Cape Town — Minister of Sports, Arts, and Culture Gayton McKenzie has pledged to enhance access to and development of sports like rugby and cricket in underprivileged areas.
McKenzie was responding to a question by EFF MP Thapelo Mogale in Parliament regarding the sluggish pace of transformation in rugby and cricket, which Mogale felt did not accurately reflect South Africa’s demographics.
The minister said he wanted to focus on “equality of access” for people from different backgrounds to qualify for national teams, TimesLIVE reported.
“There has been an overemphasis over the years focusing on what I might call ‘equality of outcome’ when it comes to transformation in sport, meaning our society tends to look at the demographic profile of people who succeed in the upper and professional levels of sport, but by then it is already too late,” the report quoted him McKenzie as saying.
He said that equality of access means young people should participate in sports from an early age. He compared football and cricket as two sports that require different resources for a sportsperson to succeed.
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Mckenzie also highlighted the disparity in accessibility between soccer and cricket, noting that while soccer only requires a ball and a patch of ground, cricket demands more equipment, which limits opportunities for many.
He mentioned that his department is working on increasing sporting facilities near schools to improve participation rates, which are currently low.
The department is also assessing transformation targets set by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and other federations based on various criteria, with a focus on enhancing cricket opportunities through expanded leagues and programs like KFC mini-cricket.
According to IOL, McKenzie recently approached the Basic Education Department to revive school sports programmes and said he would change the approach to do so, otherwise, the results would stay the same.
He said “equality of access remained the biggest challenge.
McKenzie said his department has attempted the implementation of a School Sports Programme in partnership with the Department of Basic Education through a memorandum of understanding (MoU).
“However, this MoU expired last year, in May 2023, and underwent a review, which culminated in the hosting of a national school sport indaba. It was clear at the indaba that there has been little to no progress in establishing sustainable school sports leagues in less-privileged communities, which constitutes the vast majority of where our children are affected,” he said,
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
