It was too early to scrap quotas in South African sport, Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula said on Tuesday.
On the final day of the National Sport and Recreation Indaba in Midrand, during discussions on transformation in the plenary, it was decided that the quota system could not be scrapped while the transformation charter and the transformation scorecard would be adopted into the Nation Sports Plan.
During the final session of the transformation commission, where the resolutions were to be passed, there was widespread division on whether the system should be scrapped or reinstated.
“The indaba acknowledged the challenges and limitations with regard to the implementation of the quota system in its current form and the negative effects of this system in deepening racial polarisation,” Mbalula said.
“To this end, the indaba observed the unfortunate and painful stigma imposed on young black athletes and players as a result of the application of this archaic system.”
With the rigorous debate surrounding this contentious issue, it was decided that the quota system would not be scrapped, and the merit system would also not be undermined.
“However, a strong case has been made for the uninterrupted continuation of the quota system through the direct selection of black players into national codes, using the adopted scorecards contained in the transformation charter,” Mbalula said.
“You will still have that particular programme [quota system], but at the same time that programme will be enhanced by a visible and clear transformation charter.
“Federations and everybody else will be held accountable in terms of what we seek to achieve as a nation about integration, equity and accessibility in terms of different sporting codes.”
Rugby in particular came under fire, with SA Rugby Union (SARU) president Oregan Hoskins defending his federation.
Hoskins admitted the sport had not progressed as much as it could have in terms of transformation, but he invited more black people to get involved in rugby.
“It will not help to talk only in this forum. I also experienced the worst form of apartheid and the fact of the matter is that I am democratically elected [as SARU president],” Hoskins said.
“So I urge my comrades with the expertise to make yourselves available to the rugby unions and SARU to have a say.
“To effect change in rugby we have to start in the boardroom because, as you know, most of my brothers in rugby are white.”
Hoskins said he would seek clarity from Mbalula and the Sports Ministry as to what had been decided regarding quotas.
“We have heard the decision and that is contrary to what the Minister had said earlier – that quotas had been done away with,” Hoskins said.
“The indaba has decided that quotas should not be done away with, so we will meet as SA rugby to discuss the effect of what has happened here.”
a SAD fact of South Africa is that we will never grow past the “blame apartheid” you will never hear of any good the old regime did. In SA Rugby we had great structures , rich unions, great stadiums where the game could flourish. That was all available to ALL. I said it before and still feel the same, the “road was tarred for anyone who wanted to get to the top”
Rugby is a great job, you can make millions, you must just grab the opportunity and do your homework.
Our new swim sensation, Le Clog is a great example to anyone, do you for one moment think he walked into, or would it rather be jump, and just broke records galore. I bet he pushed himself to tears in the pool.Hard work , sometimes alone.
Eishhhhh, another one he speaks with forked tongue!
Wat ‘n korrupte lot kaksleg bliksems… wat net “Go with the flow” en geen idee het oor wat ‘n wenkultuur in Sport behoort te wees nie.
Is daar GEEN integriteit oor in hierdie wêreld van ons nie?
Is daar GEEN vlak waartoe hierdie dom politieke fokkers nie heen sal daal nie?
Is daar GEEN einde aan diskriminasie, teen wie ookal, in SA nie?
Gister was Black Tuesday, die flippen ANC het gister die MUILBANDWET met behulp van sy meerderheid deur die Nasionale Vergadering in die Parlement gestoomroller ondanks waarskuwings dat dit die land daarmee terugneem na ’n tydvak van geheimhouding…. en die deure ooplaat vir menseregteskendings van skrikwekkende aard!
Ons lewe in ‘n “Banana Republic”….
Ek is swartgallig vandag… dis klomp onnodige kak hierdie, wat ons land insluk en verwoes!
Well that’s one for mediocrity.
4 @ biltongbek:
They make it difficult to support anything Nationally, including the Bokke.
… and what a farking soft cock is Hoskins…. he should have stood up and said straight out that Mbalula had renounced Quotas a few days ago and that subsequently he cannot be trusted and his morning and afternoon stories do not correspond with one another…
I asked a question on a rugby blog not so long ago: Can we put together a 100% black team from the black players playing in the CC and S15 this year? We have 2 Loosehead props, 2 hookers, no locks, 1 flank, no scrumhalf, 2 flyhalves, a couple of centers and some wings, and 1 fullback. We could get a tighthead from overseas, but that leaves us short in lock and looseforward and scrumhalf.
