Minister of Sport and Recreation Ngconde Balfour wants transformation charters for cricket and other sports by the middle of next year to avoid having to legislate racial transformation.
This was confirmed by his spokesperson Graham Abrahams, who said legislation would be the last resort.
The disclosure of the charter plan follows the release of the controversial ministerial committee report on cricket transformation, which recommended that the United Cricket Board reverse its decision to scrap quotas.
It is understood the charters would be negotiated — much like the recently approved mining charter — by the government, national sporting federations and other interested parties like the South African Sports Commission (SASC).
Existing transformation targets in cricket and rugby were set by internal discussion. In addition, 23 national federations including football, swimming, hockey and athletics signed performance agreements with the government in March.
As part of the process leading to such charters, a Department of Sports and Recreation discussion document entitled Advancing Transformation through Engagement is circulating. This maintains that demographic representivity is non-negotiable for the government.
“We cannot allow a situation to develop like in Zimbabwe where the national cricket team is still completely unrepresentative of Zimbabwean society after more than 20 years of freedom in that society,” it says.
The document was tabled at the end of October in the first of a series of “imbizos” between the minister, sporting federations and organisations like the SASC.
The document insists legislation is seen as the last resort, but says the government viewed sports transformation as vital because it was “a barometer and key tool” in moving towards a non-racial society.
The document highlights the need for a review of progress. Specific areas of concern include:
Coaches are only meeting minimum quota targets.
Development programmes are frequently regarded as the step-children of sporting codes.
Transformation has in some cases been limited to “replacing white faces with black faces”.
While recognising progress over the past 10 years of South Africa’s re-entry into international sports — including the bringing together of often diametrically opposed sporting cultures — the document says the second phase of transformation is lacking.
“The notion of transformation as consisting of the inclusion of black faces in white-dominated bodies, even to the extent of allowing for black presidents, was held then, and in certain quarters is still held, as the basic measurement of transformation.”
Issues like decision-making powers, control and distribution of financial and other resources and the selection of truly representative sides had to be forced on to the transformation agenda.
The document says it was already apparent by 1996 that “transformation of sport was not keeping pace with the transformation of the state and other areas of South African society”.
It identifies as a key factor in the lack of progress the conservatism of sporting codes steeped in tradition. While the average administrator, selector and spectator simply wanted to get on with the game, “many had been unable to come to terms with the demands of the new political realities”.
Balfour sent a fax to the South African cricket team on Thursday saying his comments that he “doesn’t give a shit” about Jacques Kallis had been taken out of context.
However, the United Cricket Board is understood to have sent summaries of the ministerial committee’s report to its affiliates ahead of its annual council meeting. The board maintains the inquiry was biased and its terms of references skewed.
The Cabinet on Wednesday reiterated the government’s “full support for all our national sports teams and players”, but also noted that continuing transformation was a necessary part of changing society. Balfour is expected to submit a full report on transformation to the Cabinet.