Racial transformation has been a long standing buzzword within the South African rugby community. Recently, Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu made statements regarding the racial makeup of the Springbok team and that it is “too white”.
To further complicate matters, South African Minister of Sports and Recreation Fikile Mbalula has been inconsistent in the message he has been sending out to the general public as well as sporting organizations.
In November 2011 he said “Quotas in sport have actually been exhausted and have generally been counter-productive.” He repeated these same comments in 2014, so you can imagine the confusion in sporting circles with his latest comments. He went as far as to say he would like to enforce a 60/40 black to white split. Rugby was once again on his agenda….
I am a firm believer in sporting and social development, upliftment of communities and the equalization of opportunities, but I also believe that this should be driven from the bottom up and not the top down. Top down transformation is to the advantage of individuals and not the greater population. This is a tired subject in South Africa, but it is worth repeating that including a player in any National or Franchise team before they are ready to do so is unfair on the player as well as the paying public. I firmly believe that true transformation is only achieved when players are selected purely due to the weight of their performances and for no other reason.
It would be pointless to regurgitate what has been covered so many times before so I thought I would take a slightly different look at this touchy subject and rather take a look at Mr Mbablula himself to see what makes him tick, as well as to consider my own interpretation as to what exactly transformation is.
The first point I considered is the inconsistent message he is sending out to all sporting codes regarding the effectiveness of quotas. Does he believe in them himself or doesn’t he? By firstly concluding that they are counterproductive and then demanding more stringent quota targets leaves everyone with questions regarding what they are supposed to do, as well as what the Minister’s next move is going to be.
Secondly, Mr Mbalula is well known in South African media circles as Mr. Razzmatazz as he loves a big show and decent party. The South African Sports Awards, presented by the Ministry of Sports and Recreation, came with a hefty price tag of R65million, of which only about R4million was used as prize money. The rest was used for lavish ceremonies at the Sun City SuperBowl and accommodation at the Lost City. The cheapest room at The Palace is R4342… I can only assume that the good minister stayed in the King Suite at R44 224 per person per night. See this in the context of many South African sportsmen and women have to mostly pay their own way to compete in international events. One can only wonder what R65million could have been used for to develop youngsters at a grass roots level…
I reckon that the Minister is a little off the mark in how he interprets transformation and how to achieve this. As stated earlier, when it comes to transformation I firmly believe that sport should be open to all that chose to participate. Yes, the Boardroom’s of South Africa’s sporting institutions will be exposed to forced transformation. This will be addressed via Employment Equity legislation and does not need the good Minister’s intervention. Forcing numbers in National teams does not equal transformation. I believe the answer is to be found in places that the Sport’s Ministry is possibly not considering.
Has he contemplated the changing audience? Television viewership figures show that the game of rugby has grown across all racial profiles in South Africa. Simply taking a look at interactions on social media will show that there is involvement from people from varied backgrounds and races, which is surely what we want?
To bring my final point home, I offer up a personal experience… In the early 1990’s, I played a game for a racially integrated club against Despatch Rugby Club on their home ground in the Eastern Province region of South Africa. After the game the European (white) players were invited to join them at their clubhouse for a drink after the game, but we were advised that the “non-white” members were not invited. Shocking to say the least and the invite was declined. 20 years later, Despatch won the 2013 Cell C Community Cup, a national amateur club rugby championship. The significance of this was that Despatch was captained by Elroy Ligman, a man who would be racially profiled as “coloured” in South Africa….. The make-up of the team was racially diverse.
That, dear reader, is what true transformation is all about. It is not about a number in a National squad… it is about the social change, but will the populist politicians ever realize that?
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