For me the problem is not that we have or don’t have sufficient black players in the senior ranks, it is that we do not develop enough black players at grassroots and up. Most of our black players come from “Model C” schools. Chiliboy for example received a scholarship to play rugby at Pretoria Boys High (I might be mistaken about the school).
What the old farts at the top don’t realise, is that if a team is winning, irrespective of the racial make up, people from all walks of life will support it and youngsters will aspire to play and be like their heroes. Bryan Habana at his best was a great drawcard for youngsters irrespective of race. It is what the successful teams do with their success in drawing young talent to the sport, and how the administrators sustain that when the players have done their PR bit. What have the Bulls, Lions and SARU done after the games at Orlando Stadium, and Soccer City? There was huge goodwill after those games, but did the respective administrations do anything with that?
6 @ Lion4ever:
Even if there are 5 or 10 or 100, 100% black players for EVERY position, why would one want a 100% black side… or a 100% white side or a 100% coloured side.
I simply want the BEST side, and a side formed by players who are regarded in all aspects as having equal chance / opportunity to be selected on merit!
So, what does it matter that there is a shortage of South African Black locks… or whatever… that’s just the way the freegin cookie crumbles!
When is the next General Elections for the President of SARU, anybody know?
GBS@7
Ja swaer, ek kyk maar net die spul hier uit die verte, se maar liewer f@kkol, ek was al genoeg ge-ban oor hierdie kuk daar ‘annerkant’.
Wonder wat het van ou Butane Komphella geword, leef die ou makmoer nog, hy is darem stil deesdae?
Ergste van als, die meerderheid Suid-Afrikanesrs stem nie meer saam met die ANC nie, veral sportmense, behalwe as dit stemdag is….dan hol hulle weer met n Zuma-T-shirt en n gratis broodjie reguit na die geel stembus toe. Daar is nie salf te smeer nie, die DA is ons enigste hoop.
Kyk maar net bv. die nonsenspratery oor straatname in Pretoria, wat de fok het dit nou met ontwikkeling en behoud van die stad te make?
Klomp onnosel,kortsigtige, ongeletterde,laageteelde werf-ett$s aan roer van sake…..
Tjeers RT’s, sal julle later sien, by die rugby oor die nawwek, fokkie politiek.
@ grootblousmile:
GBS, I want the best players to represent my team, whether it be province country. The point I was trying to make, in case someone like the Sports Minister reads this is that we can cry quotas till the cow comes home and beyond, if we do not have the black players in senior teams, we cannot enforce quotas, and unless a huge drive is made to lure promising youngsters away from soccer, rugby’s demographics will always lean to towards us paler skinned citizens.
To be honest, I long for the day when we argue about Springbok selection on merit and provincial bias only, and not on race. We will always have a provincial bias. And we will always wonder why the coach picks a certain player over another player. And the coach must have rugby reasons why selects certain players. Race should never ever enter into the equation.
11 @ Lion4ever:
I know you just want the best and no bias… and you have a valid and very relevant point that society in general like winners and follow success.
The natural way to strenghten rugby is to always have the best playing whilst doing the ground work properly at grass roots level to provide the facilities and the infrastructure for proper participation, accross the board.
If that had happened in 1994, now 17 years on we would have had a crop of 20 – 30 year-olds, accross every spectrum competing on equal footing… in every sport imaginable… and quotas would not even have been an issue.
Who should invest in facilities and provide them? Government primarily… they should provide the Sports Fields, halls, infrastructure… that is their freegin job!
Assistance to expand participation and thus enhance these Government facilies should come down to every sporting code’s Governing body, in Rugby’s case it would obviously be SARU’s responsibility… putting new junior leagues into place, trainig coaches in areas where expansion is needed… marketing the success story.
In addition simple things like the Bulls playing in Orlando, Soweto, in 2010 plays a major role in uniting a Nation behind a sport like rugby. Did you notice how many Springbok shirts were worn by anybody from adults to the smallest toddlers during Rugby World Cup 2011… we had the buy-in from the Rainbow Nation in it’s totality… so why the need to force things, it’s a natural gravitation.
