Transform NOW! Or No Olympics!

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KillerX

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Gert Coetzee, Die Volksblad


Cape Town - South African sports codes that do not have at least a 50-50 black-white ratio may not be able to send teams to the 2008 Olympic Games.

This emerged from a meeting between members of the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) and the parliamentary sports portfolio committee here on Tuesday.

It was clear that sports bodies that do not field demographically representative teams will endanger their participation at the Games and other international events.

Sascoc, who has the last say in the selection of Olympic teams, told the sports committee that it had conveyed a tough message to non-transforming sports federations.

"We told them that we would include their teams only if they have a 50-50 representation," Sascoc's manager of team preparation Khaya Majeke said.

"Some of them said they did not have black players. Our reply was that we do not care; they should go find them in the streets of Alexandra.

"Sascoc shall ensure representative demographics," Majeke said.

ANC parliamentarians in the committee had expressed concern about the composition (45 white and 28 black) of the SA elite squad for the Beijing Olympics, the deliberate impairment of disadvantaged participants and selective sponsorships of already advantaged sports codes.

New sports law in August?


Committee chairperson Butana Komphela said "lilywhite" SA sports teams now touring abroad were the last ones to do so before the news sports law was to be promulgated (probably in August).

Asked about his statement to the committee, Majeke said he had referred to the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

"The first step in (finalising) our team selection criteria will be the signing of an agreement by the presidents of the sports federations, if they agree."

ANC MP Cedric Frolick insisted that Majeke should name the sports codes that were not doing what was expected of them.

Majeke replied: "It is clear that a sport such as hockey may follow that route. Remember what happened at the previous Olympic Games. It concerns the men's and women's teams."

Qualification did not necessarily mean selection


Asked about it later he said he had referred to 2000 when the SA men's hockey team qualified for the Games but was not selected to participate. He said hockey was now doing what was expected of it.

During the committee session Majeke and Hajera Kajee, vice-president of Sascoc, said qualification did not necessarily mean selection for a Games event.

Kajee said it was not about qualifying but about how someone qualified. "An athlete could come from an advantaged family, with parents who have money, or from a disadvantaged one without it. Everything has to be weighed up."

Hockey SA president Dave Carr said according to its transformation strategy hockey was aiming at a 50-50 representation by 2010.

"For team selections in which we do not have a say, such as for the Olympic, Commonwealth or Africa Games, we have already agreed to a 50-50 team selection," he said.
Click to expand...


Another PRRRRROUDLY South African Moment! Sometimes I think things in South Africa might work out - but then I read articles like this - and then quickly come to my senses.
 
'Transform now, or no Olympics'

'Transform now, or no Olympics'
19/06/2007 22:47 - (SA)

Gert Coetzee, Die Volksblad

Cape Town - South African sports codes that do not have at least a 50-50 black-white ratio may not be able to send teams to the 2008 Olympic Games.

This emerged from a meeting between members of the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) and the parliamentary sports portfolio committee here on Tuesday.

It was clear that sports bodies that do not field demographically representative teams will endanger their participation at the Games and other international events.

Sascoc, who has the last say in the selection of Olympic teams, told the sports committee that it had conveyed a tough message to non-transforming sports federations.

"We told them that we would include their teams only if they have a 50-50 representation," Sascoc's manager of team preparation Khaya Majeke said.

"Some of them said they did not have black players. Our reply was that we do not care; they should go find them in the streets of Alexandra.

"Sascoc shall ensure representative demographics," Majeke said.

ANC parliamentarians in the committee had expressed concern about the composition (45 white and 28 black) of the SA elite squad for the Beijing Olympics, the deliberate impairment of disadvantaged participants and selective sponsorships of already advantaged sports codes.

New sports law in August?

Committee chairperson Butana Komphela said "lilywhite" SA sports teams now touring abroad were the last ones to do so before the news sports law was to be promulgated (probably in August).

Asked about his statement to the committee, Majeke said he had referred to the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

"The first step in (finalising) our team selection criteria will be the signing of an agreement by the presidents of the sports federations, if they agree."

ANC MP Cedric Frolick insisted that Majeke should name the sports codes that were not doing what was expected of them.

