Govt to 'regulate' sport
2005-11-07 16:34
Cape Town - Laws enforcing transformation in sport will be enacted by the middle of next year to combat the slow pace of change, it emerged in Parliament on Monday.
Butana Komphela, the chairperson of the sport portfolio committee, says nothing has moved as far as transformation in sport is concerned in the last 10 years.
Speaking during a presentation by the SA Rugby Union (Saru) on its approach to transformation, Komphela says government had nothing to show after 10 years of urging sport in South Africa to transform, and so now legislation had to be enacted.
Saru noted in its transformation document that it recognised the government's objectives that the demographic profile of sport had to ultimately reflect the country's demographics.
Willie Basson, author of Saru's transformation document, told the committee Saru fully agreed that transformation, especially in rugby, had not borne fruit. The transformation document took 500 man hours to compile, went through 20 drafts and involved visiting all rugby unions, except Border.
Basson said some of their findings had made the provinces' eyes "pop out". He said he had generally received a positive response after the logic behind the drive was explained.
He said there were two fundamental aspects to transformation in sport and especially in rugby, which he described as "culturally having a foot stuck in the past".
SA needs to become globally competitive
In the past, transformation was "totally emotional" with no sound basis, he argued, stating that the logic behind the new approach had received much support.
"If we want to economically transform the country, we need to become globally competitive, same with sport. We have to develop in the spirit of competitiveness otherwise countries like India and China will dominate," he warned.
He acknowledged that transforming rugby and sport, in general, would not be easy as the sporting fraternity did not want change. He warned the committee that the country would face a crisis if sporting facilities were not upgraded and developed.
- SAPA