SA sport transforming – Minister

AN EAGERLY-AWAITED report on transformation in sport in South Africa showed that empowerment was taking place in differing sporting codes in South Africa, Sport and Recreation Minister Tokozile Xasa said yesterda

“At a governance and decision-making level, the report shows that more than half, 60 percent of federations audited have elected black presidents into position, whereas almost 70 percent have reported the election of boards that are more than 50 percent black,” Xasa told journalists at a media briefing shortly after officially receiving the 2018 Transformation in Sport report compiled by the Eminent Persons Group (EPG).

“Women representation at board level has also been shown to be improving in that seven out of 19 federations have reported female representation at board level, larger than prescribed by the [Transformation] Charter.”

On demographic representation, Xasa said national senior male teams of athletics, cricket, football, volleyball, boxing and table tennis have all achieved the Charter target with netball, chess, gymnastics, hockey and rugby “moving in the right direction to achieve this interim milestone”.

“Year on year change in the black demographic profile of senior representative teams demonstrates the progress made over a short period. Cricket’s percentage black profile has improved from 45 to 60 percent, rugby has moved from 34 to 42 percent, and netball from 37 to 56 percent,” she said.

- ANA