Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile on Wednesday said he wants to see racial transformation in sport completed by 2010.
”We would have been there if we did what we had to do since 1992,” Stofile told reporters in Cape Town, lamenting the slow pace of transformation since apartheid ended in the early 1990s.
”Quotas were well intended but they were abused,” he added, saying many teams simply bought black players to fill racial quotas instead of pumping funds into sport development.
”If we do it right, we should be there in five or six years. It is possible not to talk about transformation in sport in 2010.”
A highly sensitive issue in post-apartheid — and sport-mad — South Africa, transformation in sport is frequently in the spotlight with the African National Congress government demanding representative teams while fans say players should be chosen on merit only.
The outspoken Archbishop Desmond Tutu was labelled a traitor last week when he told a newspaper: ”I don’t want tokenism — it’s an insult to everybody.
”And there are so many occasions when it seems that black players are there in order to satisfy the demands for transformation. That is not good for the morale of the individual or the team.”
ANC lawmaker Butana Komphela, who is also chairperson of the National Assembly sport committee, responded: ”Tutu’s view is treasonous and it is tantamount to undermining the spirit of the new Constitution, which recognises the need for transformation.”
Both the national cricket and rugby teams in South Africa still have a majority of white players.
”This past weekend the French team was more cosmopolitan than the South African team. That is a scandal,” Stofile said. — Sapa-AFP