in sports through two institutions: the Free State Sports Science Institute and the Free State Academy of Sport. Pertaining to the Free State Sports Science Institute, the purpose of this institute is to provide equitable access to quality sports science and rehabilitation services, which will contribute to the national effort of putting South African on a path of sustainable growth.

At the moment, we are constructing facilities at the Free State Psychiatric Complex, which consists of the following sections, namely, fully equipped fitness and testing facilities; a mobile fitness, exercise testing and evaluating unit; an 80-metre speed track; an auditorium for about 130 people; a fully equipped gymnasium; consultation rooms for multi- disciplinary teams; overnight facilities; catering and a restaurant; sports valuable facilities for netball, athletics, cricket, tennis, soccer, golf, hockey and tennis; an indoor swimming pool and a multipurpose hall for approximately 500 people. I hope that all the provinces can come and see this wonderful thing. The funds for the construction and provision of equipment of the Free State Sports Science Institute have been provided by the national Department of Sport and Recreation, through their Building for Sport and Recreation Programme and the National Lottery Distribution Agency with the Free State Academy of Sport, as well as the Metheo District Municipality, as funding agents. Funds for equipment and capacity-building are provided by the Flemish government and the National Lottery Distribution Agency. A total amount of R8,3 million has been secured for the Free State Sports Science Institute from outside sources. In addition to this, my department has also allocated an amount of R6,5 million from its infrastructure budget in the current financial year for the construction of these facilities.

On the other hand, the Free State Academy of Sport, which is a nongovernmental association, serves to enhance the level of performance of talented athletes and coaches through scientific and medical support, and to secure developmental pathways, resulting in more representative teams. Although the focus of the academy is primarily on provincial athletes and coaches, the infrastructure that was developed is able to support athletes and coaches at a national level. This year my department’s contribution to the Free State Academy of Sport amount to R1 million as a transfer payment, mainly for capacity-building and the implementation of their programmes.

I agree wholeheartedly with hon Minister Stofile that everything possible must be done to ensure that we have a successful 2010 Soccer World Cup in our country. As a province, we are moving milestones to live up to this challenge. The budgetary allocations I have just outlined above for the infrastructure development and for encouraging mass participation in sport, as well as measures undertaken to ensure quality and excellence in our sporting codes, is a clear manifestation of our preparedness for 2010, except we need another two big stadiums, because we have only one in the Free State. [Interjection.] [Applause.]

Mrs M NGUBANE-MADLALA: Sihlalo, mangiqale ngokubingelela oNgqongqoshe kanye noNdunankulu abaphuma ezifundazweni ezahlukene, ngibingelele abahlonishwa kanye namaqabane. [Hon Chair, let me start by greeting the Ministers and the Premiers from various provinces, hon members and comrades.]

Chairperson, the role of sport and recreation in society is to promote enthusiasm to provide an important avenue for social development, particularly amongst the youth. Its role is also to educate the youth about health and broader social and societal issues. Sport empowers people, teaches leadership and citizen skills as well as the importance of co- operation towards shared goals.

Sport challenges inequalities in gender, race and disability. It educates against antisocial behaviour and reintegrates the disadvantaged and socially excluded groups. Most importantly, sport enhances national pride and a strong sense of patriotism, especially in this country of ours with a long history of segregation, racial, gender and ethnic discrimination.

Since 1994 sport has been the most powerful tool for reconciliation and for the development of previously disadvantaged communities and other sectors, which were not previously recognised as key sectors of South African society. Of course it has been one of the most important cohesive factors in uniting the cities of the South African nation.

Funding for this department, Sport and Recreation South Africa, has increased from R90 million in 2002-03 to R130 million in 2003-04. Total allocation for this current financial year is R137 270 million, which includes R5 million for sports promotion and facility management training.

I must mention that sport plays a crucial role in the economy of this country, for example, in 2000 sport and recreation contributed 2 000 of the Gross Domestic Product in South Africa. According to a survey in 2000, sport and recreation provided employment for some 34 325 full-time workers, 6 540 part-time workers as well as about 8 000 volunteers.