Majeke replied: "It is clear that a sport such as hockey may follow that route. Remember what happened at the previous Olympic Games. It concerns the men's and women's teams."

Qualification did not necessarily mean selection

Asked about it later he said he had referred to 2000 when the SA men's hockey team qualified for the Games but was not selected to participate. He said hockey was now doing what was expected of it.

During the committee session Majeke and Hajera Kajee, vice-president of Sascoc, said qualification did not necessarily mean selection for a Games event.

Kajee said it was not about qualifying but about how someone qualified. "An athlete could come from an advantaged family, with parents who have money, or from a disadvantaged one without it. Everything has to be weighed up."

Hockey SA president Dave Carr said according to its transformation strategy hockey was aiming at a 50-50 representation by 2010.

"For team selections in which we do not have a say, such as for the Olympic, Commonwealth or Africa Games, we have already agreed to a 50-50 team selection," he said.
Click to expand...

Hahahahaha.... So its not about the best athlete anymore? -aswell
 
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Its another brilliant move by the wonderful ANC government. I always wondered why I was not finishing 1st or 2nd in my 100M sprints but now it all makes sense, my parents bank account definately slow'd me down.
I wonder how you explain to an athlete why he is not going to represent his country when he has just WON a race.
Atleast we will be representing the countries demographic figures and thats all that counts!

I love government, they really never seem to amaze me with their fantastic decisions. Its easy, put a KFC barrel at the finish line and your "people" will win the race and you can send them to the olympics FAIR AND SQUARE!

Peace!
 
So this is about the "Special Olympics " then ?? .... because they must be mentally challenged to say those things ..:cool:
 
lol,

There we go again, South Africa is probably already the laughing stock of the world.
while all our good athletes goes to other countries where your merits actually counts.

I jsut wonder when they are going to start refusing passports to educated, sports and professional citizens.

Regards
 
You have to wonder what will happen for the teams that have 60% black members? Anyways, with the rate white sportmen are leaving SA, we may not be able to meet the 50% white requirement.
 
I don't think the special olympics is included here, our star athlete "Mr. Mbeki" has a busy schedule apparently, he aint in the country long enough to get to all the qualifiers.
 
nM3 said:
I don't think the special olympics is included here, our star athlete "Mr. Mbeki" has a busy schedule apparently, he aint in the country long enough to get to all the qualifiers.
Click to expand...

He is our star dodgeball athlete. He gets plenty of practice:
DUCKING the question,
JUMPING to conclusions,
DODGING the facts,
AVOIDING the law and
EVADING the opposition.
 
OK, back to reality.

Consider:

You are a great athlete - let us say tennis player. Not the best in SA, but certainly good enough to be in the Olympics. However, we have only two slots open and yours is given to someone way down the ladder ,because that person is the correct race.

What do you do? Give up your hope of being in the Olympics? Of course not - you emmigrate.

Brilliant plan there from the ANC - kick out the better people so the losers can remain.
 
I also wonder if we will be able to have a soccer team playing at our own 2010 at this rate?
 
It's really a case of making things look good on the surface instead of delving into the problem from the bottom up.

The minor sports get no funding from government so how do they expect the sport to develop talented players. People pay to play for clubs which most people cannot afford. Then national players pay for their trips to participate in international events as government refuses to fund them.

This next Olympics will not be good to watch if you're a SA fan.
 
What a joke.

Actually the Olympics might be worth watching for comedy value if we have teams comprised of 50% players selected from the streets of Alex for something like say, rowing.


"Some of them said they did not have black players. Our reply was that we do not care; they should go find them in the streets of Alexandra."

Do the people who make these statements actually engage brain before opening their mouths?
 
KillerX said:
The soccer team is like 90% black. So it doesnt matter - they wont adjust anything there.
Click to expand...

They did say 50/50 though. Not that double standards means anything to the ANC.

(For the record, I am no sports fan and would not be able to pick a Bafana player out of a line-up, so cannot comment on the 90%).
 
it is not like we win any medals anyway (except sometimes in swimming). who cares ?
 
telkomsuig said:
it is not like we win any medals anyway (except sometimes in swimming). who cares ?
Click to expand...

I am sure it matters to the people who will be sidelined due to race issues.
Just because we don't win, does not mean we should not play the game.
 
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