Politics and sport : The controversy of quotas in South African sport
...t created nor practised in a social vacuum. International and national power struggles are fought through and in sport. The legacy of Apartheid and the political orchestrated boycotts and riots to not to ‘have normal sport in an abnormal society’, contributed to the termination of Apartheid in sport, but also to the dominantly white Apartheid Regime. Post-Apartheid sport took root in the early 1990s and the ANC Government set themselves the task of redressing the inequalities in sport. One of the main strategies to do so was the implementation of the quota system. In 1997 the newly-established National Sports Council (the NSC), passed a resolution that forced all national sports federations to implement a 40 percent quota from disadvantaged communities. The document policy stated clearly that there was a need to affirm blacks, women, the disabled and the rural communities in sport. This was to be implemented at all levels of sport participation. The KZN Cricket Union’s quota system for instance required that there should always be four players of colour in the senior provincial team and a total of six players of colour in the 12 players selected for the provincial B team. Provincial teams were penalized if they did not adhere to the quota. During the Unibank Provincial tournament in 2000, the netball team of Western Province was place third after they came first in their pool on the grounds that they did not have the required quota of players of colour in their team. Even at school level, the United School Sport Association of South Africa (Ussasa), introduced a policy document on sport development and quotas for all 25 sports codes. As 38% of all sports participants are at school it became a priority to introduce and develop sport at the 22 000 schools who have no organized sport. Again quotas were introduced to ‘develop players of colour’ and T-shirt development initiatives were critisized. Yet, Rome was not build in a day – development in sport takes time and as Chester Williams stated: “All young players are developing” and need to be nurtured as potential sport people. It seems to be the turning of the tables – from Apartheid and discrimination to quotas and reverse discrimination. The biggest controversy of this debate relates to our national teams where apart from a quota of players, also selectors and prominent decision-makers are ...