I must mention that since the inception of the first democratic Government in 1994 considerable progress has been made in terms of sporting facilities and the implementation of development programmes in historically disadvantaged communities, particularly in the townships and rural parts of the country.

Much of this progress has been due to the utilisation of poverty relief funds that targeted the use of the existing sports budget. The sporting federation funding was secured from external sources and projects were implemented by the private sector. This progress made in sport thus far appears to be largely outweighed by the problems and challenges that continue to face historically disadvantaged communities, particularly in the rural areas and townships. Hence, sport in South Africa continues to face numerous problems that negatively impact on programmes in this sphere. For us to overcome some of these problems I believe we should work hard with the Department of Sport and Recreation. It is necessary that we encourage the youth of this country to participate in large numbers in sport and recreation activities. That in itself will enable us to increase investment at the grassroots level rather than at the federation level where activities tend to be focused on competitive sport.

For the country to obtain a high performance in sport we need to look deeply at the fragmentation of the sporting fields.

Sihlalo, ngamanye amazwi ngichaza ukuthi kubalulekile kithina ukuthi sikhuthaze izingane zethu ukuthi zizibandakanye kwezemidlalo kanye nezokungcebeleka. Inkinga enkulu ukuthi izingane zethu siyazenqabela singabazali ukuthi zibambe iqhaza kwezemidlalo ezikoleni. Ngisho noma izingane zidlalela isikole, singabazali asizihluphi neze ukuthi siyozibukela sizikhuthaze. Lokho kudala ukuthi izingane zijabhe, singakhohlwa ukuthi ithalente libonakala lapha ezinganeni.

Ngithanda ukusho ukuthi ugotshwa usemanzi. Kubalulekile-ke ukuthi sizikhuthaze izingane kwezemidlalo ngoba uma singenzi njalo singabazali, sizikhuthaza ukuthi zithathe enye indlela edukile, indlela yokusebenzisa izidakamizwa. Ngalokho, isizwe sonkana siyawa.

Kubalulekile ukuthi sizikhuthaze zibuyele emidlalweni yomdabu enjengezingendo, ingaqabethu kanye nokunye. Phambili izinkundla zazingekho nhlobo kodwa manje uHulumeni uyazama. Ngisho nasezikoleni izingane zethu zazidlalela obhuqwini ikakhulukazi empahandlelni nasemalokishini. Zazidlala ibhola likanobhutshuzwayo ngaphandle kwezicathulo ezifanelekileyo.

Kunezinye izinkinga engingaziphawula emphakathini. Abesifazane abakhubazekile kanye nabampisholo abanakiwe, amalungelo abo awagcwalisekile neze kwezemidlalo. Kunesidingo sokuthi nakho lokho kubhekwe ngeso elibanzi. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)

[Chairperson, in other words it is important to encourage our children to take part in sport and recreation. Our main problem is that we as parents prevent our children from participating in school sports. Even if our children are playing for the school, we as parents don’t bother to go and watch and encourage them. That discourages children, and we should not forget that this is where talent is identified - in children.

I submit that the future lies with the youth. It is important that we encourage children to participate in sport, because if we don’t do that we are encouraging them to take devious ways and abuse drugs. Therefore the whole nation perishes.

It is important to encourage them to go back to traditional sports such as tossing up stones, skipping rope, etc. There were no sport grounds previously, but now the Government is trying to provide them. Even at school our children were playing on gravel grounds, especially in rural areas and townships. They were playing soccer without soccer boots. There are other problems I can point out in the community. The disabled women and blacks are not accommodated, their rights are not equally fulfilled. There is a dire need to scrutinise that.]

It is important that sporting facilities are maintained. I must mention that in the province I come from, Gauteng, facilities are dilapidated or vandalised and are not maintained properly by our communities. White elephants are found in the so-called minority areas. Those facilities are not utilised at all. Even if, in the near future, the department continues to provide funding for facilities, it is the responsibility of the provincial government to continue implementing the project and maintaining the facilities which they then own. These facilities will be managed and run by community-based sports councils created by the South African Sports Council.

