School’s sport budget cuts on the cards
WILBER ZWENI
GRAAFF-REINET - As the country is gripped by the raging Covid-19 pandemic the Department of Sports and Recreation has recently announced its intention to cut the school’s sports budget.
This decision has been taken to ensure compliance with the Disaster Management Act that encourages social distancing and limiting social gatherings.
This decision will adversely affect learners in previously disadvantaged schools in the country as these schools are already struggling with their sports and recreational infrastructures.
The MEC for Eastern Cape Department of Sports and Recreation, Nomonde Nkomonye, said the department is considering cutting the budget as a means to cut costs and to ensure government focuses on other priorities like health, job losses and other important Apex priorities.
Many young talented boys and girls from impoverished backgrounds went on to achieve great milestones through sports. Siya Kolisi, Makhaya Ntini, Chester Williams and many others have proved that one’s circumstances must not determine one’s destiny as they have shown that through sports you can climb even the highest mountain.
Sunday Times columnist Barney Mthombothi makes a pertinent point when he remarked that “if we want to see transformation at the top without tending to it at the base, we should make sure that talent is spotted and nurtured at school level. It is no coincidence that most black professional players in rugby and cricket come from private schools,” he says.
The department should consider the future of millions of learners from these schools who aspire to excel in their chosen sporting codes.
According to an Umasizakhe educator, who asked to remain anonymous for professional reasons, the department “is not taking the future of our black kids seriously. Where I work we have three learners who have attended provincial and national trials in soccer but they are destined to waste due to this move,” he said.
“Politicians should know that development starts at the schools. Learners from these schools will never reach their full potential like their counterparts in former Model C schools as long as the money that is meant for their empowerment is taken away without due regard to their current and future needs.”
Former President Nelson Mandela once said: “Sport has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in ways that little else does, it speaks the language that the youth understands, it creates hope where there is only despair, it is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers, it laughs in the face all types of discriminations.”