Barry Streek
The government has allocated R40-million to build sport facilities in disadvantaged communities, Minister of Sport and Recreation Ngconde Balfour announced in Parliament this week.
This amount, Balfour says, will treble over the next three years.
The programme will target all provinces and use labour-intensive methods that
will create employment.
According to the Department of Sport and Recreation’s annual report for the 1999/2000 financial year, nine reconstruction and development programme indoor
facilities have been completed at a cost of R40,7-million and the Sports Trust
has donated equipment worth R400 000 to the Queenstown and Thohoyandou facilities.
In addition, indoor and outdoor facilities were also completed at Sabie, Umzimkulu, Podimoe and Mabopane, while the department had contributed R1-million
to sport facilities at Kwanobuhle, in Uitenhage, which had also received a R5,5-
million sponsorship from British Aerospace.
From 1994 basic outdoor facilities had been completed at a cost of R49,5-million
in the nine provinces as RDP projects, the report said.
Balfour said the challenge his department got to tackle poverty relief, infrastructure creation and job summit funds “has positioned us among major roleplayers in the public sector to tackle the biggest challenges of our times
in this country”.
He said his department was committed to making a success of the programme over
the next three years to secure additional funds as part of its baseline budget
beyond 2004.