I am encouraged by the fact that the Department of Sport and Recreation and the Department of Education are finalising their objective of the location of school sport. I am further encouraged by their objective of establishing a national sports academy, which should be finalised during this current financial year. By putting sport at the forefront, the country can gain major achievements. We can use sport as a medium that can contribute to resolving issues of national importance, such as HIV/Aids, unemployment and economic growth through, for example, sports tourism and also in improving levels of health in the community.

Winning the 2010 World Soccer bid also means a complete renewal, revamp, renovation and revival of many of the country’s sporting facilities. Thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF SPORT AND RECREATION: Thank you, Chairperson. Chair, the hon Tolo, the previous speaker - hon Magubane-Madlala and various other speakers in this House referred to the Building for Sport and Recreation programme. I think it is befitting that we just give them some more information pertaining to that particular programme.

Specific reference was made, just now, by the hon member regarding the budget of sport and recreation only - the building side of sport and recreation, and not the department as such. In 1995, it was determined that in order to eliminate the backlog in sport and recreation facilities by the year 2005, we would need an investment of some R5 billion. We were also aware that given the sport and recreation budget of the provinces, whose competency it is to build those facilities, we would never reach that target.

We accordingly set out to acquire those funds from the national department and registered our first success in 1995 by procuring R150 million from the Reconstruction and Development Programme. When those funds dried up at the end of 1999 the building programme came to an end. We were again rewarded in the year 2000, when we successfully made a bid for resources from the Poverty Relief Infrastructure Creation and Jobs Summit Fund. That enabled us to build some more sport and recreation facilities in our communities.

The results of this programme - and reference was also made to that - are remarkable, especially as it pertains to the impact we were able to make on the social indicators. Over the three years of this project we were able to employ 13 000 people. These were temporary jobs during the initial labour- intensive building phase. But, Sir, I think it is important to say that 30% of the people we employed were women, 20% were youth and 2% were people with a disability.

We have managed to build and upgrade more than 250 facilities over the past three years. And, as a result of our performance, we were rewarded with the extension of this very project by a further year, during which we plan to build another 110 facilities. The fact of the matter is: to reach our overall target, as set out, by 2005 we are still in need of some R4,5 billion.

In the next financial year, the resources for this project will be transferred to the Municipal Infrastructure Grant of the Department of Provincial and Local Government. Our tasks, as a department, will be one of policy development and monitoring, advocacy and reporting on the progress that we make. We remain confident that local authorities will continue to recognise, with the help of this honourable House, the need for sport and recreation facilities despite other pressing needs. We, as a department, will redouble our advocacy efforts to make sure they are recognised. The Minister and I will obviously continue lobbying for ring-fenced amounts of money to address the very urgent needs.

But, may I just say, my hon colleague the Deputy Minister of Education made reference this afternoon to the facilities they also intend to create. It may be possible, if we have their assistance, to approach the Municipal Infrastructure Grant to see whether we cannot create facilities closer to schools, but facilities which will also be accessible to the community after hours, as he indicated.

The hon Mrs Robinson spoke about indigenous sport and I would like to inform her that we have a flourishing programme, which is managed by the SA Sports Commission, as far as indigenous sport is concerned. We have an indigenous sports affair that is held annually. Certain groups of South Africans will participate in the international indigenous games in Montreal, Canada, later this year. And, for the first time, this year we have set aside resources for the delivery of indigenous games in this country. So, I think it is important that we just bring that to her attention.

