The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sport and Recreation is proud to announce its greater association with the popular Spar Ladies 5Km/10Km Ladies Challenge.

This year the Department has come on board as a co-naming sponsor of the event, making it the “Spar/KZN Sport and Recreation 5Km/10Km Ladies Challenge”.

In the past, the Department assisted in providing access to mainly disadvantaged athletes from the rural areas to this major Road Race targeting Women and Girls.

Through the support of the Department, this race has provided a platform for many young talented rural young women to thereafter compete in many of the mainstream Athletics championships like the Provincial Schools’ Athletics Championships, the Provincial and National Junior Track and Field Championships and even in the cross country races.

This year the Department will also assist with the provision of critical logistics to ensure a successful event.

The idea was first discussed with the KwaZulu-Natal Athletics who offered a proposal which was considered by the Department.

Said MEC for Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation, Ms Weziwe Thusi:  “The empowerment of women and youth is a key priority of the Government. We are   committed to the development and promotion of Sport and Recreation amongst women and girls. This race gives us the opportunity to continue supporting the mainly rural female athletes and to further enhance our support and to encourage women and girls to participate in pursuit of active and healthy lifestyles. Besides this race attracts approximately 15 000 women, and it is an ideal major event to launch the many activities we have planned to commemorate Women’s Month in August”.

For further queries please call:

Mr GV Sangweni on 083 387 8062 or

Mrs S Khan on 0833822081.

With more than a week already into the Youth Month, government continues to unveil more programmes aimed at improving the lives of the younger generation of our country.

For the provincial Department of Sport and Recreation catering for the youth is in fact an all-year-round pre-occupation. 

However, like other government institutions, the Department has certain specific programmes to coincide with the month of June. One such initiative is a two week training session for volunteers for the Siyadlala Community Mass Participation Programme which will be concluded this Friday at Port Edward on the south coast.

Undergoing training basic sport management and life skills are some 276 recently recruited boys and girls from all the province’s municipal district areas. They add to the almost 1800 volunteers who have been skilled and empowered by the Department since the inception of the programme in 2004. Whilst these are called volunteers they are contracted to the Department and receive monthly stipends on an ongoing basis. The skills acquired have enabled some to attain full time employment in the Department and other sectors.

The purpose of the Siyadlala Programme is to take sport into all communities, especially in former disadvantaged areas.

This week the MEC for Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation, Mrs. Weziwe Thusi had the opportunity to interact with the volunteers for the first time since being appointed to her new position.

She was overwhelmed with the spirit of this group when she visited the camp for the official opening ceremony for the training programme.

“We need to encourage our youth to help us in our efforts to build an enabling supportive environment for more of our young people to take an interest in creating the most dynamic social movement that will confront the many challenges we face as a society,” said the MEC, Mrs. Thusi  

She further appealed for the total commitment of the youth volunteers, saying they should value the support they are being given by the government.
 
The Siyadlala Mass Participation Programme commenced in the 2004/2005 financial year. To  date 106 hubs with a total of 800 000 participants are actively engaged in the programme.

The main purpose of the Siyadlala Mass Participation Programme is to ensure mass participation in sport amongst youth from previously disadvantaged areas and government poverty nodes . The programme involves the provision of equipment to hubs, appointment of hub/activity co-ordinators and administration officers to manage the programme.
A total of 16 new hubs were introduced to the programme in the 2009 financial year with a total of 160 volunteers being appointed.
 
Training of these contract employees is an essential and compulsory part of the Siyadlala Mass Participation Programme. The purpose of the training is to equip these young contract employees          with the necessary skills that are required to effectively deliver sport programmes in selected          communities

Contact Persons:

Mr. P. R Vayapuri       
Manager: Sport Mass Participation      
Telephone : 033 897 9460     
Fax : 033 897 9492

Media  Liaison Officer:
Bheki Ncube -  082 575 4164

The Honourable MEC for Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation, Ms WG Thusi met with the senior management of the Department of Sport and Recreation on 21 May 2009.

In her address the Honourable MEC indicated that the Departments of Sport and Recreation and Arts and Culture will operate as two separate Departments with their own HOD’s. The Ministry will be one: The Ministry of Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation.

There should be no panic about job losses as no jobs will be lost. However there is no place for officials who do not do their work.

The MEC appreciated the manner in which she has been received in the Department and has felt the warmth of the Sport and Recreation family since her appointment on 11 May 2009.

She provided an assurance that she is not here to make anybody uncomfortable but she is here to ensure that this Department continues to deliver to all the people of our province. “I am as committed to this team as I am to the Arts and Culture family so you will always have my attention; I just want people who are prepared to work hard to improve the lives of our bosses – the people of KwaZulu-Natal.  As MEC I will not dictate what should be the way forward but together we will take stock of all the achievements and see what has worked, what has failed and also where we need to improve or change strategy. ” said the MEC.

