Minister Marais financially supports WC sport federations with over R6.3m | Western Cape Government

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Minister Marais financially supports WC sport federations with over R6.3m

1 October 2020

Sports clubs and federations in the Western Cape will be able to safely resume their activities following an investment of R6 356 450 by the Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS).

With sport and recreation already resumed across the country, under protocols as per the regulations, the allocated appropriation will be used to fund events, competition and education.  Empowering our affiliated federations and clubs with the financial support needed to again administer, develop and host capacity building workshops will indeed assist in forging our new norm in the sector.

The funding allocation was marked by socially distanced cheque handover ceremonies across the province in all six districts over the past month, in which Minister Anroux Marais presented the following funds to the respective sport councils and affiliated federations:

District Sport Council Funding Allocated
Overberg R610 000
Cape Town R2 316 450
Cape Winelands R1 045 000
Eden R1 565 000
Central Karoo R210 000
West Coast R610 00
Total R6 356 450


 

 

 

 

 

 

At the ceremonial handovers, Dr. Lyndon Bouah, Chief Director for Sport and Recreation, elaborated on the importance of sport to the communities and economy of the Western Cape. “With the Olympic and Paralympic Games coming up next year, many of our national athletes reside in the Western Cape and they need to be supported. Therefore, we need to have ad hoc funding available to support professional athletes and federations to host their events to increase the provincial talent pool. Our communities also need role models to whom they can aspire. They need to know that athletes coming from the streets of the Western Cape have the ability to go to the World Championships or Olympic Games,” he said

Minister Anroux Marais foregrounded the constrained fiscal environment in which the sector currently finds itself and at the handovers explained, “Economically, the sector has suffered with many events having been cancelled. Approximately 30 events across the province have been cancelled, inclusive of conditional grants and federation funded events. Provincial major sporting events, which boost our local economies have also been severely impacted as events such as the Two Oceans Marathon and now also the Cape Town HSBC Sevens Tournament to name a few, have had to be cancelled.  Provincial Trials for the Winter Games, Indigenous Games, Golden Games and leagues & festival support for Club Development have also been adversely impacted as these events will also not be taking place this year as scheduled. However, despite it all, over the last months we have been through so much. We have changed the way we live, how we say hello and even how we sport and practice recreation. As many restrictions have now been relaxed and as we head into the recovery phase, we can now safely move forward in the Western Cape and get to work as the task ahead of us is great, but together, we will overcome the many challenges with which we are now faced, as we have time and again in this sector”.

The Case For Sport, a study undertaken by DCAS and the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) Interdisciplinary Centre of Excellence for Sport Science and Development (ICCESSD) shows that sport contributes R8.8 billion to the Western Cape’s gross domestic product and also supports 60 000 jobs in the province. By transferring the equitable share funds, it is hoped that federations and affiliated clubs are able to commence some of their very significant activities in the communities they serve because while we are to be physically distanced, in the Western Cape, we are still socially connected through sport and recreation and ready to safely move forward.

Attached are photographs captured at the Cape Town and Eden Sport Federation funding ceremonies. More photographs are available upon request.

Media Enquiries: 

Stacy McLean
Spokesperson for the Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport, Anroux Marais
083 504 1171