Government has failed transformation of sports

In 1998, the ANC issued this statement:

“The transformation of sports in our country is one such area where we have done very little.”

“… there are still sporting codes which are not truly representative of the South African nation. Both the rugby and cricket national teams remain lily-white despite their much publicised development programmes in previously disadvantaged communities.”

“The persistent defense by minority parties of white racism in sport only serves to confirm that apartheid is still firmly entrenched in their psyche.”

In 2007 Parliament passed legislation that gave the Minister of Sports and Recreation some absurd powers to force sports federations to increase participation by blacks in what were predominantly white sports, and perhaps some still remain so, and to withdraw funding from those federations which fail to comply.

Now in 2008, ten years after the ANC lamented the uninspiring pace of transformation, the same issue is still a subject of contentious discussion. There appears to have been no significant shift in the composition of national teams. In a country where the majority is still black, the majority of national teams are constituted by the minorities. To a politician desperate for political point scoring and grandstanding, that is an issue to impress upon. And Butana Khompela, the chairperson of the Parliamentary Sports Committee, has come out of the woodworks again to do exactly that; this time insulting sports federation for lack of transformation.

While transformation in sports is not yet where it should be, the manner in which the government is pursuing transformation in sports is nonsensical. Driven by a populist need to appease some of the uninformed constituencies, politicians raise unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved by various sports federations — a clear indication of the absurdity of those tasked with overseeing transformation of sports.

The government has abdicated its responsibility for ensuring that the country moves forward when it comes to transformation of sports. Blacks participating in what were previously seen as white sporting codes, such as rugby and cricket, are not there as a result of government interventions at grassroots levels. These talented young black men are largely products of prestigious private schools where these sports are catered for; schools where kids of destitute backgrounds from far-flung parts of the country could not afford to attend.

None of the black public schools in rural areas and townships have rugby fields or cricket pitches, nor do they have teachers who are capable of coaching students who want to develop their skills in these sports. Instead of having teachers, some of whom prefer rather to indulge school girls in pleasures of the flesh, discrediting the rest of the profession, the Department of Education should be ensuring that sport is integrated in the curriculum; at least these randy teachers would make themselves useful. Teachers at black public schools need to be sent to coaching workshops.

It is the government that has failed the transformation of sports in this country. Passing legislation and dictating quotas to sporting federations is counter-productive and will not by any miracle produce skilled black players, when no players are coming through the ranks.

Now that the Beijing Olympics is upon us, the same nauseating wrangling about the composition of teams that will represent South Africa has started again. Mindless accusations of racism against those leading sports federations are flying about, as if that will change the pathetic situation that the country finds itself in. We cannot, however, deny that there may exist racist gatekeepers in some sporting federations, but that cannot in any measure be ascribed to all federations. Whether racist or not, I fail to see how those federations would suddenly have, for example, black hockey players in order that the national team represent the demographics of the country at the Olympics, when there are no black children playing hockey in the townships and rural areas.

It is time that those in government do a self-assessment of how well they are meeting government objectives on transformation of sports and of their own effectiveness in assisting the various sports federations in achieving these objectives; instead of shouting from the sidelines. Funding by government of development programmes run by sports federations is not enough; government itself should assume responsibility for this mammoth task and stop shifting blame. The state of public schools is not favourable for any development of talent in any sport, including soccer, which explains the pathetic state of Bafana Bafana. If these schools fail to produce the Maradonas and Zidanes, how does the government expect them to produce the Ntinis and John Smits?