Question NW1152 to the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture
28 October 2019 - NW1152
Mhlongo, Mr TW to ask the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture
(1) Whether, with reference to the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) on Transformation in Sport, (a) he has found that the transformation measurement tool utilized by the EPG is working after six years in use; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details; (2)(a) On what basis did the EPG set a 50% mark for transformation targets, (b) why are the set targets not being reached by other sports federations, (c) what steps does he intend to take with regard to sports federations that fail to achieve the targets, (d) does he intend to withdraw government funding and/or revoke the rights to bid for international tournaments of sports federations that fail to meet the set transformation target of 50% and (e) what plans are in place to deal with federations that reject or resist transformation?
Reply:
(1) In 1994 South African sport was demographically untransformed, a situation that remained unchanged for 17 years because of the absence of policy guidelines. This changed in 2011 with the introduction of the Transformation Charter based on the achievement pre-set, one-size-fits -all federation targets guiding the sport system towards the common objective of an ‘Accessible, Equitable, Sustainable, Demographically Representative and Competitive sport system’.
The implementation of a measurement system from 2011 to 2015 to measure, monitor and report on transformational change in eighteen defined Charter categories from 2011 to 2015, institutionalised the process in most audited federations. In the process an awareness and understanding of the major factors impacting rate and extent of transformation was developed and the validity of the adopted tool proven.
Identification and deeper understanding of the transformation process led to the introduction of the penalty based ‘Barometer’ process in 2015/16 focused on adding to and improving on the initial one-size fit-all target approach. In the Barometer process a federation sets and project forward (10 years) its ‘own’ targets as informed by its own unique circumstances with respect to, among other, its current structural demographic profiles and resource (human capacity, facilities, equipment and finance) situation.
(2) The substantial number of barometer categories in which performance are measured resulted in a 50% pass mark being decided upon as an initial benchmark to measure transformation progress (or lack thereof) on an annual basis.
Most federations are struggling to come to terms with the challenge of projecting forward meaningful transformation targets against the background of the major impacting factors influencing rate and extent of transformation as defined. These factors effect different codes differently and include the impact of population demographic change, a dysfunctional school sport system, inequality of opportunity and the impact of poverty and inequality on equitable access.
More than half of federations have achieved their self-set targets whilst the other half, particularly those with the predominantly White demographics, is making satisfactory progress (some against great odds).
Based on the insight and understanding developed to date all federations have just completed a review of their forward projected targets to 2030 and based on this imposition of penalties for non-achievement of targets will be rigorously pursued in 2019. These penalties will include the withdrawal of government funding and/or revoking of the right to bid for or host international tournaments as per the MoU with SRSA and SASCOC.
Of the 19 federations being audited everyone has advanced to the stage where there is excellent understanding and appreciation for the need for change from a strategic perspective - longer term sustainability and competitiveness. This is a momentous change in prevailing attitudes from 1994 to 2015.