Transformation in sport has to happen in the shortest period of time, but not at the expense of any South African athletes, President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday.
”As government we fully support the notion of a winning culture in sport and I will rally 100% behind our national teams when competing in the international sporting arena,” he said in reply to questions in the National Assembly.
”However, to have a real and lasting impact on our nation, we cannot compete with the exclusion of certain parts of our population. If we win, it must be a victory for the whole country as was demonstrated now by the Springboks,” Mbeki said.
With true transformation, as a country, South Africa could become an even greater force in world sport.
Through proper development programmes by the national federations and good supporting systems, the wealth of sporting talent can be exploited with representative teams a natural outcome.
Once the programmes are adequate, by the law of averages, the representivity of teams will normalise naturally.
”We must turn things around in the shortest period of time, but, not at the expense of any of our athletes,” the president said.
There is no doubt that all sports-loving South Africans, ”which is actually the entire population”, acknowledge the importance of representative teams, he said.
”Sport must belong to the nation; it is an integral part of our way of life, of our South African culture over which government, with its elected representatives, has also a serious responsibility.”
All sporting federations are autonomous, with the federations responsible for their day-to-day activities, including the selection of national teams.
”Although we adhere to this practice, it does not distract government from pursuing our responsibility to accelerate transformation in sport, making sport accessible to all South Africans, making more funds available to school sport and to put academy systems and sporting facilities in place that will assist talented athletes toreach their full potential.”
Sporting facilities and opportunities are still skewed, he said. ”Government wanted to correct this and ensure that national teams were representative of the total South African population. We want all our children to start from the same line. Who finishes first must not be pre-determined by the disparities of where they individually start.”
To this end, the government has resolved to correct the situation and ensure that there is grassroots development of sport in these areas, so that more young people from the disadvantaged areas are afforded the opportunity to unlock their potential.
This is done through mass participation programmes, Mbeki said.
Sports and Recreation Minister Makhenkesi Stofile ruled out racial quotas for national teams on Tuesday after the mainly white Springboks’ recent victory in the Rugby World Cup reignited the debate over transformation.
”Quotas are out,” Stofile told a parliamentary sports committee. ”Let us put our resources into the development of talent.”
He said quotas are not the answer, as a failed experiment in South African rugby showed a few years ago. ”Quotas were used only for window dressing for international consumption,” he said. ”Those who have the money go and buy the players … instead of developing the boys where they are.” — Sapa, AFP