The MEC strongly emphasised the need for people who love their work.  These are people who arrive on time in the morning, take their lunch hour at the appropriate time and go home when it is time to go home.  Being punctual is a sign of respect for your work, colleagues and especially the people you serve. She made reference to the old government employee who arrives at work late and is the first one out the door in the afternoon. 
The MEC reminded the management of the messages conveyed by the Honourable President of South Africa in his inauguration speech that she hoped will ensure that we deliver on the expectations of the people of Kwazulu-Natal.

Among other things our president said, “The dreams and hopes of all the people of our country must be fulfilled. There is no place for complacency, no place for cynicism, no place for excuses.  Everything we do must contribute in a direct and meaningful way to the improvement of the lives of our people.”
, “To achieve all our goals, we must hold ourselves to the highest standards of service, probity and integrity. Together we must build a society that prizes excellence and rewards effort, which shuns laziness and incompetence.”

She directed that these messages be taken into our hearts and that come to work everyday bearing them in mind. She expressed her commitment to making the Department an agent of change for the lives of our people.

“We are all aware of the challenges facing our country and the global community and we must work harder to mitigate the impact of those challenges on the communities we serve. For that we will need to pull together.” There needs to be restraint in the management of our budget. Austerity measures needed to be exercised. Fraud and corruption will not be tolerated.

This team must also interrogate, together with our stakeholders, our shortcomings and find out where we have gone wrong and what we need to do to address that. We must discard what does not work without hesitation.

In the process of delivery we must not forget the principles of Batho Pele to ensure that we remain efficient and accountable to our people.

The senior managers were given an opportunity to present their components to the MEC who indicated the need for absorb information, interrogate written presentations and seek further interactions.

The MEC has also committed to visiting all Sport and Recreation offices at dates to be confirmed.

As one of her first official duties in her capacity as KZN MEC for Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation, the Honourable Minister Weziwe Thusi today formally launched the 2009 KZN Department of Sport and Recreation National Youth Run.

The National Youth Run will be staged this Saturday 23 May as a curtain-raiser to the 2009 Comrades Marathon and takes the form of a 10km Road Race/Walk and a 5km Fun Run/Walk.  It is anticipated that over 4000 “future comrades” will participate in the event which was successfully initially launched last year.

The National Youth Run is a concept, jointly conceived by the Comrades Marathon Association and KwaZulu-Natal Athletics, with the aim of exposing young people to the joys and benefits of running, while presenting an opportunity for them to experience the sense of personal satisfaction and camaraderie derived from participation in a high profile sporting event.

The MEC for Arts, Culture, Sport & Recreation, Weziwe Thusi, emphasized her department’s commitment to the objective of promoting healthy physical activity through participation in sport to all communities. 

“Whilst the Comrades Marathon is a South African institution, internationally recognized for the energy-sapping challenge it poses and the camaraderie it fosters amongst its thousands of participants, the National Youth Run provides the anticipated 3000 young men and women the opportunity to stride into the Comrades spirit and festivity with a run over 5km or 10km. This year the Department together with the Comrades Marathon Association will be bussing in hundreds of athletes from disadvantaged schools from afar as Uthrecht, Msinga and Umzimkhulu and we hope to transform the picturesque Durban North into a buzz of activity as athletes are expected to jostle for positions in an effort to snatch the lucrative prize money on offer. With more than R61,000 of the department’s investment of R550,000 on offer as prizemoney, we expect the competition to be extremely keen amongst the numerous schools vying for honours on the day.”

“The department is excited by its association with a race of this magnitude and the National Youth Run adds credence to Premier Dr Zweli Mkhize’s call for us to contribute significantly to rural development, initiating an intensive campaign to fight crime by keeping our youth gainfully occupied and promoting health programmes – let us strive towards … “A healthy mind in a healthy body”.   By encouraging young people and promoting opportunities for them to actively participate in sport & recreation, we hope to promote and instill in them a lifelong commitment towards a positive, healthy and active lifestyle.”

While the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sport and Recreation is the major sponsor of the event, Umsobomvu Youth Fund is also a supporting contributor. “Umsobomvu Youth Fund is supporting the National Youth Run because we believe there is a positive correlation between youth's participation in sports and their achievements in other aspects of their lives, in terms of developing positive attitudes, discipline and strategies to approach life’s challenges.” said Malose Kekane, CEO of the Umsobomvu Youth Fund. “We are dedicated to investing in activities that create opportunities for young people to develop and to making it easier for them to acquire the skills they require to create sustainable livelihoods.”

KZNA President Aleck Skhosana paid tribute to the KZN Dept of Sport & Recreation and Umsobomvu Youth Fund, on behalf of both KZNA and CMA, for their investment in the future of athletics.  “KZNA and CMA have been down a long road together”, said Skhosana.  “With the Comrades Marathon as the flagship running event that attracts so much attention to our sport, it is wonderful to be able to harness the success of Comrades to benefit and promote the sport in general by reaching out to future runners.  We (KZNA and CMA) acknowledge the common destiny of the race and the sport and trust that through the staging of an event of this nature we will see both continue to grow from strength to strength.”

Statement Released on Tuesday 19 May 2009

Issued by Comrades Marathon, for further information contact Comrades Marathon 033 8978650