Politics.za: When Being Coloured Is Not Black Enough

When Being Coloured Is Not Black Enough

Farrel — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 16:27:00 -0400

One of the ramifications of the current governments perpetuation of race based policies is that we inevitably arrive at a situation where someone, somewhere has to make decisions over who is black enough or who is too white. As has become apparent, there are those in government who no longer consider the coloured population of South Africa to be black enough. That seems to have spread outside of government as well into sport. According to South African Rugby Union Deputy President Mike Stofile coloured players should not be included in racial quotas:

Seven black players in the Springbok starting line-up for the 2011 World Cup are not enough, says South African Rugby Union (Saru) Deputy President Mike Stofile.

And the term “black” should not include coloured players, as that could limit the number of opportunities for players of colour.

Stofile was responding to a weekend newspaper report that quoted Saru President Oregan Hoskins as saying that there should be a target of selecting seven black players in the Bok starting team for the next World Cup in 2011.

That Mike Stofile is the the brother of Sports and Recreations Minister Makhenkesi Stofile might not be that big a surprise.

Update: And how’s this for more race based sports madness. At the SA Netball Interprovincial Championships teams must field a team with an exact black to white ratio of 5:2 and if they do not they get docked points. But this also applies if a team has too few whites, such as the team from Zululand which is composed entirely of black players. All their opponents get a 6 point head start. At least they’re applying the rules evenly but it’s still madness!

"When Being Coloured Is Not Black Enough" by Benjammin

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 10:11:54 -0400

Its all political cover for doing nothing at the sports development level. If you wanted rugny transformation by 2011 you would need to to look to the 14+ year old youth right now and fund and implement a development programs. Practically that is very difficult to do so why not do nothing (much cheaper) and just legislate that the coach needs to pick 50/50. Great team photos and who really cares about the rugby.

The terrible thing is what this does to the players who will never know if they are being(/or not being) picked for their colour or their talent.

"When Being Coloured Is Not Black Enough" by Dean

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 14:35:01 -0400

Transformation . . . the buzzword for racist appointments. What’s the end game? Black domination of every sphere of South African society? I doubt we’ll see some ‘transformation’ of the traditional African leaderships. Are there policies to ensure that all African groups are fairly represented, i.e. Xhosas don’t get more than their fair share?

"When Being Coloured Is Not Black Enough" by hex

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 09:08:30 -0400

How about the really good white and coloured players who are left on the sidelines because of their racial percentages not measuring up? Why, they could go and play for overseas teams. The good news for everybody is that they could end up by coming back to South Africa to play against the Springboks, so it’s a win-win situation: you can cheer for both teams! (With apologies to John Scott, from whose column I filched this.)

"When Being Coloured Is Not Black Enough" by Farrel

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 03:25:54 -0400

That’s true. I’m pretty sure the breakdown of the total number of rugby players in SA is not split on the same colour boundaries as general population. Which is why the focus on transformation at the highest level (Springboks) is close to worthless and why the number of black players has not increased dramatically without there being just as big a push at the school and club level.

"When Being Coloured Is Not Black Enough" by frank cobain

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 03:18:22 -0400

My problem with quotas in anything is that the pool of potential selectable persons is not necessarily representative of the population as a whole. Thus try as you might, you will not obtain a representative team for, as an example, jukskei.