We were able to sit and have a discussion with the Department of Sport and Recreation in Durban. Basically they are a staff of 12 people responsible for implementing the federal mandate of incorporating sport and wellness into the society. Their municipality has approximately 6 million citizens. Seems like a pretty daunting task.
They have been fairly successful implementing the mandate in the city itself but the issue is implementing it out in the townships and rural areas. Once again, politics get in the way. Part of the mandate states that physical education must be offered in the schools however two problems persist: 1) the schools and the government refuse to work with each other and 2) the schools in the townships and rural areas never had physical education to begin with so facilities are non-existent.
Typically there is a professional relationship between the park district and the school district when it comes to facility usage in the United States however it is quite the opposite here. Schools don't want anybody else using their facilities regardless of whether they are responsible for meeting the same mandate.
The Dept. of Sport and Rec in city of Durban (it's new name is eThekwini) has a good plan on moving out into the townships and rural areas to implement sport however it's difficult when it was never part of their lifestyle during the Apartheid era.
One of the city planners came into the meeting to discuss how they planned to host part of the World Cup. A lot of the money that was brought in went into the rural areas to develop training centers. This was huge in helping to meet the federal mandate. In addition, they were able to upgrade current facilities including public swimming pools, the beach front, fitness/wellness centers, training facilities, and the new stadium that was built which we were able to take a tour of. In one of the pictures, you'll notice the arc over the stadium. During stadium tours, they allow you to bungee jump from the top of the arc! I tried to get them to allow me to do it but we were crunched for time.
After lunch we traveled to The University of KwaZulu Natal- School of Social Science where we met with 4 professors of Life Orientation and Physical Education. They basically reitereated the issues and concerns of implementing the federal mandate of sport. They are responsible for training the physical education teachers but they face extremely large class sizes (upwards of 150 students). In addition, there is a difference in philosophy of what physical education is. Some see it as sport skill development while others see it as movement/wellness education.
Definitely a lot of the same arguments we see/hear in the United States. While our main focus is wellness/fitness, we use sports and activities as a vehicle. There is a big difference and at times, I think we even confuse the two. It was good to see their passion as they felt movement education was important. Teaching the value of wellness and fitness as opposed to just teaching sport skills. However, it seems that other parts of the country are focusing on sport skill development.
I was able to make some contacts so we can communicate via e-mail. Their ultimate goal is train physical educators to go into the rural schools and implement physical education programs in schools that have never had the opportunities to have education let alone physical education.
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