The department of sport, art and culture (DSAC) is a key job creation vehicle in the North West province and sees itself as a powerful vehicle of change for the many unemployed youth.
These two themes permeate the action plans of all provincial departments, said Tebogo Modise, member of the executive council for the department. Her team had made its contribution in both short- and long-term employment, she said.
Short-term or contract positions are created through the numerous construction projects implemented by the DSAC, which include mega-projects such as the new multi-sport facility in Ngaka Modiri Molema District, the far northern district that incorporates the capital, Mahikeng.
The city's Itsoseng Stadium will also undergo extensive renovations and upgrades to make it suitable for major events and sports complexes at Manthe in the Greater Taung region and at Mamusa in Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality are expected to be completed in the next financial year.
The construction and management of public libraries falls under the DSAC and five new libraries — in Pudimoe, Letsopa, Lomanyaneng, Gannalagte and Tlokweng — will be completed soon.
"These libraries are in the rural areas and will be employing youth from the villages in which the libraries are," said Modise.
Each library will have permanent staff of a librarian and assistant librarian, and additional staff are expected to be appointed as needed. The department's focus on sport is also largely centered on the youth. Professional athletes are well catered for at Northwest University's internationally-acclaimed High-performance Institute of Sport.
"The department is very busy in March, delivering sports equipment to all schools in the province especially in the rural areas and across all sports codes," said Modise. "The reason we are doing that is that we want the schools to start our youth in sport while they are still young and encourage them to participate in sports."
This is part of the province's school sport programme that has been rolled out in conjunction with the department of education and has reached more than 600 schools.
Modise said her department is also actively seeking out young sport talent, particularly those who are not geared toward academic endeavours.
"We intend to get these kids who are not doing well into our academy and to train them so they can build a career in sports. We are busy talking with international and national teams to come scout for talented youngsters taking part in school sports."
This active programme includes developing trainer and coaches from the local communities so that youngsters can get a solid grounding in the various sporting codes.
"We want to improve the lives of our people, especially in the rural areas, and in so doing narrow the gap between urban and rural citizens," said Modise.
In fulfilling its arts and culture mandate, the department has called an indaba to which a wide range of stakeholders in the arts has been invited. The indaba will develop a programme of action to improve opportunities for this sector of the community. Such interventions include anti-piracy programmes to protect the rights of local artists.
"This is needed because if people are pirating they will destroy the livelihood of these artists," said Modise.
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