CAPE TOWN – Newly Sports and Recreation Minister Thulas Nxesi says his key focus areas will be on good governance in all South Africa sporting codes, as well concentrating on developing school sports programmes.
Nxesi, who has been in office for just over a month and took over from Fikile Mbalula after the Cabinet reshuffle, cuts a different figure to his predecessor.
Nxesi recently visited the SA Rugby headquarters where he also indicated that a rugby World Cup in 2023 could have a significant impact on the country just like the soccer World Cup in 2010.
The former Minster of Public Works will be meeting various sporting bodies over the upcoming months, including the South African Football Association (Safa).
As a former general secretary of South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), he was quick to point out the importance of having a solid sporting school programme.
“If you want to have national teams who are going to be competing at an international level, you need to have a large pool from where you draw the young players. And you can only do that if you have invested in school sport, that’s why it is so central to me.”
Nxesi believes South African sports needs to spread their net even wider in an attempt to identify and develop talent for the future.
“Some talent is hidden in the rural areas, it’s hidden somewhere in some village, it’s hidden somewhere in the township because people have never had that exposure, and you can only do that if you mobilise the teachers.”
He adds that some children need to have the option of extra mural activities after school in a bid to harness and develop their passion.
“Some kids are not very strong on the academic side but very strong physically on the sports side, that’s their joy, that’s their love and I think we need to reignite that.”
Nxesi acknowledges that there is a struggle by various sporting codes to get funding in light of the current economic climate and he says he will push for better governance in professional and amateurs sporting bodies.
“Good governance is very central in each and every code. We don’t have a lot of resources, a lot of funding from government and even the codes themselves. We rely also on the private sector. If there are sponsors we must ensure there is proper management of those funds and there is accountability of those funds from everybody.”
He adds that the responsibility for good governance cannot be from government alone.
“Accountability must not just be from government, it must also be from the codes themselves, so I am focusing on that issue.”
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