South Africa’s Olympics governing body is full of whites and Indians who don’t understand transformation and who lack vision, says Butana Komphela, chairperson of Parliament’s portfolio committee for sport and recreation.
Komphela, who is no stranger to controversial and race-based outbursts, was speaking to the Mail & Guardian this week after the South African Sports Confederation Committee (Sascoc) formally charged Athletics South Africa (ASA) president Leonard Chuene with bringing the confederation into disrepute.
The allegations follow remarks he made in November last year in Parliament and to the media about the lack of transformation within the Olympics governing body.
‘This cannot be happening and it calls for impeachment of Moss Mashishi, president of Sascoc, as it is contempt of Parliament. The utterances which Chuene made in Parliament and in the media are true and we will always back him on that. Instead of addressing these issues, people feel offended.
‘We cannot allow such a situation to go on any longer and it is about time we set an example,†said Komphela.
In his response Mashishi said: ‘In what way will it affect the team? What happened in Parliament happened and we are dealing with what is happening now.
‘This is a matter of principle. Just like we cannot allow an athlete or another official to say damaging things about the organisation and get away with it, we cannot allow Chuene to do the same,†he told the M&G.
‘This matter has been spoken about a lot in public and we will do our best to protect the integrity of the federation. I will not go into detail about the matter, I don’t know if we should leave people to rubbish the name of our confederation.â€
Khompela has not only targeted Mashishi, but also the lawyers briefed by Sascoc in their action against Mashishi.
‘Mashishi and the legal team [Zola Majavu and Jan Venter] whom Chuene appeared before will be brought to book. You cannot kill someone and say you were given instructions to do so.
‘This matter was closed in Parliament and we will deal with it accordingly as soon as we come back from recess in two weeks’ time. We will not allow people to undermine Parliament,†said Komphela.
He told the M&G that he did not see his action as undue interference by politicians in sports.
‘People should not see this as an interference in sport by politicians. When Chuene initially made the utterances we were talking about transformation in the sport in Parliament. We always preach transformation and no one will be charged because they want things to be done right and they present evidence supporting their statements to us.â€
The battle between Chuene and Mashishi has been going on since last November and both were summoned to a hearing on May 6 2008 before the parliamentary portfolio committee on sport and recreation to try to find a solution to the matter. It was agreed that the issue would be laid to rest.
Komphela blamed Mashishi for causing unnecessary tensions, which, he said, were an unnecessary distraction from the more important goal of preparing the team for the Olympics, now just a month away.
Said Komphela: ‘People should be paying attention to our team and ensure that it wins medals at the games, but they are busy charging people with telling the truth. This will have a huge impact on the preÂparations of the team to the Olympics. Chuene and his team, on the other hand, will be trying so hard to fight this and will disturb them as they are trying very hard to send a very strong team to the Games.â€
Adding to the theory that Chuene has been unfairly persecuted is that the ASA president has been issued with two different charge sheets.
The first dated January 17 2008, and which is in the possession of the M&G, states that he is being charged with statements he made to the parliamentary portfolio committee on sport and recreation and to the public through the media that Sascoc was not transformed enough.
The confederation served Chuene with a revised notice of inquiry and allegations on May 30 2008.
In it he faces charges of ‘engaging in acts of misdemeanour and / or acts of defiance which bring Sascoc into disreputeâ€, relating to an interview he did with MetroFM on April 15. In that interview Chuene accused Sascoc of intending to discredit him ahead of the ASA elections, held on April 13 2008, in which he stood unopposed.
Komphela labelled Mashishi an opportunist: ‘He is now using the contents of the interview with Metro FM to charge Chuene. This whole thing started here in Parliament and will end here in Parliament. We don’t know on what basis Mashishi instituted legal action against Chuene.
‘He made a commitment on record to Parliament that the matter would be laid to rest and Chuene would not be charged,†said Komphela.
But Mashishi denies that: ‘I never said Chuene will not be charged with bringing the confederation into disrepute.â€
A baffled Chuene said: ‘It was surprising to be called before a disciplinary committee after we thought the matter was water under the bridge after our hearing in Parliament. But I don’t want to comment further on this matter until everything has been settled.
‘Right now we are focusing on preparing our team for the Beijing Olympics.â€
Komphela-isms
Komphela has made some controversial statements about what he sees as transformation in sport. Here is a list of some of his memorable quotes.
‘My fear is that the Boks will not be at the 2007 World Cup. We will try to convince the Minister of Home Affairs to cancel the passports if the team is not representative. We will not be happy with six players, but would regard it as a good start.†— April 2007
‘This rugby team has remained white for 15 years and it has not transformed. It remains exclusive — We are very frustrated. It seems that change in this country rests with blacks only and for white people it is not their responsibility.†— April 2007
‘Sport can’t escape the broad picture,†said Komphela after meeting South African rugby officials to voice his displeasure at the number of black players playing at top level. — June 2007
‘It’s greed,†on the R1-billion agreement between PSL and SuperSport to give the pay-station broadcasting rights to all club football matches. — June 2007
‘We are committed to having a free and fair South Africa without fear, we don’t want to create a Kenya or a Zimbabwe here but there is a section of the community that pushes us to the limit and tries to make us regret what Nelson Mandela has done for this country and we don’t want to regret that,†said Komphela, backing Cricket South Africa president Norman Arendse’s statement that transformation in South African cricket would go ahead. — February 2008
‘Transformation is non-negotiable. We have taken over this country to make it a place where we are all comfortable,†said Komphela, supporting Arendse, who was calling for an increase in the number of black players in national teams. — February 2008
‘The best thing is for this leadership to go, so that we can manage rugby in a different way,†said Komphela, criticising Saru president Oregan Hoskins, saying there had been ‘no progress in transformation†in the sport. — February 2007
‘Treasonous,†of Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s views on transformation as no more than tokenism unless more resources were devoted to improving sports facilities in disadvantaged communities. — March 2005
‘A necessary evil,†of the Sports and Recreation Amendment Act which allows the Sports and Recreation Minister to intervene in federations struggling with transformation, but also stipulates he cannot intervene in team selection.