First comes the supporters (start ticking that box), then comes the participation, if the facilities are there.
So what do we need to do – create the facilities, the rest will take care of itself!
OK, that’s enough of a gripe…
******************************
9 @ Pietman:
Ek raak befok Piet, jy ken my goed genoeg…. maar seker beter dat ek ook my bek hou in die publiek, oor hierdie kak.
Of is dit reg om mens bek te hou, sterk mens nie deur stilswye die klomp gemorsfokkers se hand nie?
Hulle sal eenvoudig sê: “Daai lot is so slapgat, kom ons loop nog en nog en nog oor hulle!”
@ grootblousmile:
Well said, GBS. You plan on running for SARU president?
13 @ Lion4ever:
If I could I would, and then work my fingers off for SA Rugby and make a massive success…. but unfortunately I’m not in the Adminstrative circles of Rugby in SA and unfortunately I’m not a Boeties vir Bandjies dude, who suck up for a jobbie here and there, worming my way up into contention…. and last time I looked I nearly got arc eyes because I’m so freegin lilly-white.
I can tell you one thing, I WOULD have my enemies and make plenty of them… but I’ll take far less kak than these current parras…. and a bunch of people would not survive their precious jobbies!
Then there’s the matter of what I would do with my regular business interests…. how do I let that go?
The fact of the matter is, it’s just not practical for you or me or the other fella in the street to have aspirations like that, unless you are prepared to brown-nose your way all the way up there!
Rugby Administration and Politics are very much in the same boat…. you have to be a freegin worm to do it!
That is the beauty of being a fan. We can change the systems and do all the things that need doing, but we don’t have to take all the cr@pthat the admins and coaches have to put with, and we don’t have to compromise at all. I would hate to have to owe people people favours for their support, just for doing what is necessary and in the intrests of the game.
I agree, I would change a heck of a lot, and probably would not last a term, because I would have upset all the presidents in SARU.
Just as an aside, do we have a nation people that want to play rugby? We talk about grass roots level the whole time, and whilst I fully agree that that is where it must begin, I ask again, do our black population want to play. I ask this absolutely genuinely, and not wanting to cause an argument. I see so many clubs, ex-players, charity groups, and companies that put a lot of time into rugby at grass roots. Far more, I would guess, than i other countries, yet, the rugby playing pool doesn’t seem to have increased much over the last 15 years. I just sometimes wonder if the government aren’t just using this as the excuse to keep the whole racial issue within rugby so contentious. They know how much is being done behind the scenes – again far more than some other sports, I would again hazard a guess, and I think they perhaps know that rugby just is not, or ever will be a hugely popular sport in a society where the likes of soccer dominate so strongly. Yes, there will always be people who follow, play and want to turn professional in rugby, I don’t dispute that, but perhaps not in the volumes that we would hope. I also think that people like Mbalula know this, say the right thing, only to be told by his bosses that that is not a good thing to say, or what the populace want to hear, and told to retract the statement. Having an “Apartheid Icon” (i.e. rugby) in the limelight the whole time, and to be shown as a bastion still going strongly, does no end of good for the ANC.
So I say again, do we have a nation where all it’s population want to play rugby, aspire to be the best, but are stopped by an Apartheid-like system still in place, or is this just a method for the ANC to keep the debate going and thus indirectly the vote, knowing that SARU are always going to be fighting a losing battle, and will always be seen as the bad guys?
I don’t know the answer, but agree with all of your sentiments, that I just want to see the best players in the team, and in turn the team with the best chance of bringing me, the biggest rugby fan in the world, something to support, shout for and follow.
16 @ Just For Kicks:
I do not have the exact figures and am speaking from memory alone when I say that over 4000 Government Schools in South Africa do not have ANY sporting facilities. Imagine combined Rugby, Soccer and Cricket pitches at a hell of a lot of them (include athletics and hockey on or around the same pitch), some basic kit and training aids & rugby balls…. and some people who have been given basic training to coach rugby…
… imagine the knock-on effect….