Various references were made to drugs in schools. The hon Adams made reference to that, but drugs reach a bit wider, as is reflected in doping in sports as well. Sports role-models have a role to play and a duty to counteract this by highlighting the dangers associated with doping and drug abuse. The SA Institute for Drug-free Sport, which is a public entity of our department, also plays an important role in educating the community on the dangers of drug abuse by means of their programmes. May I just remind this hon House that our Minister of Sport and Recreation, when he wished our athletes going to Athens well, he also cautioned them not to embarrass this country by testing positive for banned performance-enhancing substances. Drug and substance abuse is an evil in our society and it therefore warrants all our efforts to combat this evil on every front.

A lot of reference was also made to the national sports academy system and we think that it is important that we just highlight some of the issues. We are aware of the levels of investment required to sustain competitive athletes and competitive teams. Reference was made to R1 million by Gauteng and some other amounts here and there but, overall, Government has made its first commitment the establishment of a national sports academy system. It gave R10 million investment as seed capital during this current financial year. This will be utilised through assisting in the preparation of our athletes who will participate in the Olympics and the Paralympic Games in Athens in August and September respectively.

After the tendering process, the facilities and services of the Universities of Pretoria and Stellenbosch were identified as suitable. We have heard from Free State that they are also involved in those facilities but we have procured the facilities of Pretoria and Stellenbosch for the Olympic and Paralympic teams respectively. They were identified as sites and that is where our athletes are now. May I just say that the first intake of our elite athletes has reacted very positively to the experiences they have had in these programmes.

Regarding the inputs made by the hon Jajula and Tselapi, I would just like to say congratulations to the Eastern Cape. I believe they will be successful hosts of our games this year, 2004. I think KwaZulu-Natal will also be preparing to host some of the games in 2006. We wish them well.

May I end off by saying thank you to everyone, every hon member in this august House who prepared so well for their well-prepared inputs. It was a pleasure to listen to them. We are looking forward to working together and to building what this country is in such desperate need of - sports facilities and good, competent sportspeople on the field. I thank you. [Applause.]

The MINISTER OF EDUCATION: Deputy Chairperson, it is clear that this debate is merely a beginning and that we need much more interaction on the substantive issues relevant to education in order to come to agreement on the manner in which we should approach our education enterprise.

Allow me to begin where the Deputy Minister ended, namely by thanking all the MECs and the hon members for their contributions. In particular, I wish to thank the MECs who have made the effort to be present here in Parliament for the contributions that they have made to our debate. Their action on our agreed priorities offers hope for our children and all those who thirst for education.

On the range of work that remains to be done, I think I must refer to the challenge of dealing with issues of violence and abuse of children in our schools. I agree with hon members who raised this particular issue. I will come back to how we are dealing with it. The matter of gender equity, promotion of school integration and nonracism in schools remain significant challenges that we must still confront. We have referred to the need to attract more entrants to the profession, and despite Ms Robinson’s comment, it is an area in which we are taking action. We have intensified efforts to attract new students to the teaching and education profession.

We are also looking into the impact of Aids-related deaths on teacher supply. We have a study currently underway and we will be receiving a report before the end of this year on this study, and I’m sure that we’ll come back to this House on the outcome of that particular review, which was initiated by the Education Labour Relations Council in partnership with the Department of Education. We look forward to the lessons that will emerge from that study. Nevertheless, we have taken the issue of HIV/Aids education and action very, very seriously and have a range of programmes in our schools that include both education towards prevention, as well as learning of new values and counselling and support for those who are affected and infected. So, we have done a range of things, and I’m pleased to be able to report that to this House.

We have a number of task teams. I have already referred to these. As reports emerge we will approach the presiding officers to offer us the opportunity to make statements before the House. Might I also say in terms of the matter of safety in schools, the hon Robinson would be aware of initiatives such as the Safe Schools Project. She also would have read in the media recently of our department’s partnership with the United Nations’ Office on Drug Abuse that we just concluded in order to intensify action in this area. But the best action is to educate our children against drugs, against alcohol and against all forms of abuses and to tell them that they do not have to become infected, they can remain free of an HIV-positive status if they conduct themselves in a manner that is appropriate and in a manner that is safe. So, we can play this role of education, support and counselling.

