Why swimming, hockey may lose State funding
Swimming and hockey face losing government funding if they cannot explain to sport minister Nathi Mthethwa by the end of the week why they missed their transformation targets.
The minister said he was taking action after an Eminent Persons Group scorecard showed that both federations had scored less than 50% on their self-set transformation targets.
“They now have an obligation of making a representation as to why the minister should not impose one or more of the enforcement measures.”
Punitive measures‚ according to the ministry‚ included withdrawal or suspension of government funding.
Others are revoking their right to host international tournaments, withdrawing their right to award national colours and withdrawing their recognition as national federations.
The ministry said Mthethwa was meeting with individual federations to engage on the Eminent Persons Group report findings. Nine of the 18 sports bodies audited by the Eminent Persons Group failed their transformation tests.
Like swimming and hockey‚ athletics‚ rowing‚ amateur boxing‚ bowls‚ chess‚ volleyball and jukskei all scored less than 50%.
The big three — soccer‚ cricket and rugby — beat the 50% yardstick‚ but Mthethwa pointed out cricket had received only “conditional approval” because they had fared “poorly on African representation”.
“However, they did achieve 70% of their self-set barometer targets‚ which is higher than the 50% required to avoid penalty imposition‚” he said.
“By the end of the week‚ these three federations are required to give a convincing motivation as to why the minister should not consider enforcing transformation‚ as per the above penalties.”
The statement didn’t say when Mthethwa would meet officials from the other federations.