Tshidiso Mokhoanatse

The High Court bid to stop the Springboks from competing in the Rugby World Cup was merely meant to draw attention to the need for transformation, the man behind it said on Wednesday.

“The move was tactical. We managed to draw the attention of this country and of the Courts to the need for transformation,” the leader of the Agency for New Agenda (ANA) party, Tshidiso Mokhoanatse, told reporters in Pretoria.

The intention was to move the responsibility for transformation in sport away from the South African Rugby Union and government, to the Courts. He said he had succeeded in this.

He was speaking after he abandoned his bid for an order seeking to prevent the Springboks from going to England and Wales to compete in the World Cup, which starts on 18 September.

Judge Ntendeya Mavundla stood the matter down in the High Court in Pretoria earlier.

Mokhoanatse said, “The matter is still ongoing. Counsel are going to have to sit down, come up with a proposal, go back to the Court and go back to the judge. The judge will make that an Order of the Court. From hence transformation will start to happen.”

The 55-year-old said he grew up in Meadowlands, Soweto, left the country aged 16 and only played soccer. He would, however, still watch the Rugby World Cup, he said.

“I still battle to understand the rules of both cricket and rugby, but definitely we will be supporting our team that represents the country.”

He was happy with the outcome of Wednesday’s High Court action and that it had set a precedent.

“This particular action will enable South Africans who are aggrieved by the lack of transformation to approach the Courts in the future. If you feel aggrieved, stand up.”

He said his Party stood for non-violence. They would not encourage people to burn property because they were frustrated with the lack of transformation. People needed to use the instruments provided in law and the Constitution to effect change.

He was flanked by several party members in white T-shirts and black berets with the words ‘Black Agenda’ in Gothic font and a picture of Steve Biko printed on them.

Sport24