Regarding the comments made by Ms Robinson on the teaching of music in our schools, I have to say that this department and the last 10 years of democracy did not lead to a decline in music education. It was never present anyway. And in fact, those schools that have such a programme have tended to seek private funding from parents to provide for access to such programmes. On our own ground we have made a great deal of progress. I would invite hon members to attend the eisteddfod of music by our young people in this country, where our own choir, the Tirisano Choir, will be participating, from 1 to 4 July.

We must also acknowledge the emergence of black opera stars in our country, who have taken on the world stage and who have shown the talent that we have. We must also appreciate shows such as Umoja and Sarafina, which are South African examples of ability in music, art and culture. We need to stop being negative about ourselves and our progress and development. A great deal is being achieved. A great deal is being done and we do have talent in our country.

I do agree though with the hon member that, perhaps at a local level, we need to look at what we might do. I do worry that we are rather slow at working to produce a classical guitarist or classical pianist in our communities, and I have begun to toy with the notion of looking at whether we can have locally-based music institutes that are in partnership with local government and education departments so that our children who wish to learn to play instruments have a place to go to acquire these skills. We should not see it as residing only within the school, but we should realise that it is actually a community initiative where the community can share in the learning and the enjoyment of music.

I also believe that we must definitely give attention to the problems of KwaZulu-Natal, but I do not accept that they should be laid at our door. I believe the previous government in that province did very poorly on education and their record is now becoming very clear in this regard, and a great deal needs to be addressed. Let me say to the hon Grinker, I’m the last member of Parliament or Minister to waste money. There is no boulevard that is planned by this Department of Education; no costly building, but we have engaged in a public-private partnership with the private sector to assist us in building a building which we would lease far more cost- effectively than the current cost of the building that we are renting in Pretoria.

I think if you build or seek new buildings in order to save funds that you are currently expending at too high a cost it is a sensible option. I have to say one of the things that I said to the Deputy Minister when I entered the building in Pretoria, which was: ``We are going to have to do something about this building, because we’re not going to survive 10 years here. We have our staff spread over three buildings. It is extremely costly

• we can’t have that. So, we are arranging to have one building which will be cost-effective and which will save us money, rather than waste money. But there is no boulevard planned, and I think we shouldn’t misconstrue what we are doing. [Laughter.] [Applause.]

Many members have referred to the matter of school fees, the cost of education, and particularly the exclusion of the poor. I think the role of our school governing bodies in this regard needs examination and I hope that we will be looking at this far more closely. I don’t mean by that that we eliminate the positive gains that we’ve made in our democracy with the democratic and important role that we’ve given to school governing bodies. But where I think there may be a need for adjustment is that perhaps we have not given the school governing bodies a sufficient developmental role, and therefore they see themselves as fiduciary supervisors who must raise money and exclude people who do not have money. And they sometimes do this very harshly. This role must be changed. The poor cannot be denied education, and we’ve got to address this. There is no way that I will be convinced that it must not be addressed. So, certainly, the issue of the access of the poor to education will be dealt with.

I think the examples that have been given by colleagues from the Northern Cape and Gauteng of exempting certain schools, which address the poor as quintile in our society, are important strategies that we should look at. But what is very important, is in addressing the issue and needs of the poor and their financial exclusion, we shouldn’t have different types of public schools. We’ve got to remember that all public schools are in receipt of public funds and therefore they must address the needs of all the children of our country. We can’t have some schools that are for those who can pay, but are public schools, and others are for those who are poor, and yet are also public schools. I think these are issues that require a great deal of thought and deliberative attention from us. But certainly, we will be addressing all of these.

On education and job creation, which members have referred to, I believe we’ve got to pursue training for job creation and innovation. I was fortunate to attend the Young Designers Award Ceremony recently, which is run by the Institute of Design in partnership with the SA Bureau of Standards, and I was amazed at the innovative and creative ability of the children of our country. That’s the kind of creativity that we need to build. All those children who were finalists in that designer’s award are children who are creating business ideas out of their studies. That’s entrepreneurship. That’s what we must encourage - not children who are being trained to seek employment. These children are thinking about creating jobs, creating opportunities, starting businesses and really making a significant contribution to our economy.

