28 January 2014, Cape Town

National Sports and Recreation Indaba convened in 2011.

Indaba approved key principles of Sports Transformation and sanctioned the creation of a special purpose body for Sports Transformation to advise the Ministry of Sports and Recreation.

Minister appointed members of the Eminent Persons Group with a wide range of expertise as practitioners and professionals in Sports, academics in this field as well as policy experts.

1. Prof. Somadoda Fikeni (Chairperson) 2. Rhia Ledwaba (Deputy Chairperson) 3. Mrs Nomfanelo Magwentshu4. Prof. Xolela Mangcu5. Dr. Willie Basson6. Mr Maxwell Moss7. Dr. Sam Ramsamy8. Mr Louis Von Zeuner9. Prof Marion Keim-Lees10. Ms Wimpie du Plessis11. Mr. Qondisa Ngwenywa12. Prof Tim NoakesMr Silas Nkanunu

Inaugural meeting/workshop to develop a programme of action and institutional arrangement of the EPG held on 5 & 6 October 2012: Following work was done in the workshop.

1. Clarification of EPG Mandate and its translation into a framework for the programme of action.

2. Role clarification: EPG, Sports and recreation ministry, SASCOC and Sports Federations.

3. Development of a framework for the code of conduct for the EPG members in discharging their roles. This also taking into account the fact that some members are currently and directly involved in sports.

4. Clarification of the concept of transformation and balanced scorecard as stipulated in the Transformation Charter. And outline of the framework for assessing transformation.

A series of meetings have been held with the minister and senior officials of the Department of Sports and Recreation, and these were aimed at:

1. Report back on workshops that EPG had held with particular emphasis on outlining the programme to be undertaken in fulfilling our mandate.

2. Request department to provide personnel for both administrative support and research (data mining , data coding , analysis and interpretation)

3. Advise the department on various aspects of transformation that could advance the transformation agenda.

A facilitated meeting between the key stakeholder, SASCOC and EPG with the involvement of the Department. Objective of this meeting which was achieved:

A. Role clarification between EPG, Department of Sports and SASCOC.

B. General agreement on the terms of cooperation in the process of EPG receiving regular reports or access data in assessing transformation progress or regression in different codes.

Collaborating with the Department in a pilot study assessing the rate and level of transformation in selected sports codes (Football/Soccer, Athletics, Rugby, Netball, Cricket)

Key focal areas being:

Quest for administrative support still work-in-progress with the initial effort having been impeded by numerous procedural and policy hurdles.

Availability of reliable and updated data from the different federations and codes varies and sometimes it is inconsistent.

Heavy commitments of EPG members a logistical challenge to arrange regular meetings.

Earlier confusion on the role of EPG, SASCOC and Department but this has been resolved.