How are we doing with transformation? It’s been an interesting few days for sport in my home country, South Africa.
South Africa’s sports minister, Fikile Mbalula, issued a statement that South Africa will not be allowed to host or bid for any major international tournaments after failing to meet transformation guidelines.
@News24 So sad that i find myself embarrassed to call myself a South African so often these days #no place for politics in sport
— Jacques Kallis (@jacqueskallis75) April 25, 2016
With over 700 retweets and having read some comments on the tweet and across Facebook, it is clear that his statement has a lot of support (I would say predominantly amongst white people, although not exclusively).
What saddens me with this tweet was his line of “no place for politics in sport” (and the fact that he clearly doesn’t understand Twitter hashtags, but we’ll leave that one for the grandma police!) which suggests that the games we play are bigger than the lives we lead.
Was Mbalula’s statement, on the eve of local elections, a political statement made to win votes (the timing is certainly interesting and there are not too many major international tournaments that we haven’t hosted already happening soon)? Or was it another valid attempt to help us as a nation move forwards with a bid to see equity for all?
It’s not as if this is an out-of-the-blue sideswipe either. According to a cricinfo article by Firdose Moonda:
Cricket is one of a “big five” of South African sporting federations that signed a memorandum of understanding with the sports ministry last May underlining a five-year strategic plan and commitment to change.
She also quotes former CSA acting president Willie Basson as saying, “The projections (for demographic representation) stretch into 2030 and 2040. We cannot have that”.
The truth is that a lot of work has been done in the various sporting codes at grassroots level and talented players are appearing. They are representing the country at their various age group levels. But then there is a mysterious void that seems to happen around provincial and then national level and this is what is needing to be addressed now. And the gauntlet has been thrown down, with rugby, athletics, and netball all facing the same.
A lot of the backlash is coming from largely white or unaffected people. To really understand how people feel it might be helpful to chat to people who currently are in a more underprivileged context and see what they think of the news.
What was your reaction? How do you think South Africa is doing when it comes to transformation in sport? Please weigh in in the comments section below.