I would also like to say on Mpumalanga and the Institute for Higher Learning, I believe that by September this year we will be able to make announcements in that regard. It is not off our radar screen. It is certainly part of our thinking for this year and we will be making the appropriate announcements at the right time, but we are working to ensure that, just like in the Northern Cape, we’ll also address the institute at the Mpumalanga level. We need to ensure that, as we proceed to implement all of these, we are not creating a whole lot of structures that serve no need in our country, and we do it merely because each province wants a facility. It must make educational sense for us, and therefore, as we set about defining the character of the institute, I want to be sure that we do not duplicate what exists close by in Pietersburg and elsewhere, and that we actually have the institute as a critical provider of educational programmes for Mpumalanga and all the students in South Africa who would want to utilise it. But certainly, the hon Pule, we will make announcements in that regard.

I would like to then conclude by saying that I have been very fortunate in receiving very positive accolades from all colleagues, as well as from members of the public who have written and called in. The staff of the department has been wonderful to both the Deputy Minister and me. They, as I have said, work in spaces that that are very difficult - hence our building, and not the boulevard! We will create a positive working environment for them, as well as for us. I would like to thank the Deputy Minister for the hard work and comradeship that have characterised the past few weeks.

I must say that sport is certainly part of our core curriculum. I don’t know why the hon members are saying that our curriculum does not include sport. It does. In fact, part of our problem really is how we implement. It’s having educators to implement. My sense is that maybe what we should do is to ask the national Department of Sport and Recreation in the provinces to assist us by persuading the Breyton Paulses to adopt districts and schools within districts, and to work with these schools to encourage sport performance and sport participation, so that our children are enthused to participate by those who are their heroes and heroines in the sporting arena. But it is part of our curriculum and certainly we are seeking to enhance and increase participation.

I stressed in the debate in the National Assembly that we will pursue quality education for all.

Ke kopa gore fa re bona thuto e sa tswelele sentle, re dire gore re nne le lerato mo thutong. Ke batla gore re nne le lerato le le leng bothito mo thutong. Ke re go rona rotlhe, a re tsweleleng pele ka thuto e e ntle gore bana ba rona le bona ba nne bantle mo lefatsheng le la Aforika Borwa. (Translation of Setswana paragraph follows.)

[I request that if we see education is not progressing well, we must take an interest in education. We must feel warm love for education. All of us must continue to get a good education so that our children too could be well off in this country of South Africa.]

Thank you, very much, Deputy Chairperson. [Applause.]

                 ELECTORAL COMMISSION AMENDMENT BILL

            (Consideration of Bill and of Report thereon)

Ms J MASILO: Ke a leboga motlotlegi motlatsa modulasetilo. [Thank you, hon Deputy Chairperson.]

Deputy Chairperson, the select committee, after considering the Electoral Commission Amendment Bill, B7 of 2004, and recognising the urgency of extending the life of the electoral commissioners, agreed to the Bill without amendments. Our agreement to this Bill will allow the National Assembly enough time to deal with the nomination process of the commissioners within the timeframe of three months.

We also wish to thank the incumbent commissioners for the outstanding and excellent work that they have done in the 2004 general elections, and we’ll continue to support and trust them to deliver free and fair local government elections in 2005. I thank you. [Applause.]

Debate concluded.

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: That concludes the debate. I shall now put the Question and the Question is that the Bill be agreed to. In accordance with Rule 63 I shall first allow political parties the opportunity to make their declarations of vote if they so wish. Is there any party that wish to do so? None. We therefore proceed. We shall now proceed to the voting. Those in favour, say aye.

HON MEMBERS: Aye.

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Those against, say no.

HON MEMBERS: No.

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: I think the ayes have it. The majority of members of have voted in favour, in fact all of you. I therefore declare the Bill agreed to in terms of section 75 of the Constitution.

