PRETORIA, May (ANA) – 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 on Monday
“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, hockey from 20 to 45 percent, whereas rugby has moved from 34 to 42 percent, and netball from 37 to 56 percent,” she said.
“The detailed report released today [Monday] shows that transformation, as measured in terms of the five dimensions of the Transformation Charter, is taking place, proving once again the value of Hewlett Packard’s adage ‘that only those things that get measured get done’.”
SA Rugby on Monday welcomed the successful achievement of its targets in the latest EPG report.
Rugby showed a 17 percent improvement to achieve 60 percent of the targets agreed with the sport and recreation South Africa (SRSA) department and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC). The EPG sets a minimum target of 50 percent achievement as the measure of successful compliance.
“Rugby is succeeding in the transformation process and we’re pleased with the outcomes of the EPG report,” said Jurie Roux, chief executive of SA Rugby.
“We’re proud of the fact that rugby was the top performing federation from the five sports that were part of the pilot project in terms of transformation – we have worked hard to achieve our targets. We remain on track to deliver on our five-year Strategic Transformation Plan (STP), which we launched in 2015.
“Rugby in South Africa needs to continue transforming if it is to survive in our nation’s changing demographic landscape, as the report highlights. It is a business imperative for rugby as well as a high-performance opportunity to access untapped talent.
“Our process is well mapped out and transparent. We know where we have to improve, but we remain confident of delivering on the agreed targets by the end of next year.”
Roux said the report highlighted that the greatest challenge to South African sports federations – rugby included – was the state of school sport.
“The report notes that only eight percent of learners in South Africa’s 25,000 public schools have any kind of access to sport. Of that eight percent only a smaller proportion will have access to or play rugby,” said Roux.
“Meeting targets and unlocking potential will remain a challenge as long as that statistic remains unchanged. As the report says: ‘Sport federations, whose lifeblood is structured sport participation at school level, rely on the support and cooperation of teachers, principals and parent bodies to organise and deliver sport at school because they simply do not have the resources to do so themselves, nor do they have any jurisdiction in the 25 000 schools in the country’.”
Roux said SA Rugby noted the findings in relation to The Transformation Charter, adopted at a sports indaba in 2011.
“We have noted our performance against the Charter measurements but as the EPG notes it is a ‘one-size-fits-all’ document and the MOU ‘is a fairer and more accountable transformation measurement instrument’.
“The Charter will remain on our landscape but we are a performance-driven organisation and the targets in the MOU, driven by our unique circumstances, resources and the long-term view will continue to be our roadmap.”
- African News Agency (ANA)
