This week chairperson of the parliamentary portfolio committee on sport Butana Komphela threatened that his committee would lobby the sports minister to withhold passports of the national rugby team to the World Cup finals if the sport did not transform more. He said the least they would tolerate was six black players in the squad.
Is this not some idle threat?
Not it is not. We are going to lobby the minister. If you look at page 30 of your passport you will realise that it says the passport remains the property of the state. People have said that it is their right to have a passport, we say it is not, it is a privilege.
If your approach is that of “no normal sport in an abnormal societyâ€, why not lobby the International Rugby Board not to recognise the South African rugby team as representatives of their country?
We have done that. The president of the IRB asked us: “Don’t you have a minister of sport? Why then is he not enforcing the changes you are talking about?†We told him that the minister did not have powers to do that. He could not intervene. So you see, we can’t lobby them. That is why we have approved the Sports Amendment Bill.
Why go to these extremes? Isn’t it possible to discuss this with rugby officials?
Sidiniwe Ngoku [We are tired now]! This rugby team has remained white for 15 years and it has not transformed. It remains exclusive. We have [in preparation of the Sports Amendment Bill] consulted more than 30 000 people between August 2006 and March this year and the people are very impatient with the rate of transformation. We are very frustrated. It seems that change in this country rests with blacks only and for white people it’s not their responsibility.
Aren’t rugby’s top officials black?
No they are not. The President’s Council is completely white. The Super 14 leadership, in the office and on the field, is white.
Your critics have pointed out that football does not have to comply with these race quotas. Why is that?
This is not because of deliberate marginalisation of white people in Bafana. The actions in rugby are very deliberate. The Bafana issue should be seen in context. From the inception [of non-racial football], their game was not controlled to protect some societies. We told Gerald Majola [the CEO of the United Cricket Board] that cricket could not remain a white, Indian and coloured thing. They said, “Give us 12 months to work on a plan†and that by the time they go to the World Cup, they would give us no less than eight players of colour. They delivered. We want the same from rugby.
Are you saying rugby has deliberately marginalised black players?
About 70% of the team that won the under-19 World Cup were black and 30% were white. When we ask them where those players are, they tell us that they have disappeared. They disappear because nobody keeps track of them. It is white players that are kept track of.
Afrikaners are already feeling like an endangered species in this country. Isn’t this yet another way of marginalising Afrikaners in particular?
We are embracing Afrikaners more than they are embracing us. They are not an endangered species. It is us who are protecting the so-called endangered species. They must accept that while we are embracing them, this country belongs to all who live in it. It does not only belong to them. There should be visible change, because change is the necessary action for reconstruction and development.
Some rugby fans ask why the sport should be pressured to have more black players when the paying customers are predominantly white?
Black fans cannot go and watch a white team. Just last week coach [of the Rugby Sevens team] Paul Treu was insulted and called names. Nobody would want to go where they would be risking their lives, just look at the manner in which Treu was subjected to insults … and beaten by white people.
Has anyone from rugby approached you about your comments?
Not yet. But I got a call from Mveleli Nqula [the South African Rugby Union’s deputy chief executive] asking for a meeting on April 10. I assume they want to meet me to talk about their plans for the World Cup.
How far are you prepared to go with this? We are not married to a situation where we would be regarded as anarchists. We are open to discussion.
