Sports quotas case judgment is reserved

Judgment was reserved in the emotive transformation Labour Court case between trade union Solidarity and the Department of Sports & Recreation.

Solidarity and AfriForum‚ launched an application to have the department’s transformation charter set aside on the basis that it was underpinned by unfair racial discrimination.

The department was one of six respondents that also included Cricket South Africa‚ Netball South Africa‚ the South African Rugby Union‚ Athletics South Africa and the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee.

The sporting federations were represented by advocate Norman Arendse while Solidarity was represented by advocate Greta Engelbrecht.

Engelbrecht argued to Labour Court Judge Zolashe Lallie that quotas‚ which are seen to be a direct by-product of the transformation charter‚ stop the advancement of people not categorised as black or African.

Engelbrecht also said aggrieved sports persons who don’t have the requisite recourse from a trade union perspective don’t have legal recourse to fight quotas as they are at risk of being victimised.

“The fact (is) Springbok captain Siya Kolisi bemoans the fact that quotas hang like a placard over his neck.

“The fact that we read about Ashwin Willemse complaining about the fact that he was always termed as a quota player.

“Breyton Paulse and Errol Tobias have complained about the impact of being called a quota player.”

Arendse said Solidarity didn’t have any representation from an employment perspective in the sports federations he was representing and therefore the matter shouldn’t have been heard in the labour court because the due mediation and conciliation procedures that form part of a labour dispute process were not followed.

The public needed answers on whether quotas are right or wrong

Dirk Hermann

Chief executive officer of trade union Solidarity

Arendse also applied for the application to be dismissed with costs for the respondents while he said some of the federations he represented did not have Solidarity trade union members.

Solidarity’s chief executive officer Dirk Hermann said they were happy with the proceedings but “the South African public needed answers on whether quotas are right or wrong and we didn’t even argue that”.

The department of sport said their door will remain opening for negotiation with Solidarity.