Minister talks tough on sports bodies, but stars still in limbo
● With half the audited sports bodies failing the latest annual transformation test, sports, arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa has proposed a law for defaulters to be dealt with.
The Eminent Persons Group (EPG) report for 2018, released on Friday, showed that nine of 18 audited federations failed to meet their self-set transformation targets.
SA’s three top Olympic sports, athletics, swimming and rowing, were among the codes scoring less than 50%, along with hockey, amateur boxing, bowls, chess, volleyball and jukskei.
The nation’s big three — soccer, cricket and rugby — scored 50% or better, along with tennis, netball, gymnastics, baseball, softball and table tennis.
“Minister Mthethwa ... went as far as proposing an investigation on the enforcement mechanism including the possibility of using legislative instruments to ensure that all the transformation objectives are realised,” the department said in a statement.
Canoeing declares dispute with Sascoc
The charter that established the EPG already allows for punitive measures against federations falling short, with penalties including withdrawal of government funding or prohibition from international competition.
While the minister contemplates these laws, his ministry’s regulations for sport on alert level 3, despite being announced last Saturday, had yet to be gazetted by Friday.
As a result, many professional sports stars had been left high and dry as they waited for the green light to resume training.
The ministry also highlighted poor governance in its press statement.
“The minister raised his concern on the leadership and governance matters that have consistently undermined the development and transformation of sport in the country.”
In the latest battle in sport’s mahogany row, Canoeing SA has declared a dispute with the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).
The Sascoc board rejected canoeing’s call for a special general meeting aimed at ousting the executive. Canoeing alleged the board acted deviously handling the matter.