Minister of Sport and Recreation Ngconde Balfour will meet the senior officials of 12 sports federations on Thursday afternoon to discuss their restructuring.
This is an attempt to end the bickering and infighting that has reduced many national teams to embarrassment.
The meeting at the Birchwood conference centre in Boksburg at 2pm will focus on weaknesses in the administration and management of sport as well as the need for ethics in sports bodies.
”We will look at the weaknesses in the federations, especially in the administration and in the structure of sport,” Balfour told a parliamentary briefing on Tuesday.
Ngconde criticised the federations for not focusing on performance on the field.
”Some of them seem to have abandoned performances on the field of play in favour of boardroom squabbles, leaving the perception of structural weaknesses that impact specifically on team sport,” he said.
Graham Abrahams, his spokesperson, on Wednesday said the meeting will be attended by representatives of the governing bodies of rugby, cricket, football, netball, swimming, athletics, tennis, amateur boxing, professional boxing, cycling, hockey and basketball.
He added that Balfour plans to brief the press at 5pm at the same venue.
In a related development, Balfour on Wednesday met South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) president Brian van Rooyen and several top rugby officials in Cape Town to brief him on the restructuring and governance of rugby.
”I am satisfied with the presentations made to me and I am confident that Sarfu enjoys the support of its affiliates and partners. They have also given me a briefing on the two-day bosberaad of Sarfu and outlined the processes that are being followed to give effect to the resolutions adopted,” Balfour said in a statement afterwards.
”Furthermore, I want to call on the sponsors and service providers of rugby to meet with Sarfu in much the same way as Absa and SAB [South African Breweries] have done in order for them to gain insights into the governance of the sport.
”There is a need for focus to return to the playing of rugby. We want a winning national team and competitive rugby in the Super 12 and Currie Cup. South Africans deserve nothing less and I am confident that Sarfu will do everything possible to ensure this.” — Sapa