Spare South African sport the Stofiles

Regular readers will know that I am a strong supporter of transformation in South African sport and vehemently opposed to tokenism. I have not only written numerous articles on the subject but also pledged the entire proceeds of my forthcoming book to transformation in rugby.

The children of South Africa, primarily those in our underprivileged areas, will play a major part in making our country a sporting giant while building bridges between communities as haves and have-nots mingle freely.

Tokenism can undo all of that because it allows administrators and politicians to show quotas — as opposed to spending the money at grassroots level — as the proof that transformation is taking place in sport. If they are allowed to get away with that, why would they spend the money on our kids? The answer: they won’t.

In a country where 70% of our population is black, the result of transformation, as opposed to tokenism, should mean that on merit most of our sporting teams should comprise black players. Nobody will complain about that.

Where this is not happening the focus must be twofold. Firstly, see what steps are being taken at grassroots and then at each level of the pyramid; secondly, investigate the finances of a particular sporting body to see where the money is being spent. None of this is to be conducted internally and all reports, regardless of the effect on the stability of our country, must be made public.

Recently the rugby fraternity was under immense pressure during the race to elect the next president of Saru. Oregan Hoskins and Mike Stofile, the brother of Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile, were the candidates on offer. The view on the ground was that electing Stofile would set rugby back too many years to calculate. In hindsight, Hoskins’s appointment may well turn out to be a huge blessing.

In the course of the past few days the Daily Dispatch of East London made available a report on corruption, compiled by His Lordship Justice R Pillay, which had been leaked to the newspaper. If you go to the link you will be able to access the three parts making up the full report with its conclusion.

The remit given to the commission of inquiry was to investigate certain allegations arising from a report titled “Project Spin”. It concludes that the allegations contained in Project Spin “can to an extent be corroborated based upon the preliminary investigation concluded”.

It is a report into corruption in the Eastern Cape at a time when the sports minister was premier of that region. It alleges that Stofile and his family, among others, were part of an elaborate scheme to siphon off R200-million. Mike Stofile, who was nearly the president of Saru and called for government action when he lost, is also allegedly implicated.

Whether or not both are guilty, the allegations are set out in a report by a South African judge. In accordance therewith, the sports minister must step down pending a full investigation into his conduct. Sports bodies must also be cautioned against employing either Stofile until all of this has been sorted out.

“Mike Stofile allegedly received a R900 000 loan from the ECDC to build a Spar supermarket without satisfying the prescribed requirements — using two rural properties worth R46 000 as surety. Mike Stofile was not available for comment on Saturday.” (IOL)

The Sunday Times yesterday published an article saying the president must come clean on Eastern Cape corruption.

The Daily Dispatch claims that the president knew about the report.

Makhenkesi Stofile rejected the reports of the judge with contempt, which earned him the title of Sunday Times Mampara of the Week. Regardless, either the president must sack him or he must step down.

“However, lawyers representing Sizani, Godongwana and Stofile have threatened to take the Pillay commission to court because they claim the allegations are untrue, ‘defamatory in the extreme and would constitute a gross abuse of the powers of your commission’.

“‘Our clients have therefore instructed us to demand that your findings, if correctly reported in the media, be retracted with immediate effect. Failure to do so by noon on Tuesday July 15 will result in an urgent application to the court for appropriate declaratory relief with punitive costs,’ the lawyers said in a letter.” (Times)

I will be fascinated to learn what our courts will do with an urgent application to force a learned judge to retract his report when, other than carrying out his remit in terms of an investigation given to him by the region, he appears to have done so lawfully and without favour. Seems to me far too many reports aren’t finding their way into the public domain as it is.

Opposition leader Helen Zille is in no doubt that Stofile has to go. She alleges that the president is quick to act against political threats such as Jacob Zuma and Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, but less so against allies like Jackie Selebi.

Prove her wrong, Mr President.