HAS GAUTENG LOST THE PLOT ON SPORT, ARTS AND CULTURE?
By separating sport from education, Gauteng could create a sharper, more accountable system for developing athletes, coaches, clubs and creative talent
For years, Gauteng has marketed itself as South Africa’s economic powerhouse. It is also home to some of the country’s biggest sporting facilities, professional teams, schools, universities and talent-producing communities. Yet there is a growing debate about whether the province is giving sport, arts and culture the political and administrative attention they deserve.
The argument is not that education is unimportant. Far from it. Gauteng’s education system carries enormous responsibilities and, according to the province’s 2025/26 budget, received R69.6 billion for the financial year. By comparison, Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation received R1 billion.
The question, therefore, is whether sport, arts and culture can receive the same strategic attention when they are competing for political focus within a government structure dominated by the much larger education portfolio.
There is also an important factual correction to the debate. Gauteng did merge Education with Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation at the beginning of the current administration, with Matome Chiloane appointed MEC for the combined portfolio. However, the province subsequently operated Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation as a separate department from Education. Current Gauteng government documents list the Department of Education and the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation separately.
So the real issue is less about whether the departments exist separately on paper today, and more about whether Gauteng’s approach has given sport sufficient political priority and operational capacity.
SCHOOLS CANNOT BE THE WHOLE SPORTING SYSTEM
There is an important distinction between school sport and sport development.
Schools are critical to identifying young talent. But sport does not end when a learner leaves school.
A provincial sporting ecosystem must support community clubs, federations, coaches, referees, administrators, academies, facilities, elite athletes, women’s sport, disability sport and professional events.
Gauteng’s own performance reports demonstrate the scale of this responsibility. Its Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation department reported that 694 learners participated in five National School Sport Championships during 2024/25, while 48 school-sport coordinators were appointed to assist with school-sport administration across the province’s education districts.
But the department’s quarterly figures also reveal gaps. In the first quarter of 2025/26, for example, the annual target was to train 540 people to deliver school sport, yet the reported first-quarter actual was zero. The department also targeted 65 district/local school-sport programmes for the year, while reporting no first-quarter achievement against that target.
These figures do not prove that the entire system has failed. They do, however, raise legitimate questions about implementation, coordination and accountability.
WESTERN CAPE OFFERS AN INTERESTING CONTRAST
One of the clearest comparisons is the Western Cape.
There, Cultural Affairs and Sport operates as a dedicated provincial department with its own political leadership and administrative machinery. The department explicitly describes its mission as promoting excellence and inclusivity through sport and culture. It also operates regional sport and recreation offices and provides funding to provincial and district sporting federations.
The results are particularly interesting in school sport.
In 2025, Western Cape was crowned overall National School Sport Champions after strong performances across the Autumn, Winter and Summer Games. The province’s government says this was the first time that the combined annual results had been used to determine an overall champion since the championships began in 2012.
And the province has continued investing in the pipeline. In February 2026, the Western Cape announced a new School Sport Strategy backed by R130 million over three years to increase participation and develop sporting talent.
The lesson is not that a separate department automatically guarantees success. It does not. But the Western Cape demonstrates what happens when sport has dedicated political leadership, a clearly defined institutional home, identifiable programmes and a budget attached to a specific strategy.
GAUTENG HAS THE MONEY, TALENT AND FACILITIES
This makes the Gauteng debate even more important.
Gauteng is not a province lacking sporting talent.
It has professional football clubs, rugby, athletics, boxing, basketball, cricket, swimming, netball and numerous other sporting codes. It hosts major competitions and attracts international sporting events.
The provincial government itself allocated R40.8 million in 2025/26 towards major sport, arts and culture events, including professional boxing, the West Rand Marathon and Soweto Marathon. Another R7.9 million was allocated to mass-participation programmes such as indigenous games and Move for Health.
The question is whether these interventions are enough to build a sustainable sporting industry rather than simply funding events.
Sport should not only be viewed through the number of tournaments held or athletes transported to competitions. It is an economic sector.
It creates employment for coaches, administrators, physiotherapists, event organisers, broadcasters, journalists, photographers, security companies, facility managers, sports scientists and entrepreneurs.
It can also provide young people with opportunities beyond the playing field.
THE CASE FOR A STRONGER SPORTING VOICE
Those calling for a dedicated sports ministry in Gauteng therefore have a reasonable argument.
A separate MEC responsible specifically for sport could devote political attention to the industry throughout the year — from grassroots development to elite performance.
Such a portfolio could develop measurable five-year targets: the number of functioning community clubs, coaches trained, facilities upgraded, athletes supported, leagues established, women participating, athletes with disabilities supported and young professionals entering the sports economy.
It would also make accountability easier.
If sport is underperforming, there should be nowhere to hide.
At the same time, Gauteng should not abandon the relationship between education and sport. The two sectors need each other. The province’s own annual report records cooperation between the Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation department and Education, including arts and culture programmes in 413 non-fee-paying schools.
The answer, therefore, is not separation without cooperation.
It is specialisation with coordination.
Education should concentrate on teaching and learning. Sport should develop athletes, clubs and sporting infrastructure. Arts and culture should nurture the creative economy and preserve heritage. The departments should then work together where their mandates overlap.
GAUTENG NEEDS TO DECIDE WHAT SPORT MEANS
The debate surrounding Gauteng sport should ultimately be bigger than personalities and individual MECs.
It should be about the architecture of government.
Lebogang Maile was not the MEC responsible for the Education and Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation portfolio when the merger was introduced; that responsibility fell to Matome Chiloane. Maile was responsible for other portfolios, including Treasury and Economic Development, during the period reflected in the province’s 2025 budget documents.
That distinction matters because criticism should be directed at policies and systems based on evidence rather than incorrectly attributing decisions to individuals.
What Gauteng now needs is a serious provincial conversation about the future of sport.
The province has the population, talent, facilities and economic muscle to become South Africa’s leading sporting powerhouse.
But talent alone is not enough.
Sport needs a strategy, dedicated leadership, predictable funding, functional facilities and accountability.
If Gauteng wants to produce the next generation of Bafana Bafana players, Olympic medallists, world champions, coaches and sporting entrepreneurs, sport cannot be treated merely as an extracurricular activity.
It is an industry.
And perhaps it is time Gauteng governed it like one.