I don’t know much about how the folks down in the Cape dressed in the mauls and on the streets during Rugby World Cup, but here in Gauteng our Black population were very, very visable in their Springbok jerseys… I am not joking when I say equally so compared to the whiteys.
It astounded me… it rattled my cage a bit… and one could not get any other feeling than that of a once again united Nation, due to rugby.
Will that eventually interpret or transpose into more participation by a bigger portion of black South Africans in rugby itself?
Surely it MUST, if the facilities are there…. even if just 5% make that swing, do you realize that that alone will surpass white participation in rugby…. by far!
GBS, my point perhaps, isn’t the physical side of the sport, i.e. the fields and sporting grounds, na dthe number of them – that in my mind is the duty of the government not SARU, but that perhaps there is more being done by clubs, companies and individuals at grass root level already than any other sport, that misses the ‘eye’ of the sports ministry in regard to quota. I was being cynical in the question I posed. The fingers are permanently being pointed at rugby for it’s lack of transformation, but when you compare what is being done, by what the government is doing in uplifting sports conditions, for all sports, you see a minister deflecting the blame onto an institution that cannot answer because every answer is always going to be shroud with ‘apartheid’ connotations
@ grootblousmile:As to your point about the amount of blacks wearing Bok jerseys, as a proportion, there were just as many whites wearing Bafana jerseys in the last world cup, including me. That, however, doesn’t mean that I will ever follow football, or ever want to play it.
18 @ Just For Kicks:
A few years ago… till end of 2007, I was involved in an organisation (as were some other bloggers here) called SARSU (South African Rugby Supporters Union).
It emerged that for the entire book year, the Government had only spent something like R 147 000.00 on rugby.
That was shameless and their contribution is still shameless.
It is much easier to blame SARU and rugby for not transforming than to actually help change things around. That is the gist of it.
20@ grootblousmile:My point exactly
I agree with GBS when he says that during the World Cup people wearing Springbok jerseys up here in Gauteng were well represented across all population groups.
JFK, I think you hit the nail on the head when you asked how many black kids actually want to play rugby. And if GBS’s memory has given him the correct no of schools that have no sports infrastructure at all, can you imagine if the rugby fraternity does a bit of development there? That could result in around 2 000 000 young boys being exposed to rugby firsthand. (average school population 1000 children, and 50% boys).If only 5% of these play beyond school, that will result in the player pool expanding by around 100 000.Surely out of that, we will unearth some truly spectacular talent?
@ Lion4ever:Can you imagine! Hey, we may even be able to un-earth a decent coach or two! No seriously, you’re right, but it goes so much further than that, wrt coaching, reffing, administration, health and fitness, etc The potential for this country is boundless. We just need to harness it!
@ grootblousmile:
Eish!!! And yet rugby remains the most succesful sporting code in the country, in terms of competitions won and even winning percenatge since re admission. So no thanks to the govt. I know the less popular team sports like hockey do need a lot of govt funding to remain competitive, but surely attention must be paid to rugby, and not the negative attention it tends to receive from govt.
GBS not entirely true my friend.
Since re-admission we may have won two world cups in rugby, but our cricketers have better win loss ratio’s than our rugby players.
Springboks win 1.72 tests for every one loss.
Proteas win 1.83 tests for every one loss.
Proteas win 1.83 ODI’s for every one loss.
Proteas win 1.85 T20’s for every one loss.
Against the Springboks the Wallabies and All Blacks have a superior win record against us.
Against the Proteas in test cricket only Australia has a superior win record against us.
The Springboks have won two world cups which the Proteas haven’t, but apart from that the Proteas have been more consistent.
@ biltongbek:
If one takes into account revenue generated, match attendance, major tournaments won etc., rugby is or by far the most succesful sporting code in the country. If I was youngster on the brink of entering into a professional sporting career, and I had the option of rugby, soccer or cricket. I would definitely choose rugby. My chances of playing in an elite competition (S15) would be greater, and therefore my chances of being scouted for international honours and also being scouted for the lucrative European teams are higher.
@ Lion4ever:
Without a doubt rugby is by far a bigger sport, not only in SA but the world. cricket has about 9/10 test playing countries, where as rugby is 15 times as big.
But the success of cricket on a consistent basis cannot be ignored.
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