Bill agreed to in terms of section 75 of the Constitution.

The House adjourned at 18:09. ____

            ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

                        FRIDAY, 18 JUNE 2004

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

1. Membership of Committees

 Dr S C Cwele has been appointed as chairperson of  the  Joint  Standing
 Committee on Intelligence in terms of section  2  of  the  Intelligence
 Services Control Act, 1994 (Act No 40 of 1994) on 17 June 2004.

1. Introduction of Bills

 (1)    The Minister of Finance
     (i)     Taxation  Laws  Amendment  Bill  [B  8  -  2004]  (National
          Assembly - sec 77)


     Introduction and referral to the Ad hoc  Committee  on  Finance  of
     the National Assembly, as well as referral  to  the  Joint  Tagging
     Mechanism (JTM) for classification in terms of Joint Rule  160,  on
     18 June 2004.


     In terms of Joint Rule 154 written views on the  classification  of
     the Bill may be submitted to  the  Joint  Tagging  Mechanism  (JTM)
     within three parliamentary working days.

1. Translations of Bills submitted

 (1)    The Minister of Home Affairs


     (i)     Wysigingswetsontwerp op die  Verkiesingskommissie  [W  7  -
          2004] (National Assembly - sec 75)


     This is the official translation into Afrikaans  of  the  Electoral
     Commission Amendment Bill [B 7 - 2004]  (National  Assembly  -  sec
     75).

National Council of Provinces

1. Membership of Committees

 The following  members  have  been  appointed  to  the  Joint  Standing
 Committee on Intelligence in terms of section  2  of  the  Intelligence
 Services Control Act, 1994 (Act No 40 of 1994) on 17 June 2004:


 Ms N D Ntwanambi  (ANC)
 Kgoshi L M Mokoena      (ANC)

TABLINGS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

1. The Minister of Arts and Culture

 (a)    Strategic Plan of the Department of Arts and Culture  for  2004-
     2007.
 (b)    Report and Financial Statements of the Windybrow Centre for  the
     Arts  for  2002-2003,  including  the  Report  of  the  Independent
     Auditors on the Financial Statements for 2002-2003.

                        MONDAY, 21 JUNE 2004

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

1. Bills passed by Houses - to be submitted to President for assent

 (1)    Bill passed by National Council of Provinces on 21 June 2004:


     (i)     Electoral Commission Amendment Bill [B 7 - 2004]  (National
          Assembly - sec 75)

TABLINGS

National Council of Provinces

1. The Chairperson

 Documents  and  reports  received  from  the  MEC  for  Housing,  Local
 Government and Traditional Affairs in the Eastern Cape with respect  to
 the section 139 intervention  in  the  affairs  of  the  Qaukeni  Local
 Municipality:


 (a)    Report of the MEC for Housing, Local Government and  Traditional
     Affairs in the Eastern Cape to the National  Council  of  Provinces
     for the period ended 31 May 2004 - Section 139 intervention in  the
     affairs of the Qaukeni Local Municipality.


 (b)     Statement  by  the  MEC  for  Housing,  Local  Government   and
     Traditional Affairs in the Eastern Cape to the Speaker and  Council
     of Qaukeni Local Municipality at the Club  House  in  Flagstaff  on
     Friday, 4 June 2004.


 (c)    Report of the MEC for Housing, Local Government and  Traditional
     Affairs in the Eastern Cape to the National  Council  of  Provinces
     on  the  intervention  into  the  affairs  of  the  Qaukeni   Local
     Municipality in terms of Section 139 of  the  Constitution  of  the
     Republic of South Africa.


 (d)     Qaukeni  Local  Municipality  Integrated  Development  Plan  as
     reviewed in 2004 (marked as Annexure "A").


 (e)    Draft Report: Organisational  Structure  of  the  Qaukeni  Local
     Municipality (marked as Annexure "B").


 Referred  to   the   Select   Committee   on   Local   Government   and
 Administration.