SPORT TRANSFORMATION MECHANISM AFTER
TWENTY YEARS OF SOUTH AFRICAN DEMOCRACY
SIYABULELA MKWALO
SUPERVISOR : PROF. JOHAN VAN HEERDEN
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Background & Motivation
• South Africa is recovering from an era where sport was
organised, administered and played separately
according to racial groups which was supported by then
apartheid laws and policies.
• Such segregated practices were biased towards white
minority that were the only ones who were recognised
for their sporting achievements and allowed to
participate internationally.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Background & Motivation
• The white monopoly took charge for a number of
decades before the dawn of democracy in South Africa.
• Africans were neglected and deprived of opportunities to
participate competitively in sport through the application
of the oppressive laws.
• The born of a democratic government in 1994 changed
the political landscape that brought about changes
aimed at promoting equity, reconciliation, unity in
diversity and redressing imbalances of the past
administration.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Background & Motivation
• Part of the redress struggle was for the democratic
government to bring about positive changes that created
equal participation platform for everyone through the
introduction of new policies.
• Four ministers appointed over the past twenty years of
democracy to champion Sport and Recreation South
Africa have tried different strategies to strike parity on
and off the playing field which yielded little
transformation results so far.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Background & Motivation
• Transformation initiatives in sport has proven to be
mostly ineffectual over the past twenty years. Over
simplistic and ‘quick fix’ strategies focused on bringing
about demographic change only at the highest
representative levels (Pilot Evaluation [Rugby, Cricket,
Netball, Athletics, Football], 2013).
• Since democracy in 1994 South Africa still have a
sporting environment where there is a skewed picture of
sporting facilities and opportunities (National Sport and
Recreation Plan, 2012).
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Background & Motivation
• The strategic imperative and moral motivation for the
importance and necessity for a structured transformation
of all components of the South African sports sector in
the interest of the country’s long term future is often
neglected and not sufficiently emphasised (White Paper,
2012).
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Review of the Literature
• Transformation in South Africa is a national concern as it
affects all industries across the country.
• Challenges associated with the apartheid period have
not yet been adequately address for the benefit of black
majority.
• Bhana (2008) states that sport occupies a most
significant place in South Africa and is often viewed as a
national religion.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Review of the Literature
• Burnett (2002) states that inequalities of South African
sporting practices are contextualised when one takes
into consideration the lack of resources, class
inequalities, ethnocentric backgrounds and political
controversies.
• The study is supported by Durrheim and Dixon (2004)
who have established that in South Africa there is socioeconomic exclusion of a large percentage of the black
population, who remain trapped by poverty, live in
undesirable living spaces and have inferior-quality
schools.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Review of the Literature
• Goslin (2002) states that change brings hope, but it also
brings tension, fears and challenging new socioeconomic conditions and opportunities.
• Davis et al. (2005) suggest that in an unequal society
certain groups find it difficult to play a full part in sport,
especially where that society is ranked according to
status.
• Fundamental inequalities must be addressed and
reduced so that black players can compete at a higher
level (Toit et al. 2012).
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Review of the Literature
• Durrheim and Dixon (2010) suggest that the mixed
pattern of racial interaction is matched by ambivalent
attitudes toward social contact and change.
• Black people most strongly favour policies directed at
transformation and integration; whites, on the other
hand, are most opposed to policies such as land
redistribution, affirmative action and racial quotas in
sports teams (Rajput, 2012).
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Review of the Literature
• Organs of society such as the state and sport
organisations need to work together in order to eradicate
imbalances caused by the past (Hoskins, 2014).
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Project/Research Aim
• To introduce feasible model for sport transformation in
South Africa that strategically deals with issues of
access, equality, equity, excellence, organisational
culture and good corporate governance based on
empirical data.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Objectives
• To make sport transformation ordeal become a reality
after twenty years of democracy in South Africa.
•
To establish mechanism that will facilitate
transformation of sport in the country.
• To determine factors that impedes the transformation
process from happening at an optimum scale.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Research Design/Methodology
• This study will be a cross-sectional survey, and intends
to obtain information about suitable mechanisms for the
transformation of sport in the country.
• Data to be generated from different sets of participants
will be sourced from National federations, municipalities
and schools.
• The results will be used to develop an assessment tool
for measuring the effectiveness of sport transformation in
various settings.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Ethical Considerations
• I am very much aware of the responsibility to be sensitive and
respectful of research participants and their basic human
rights.
• The study will endorse the Ethical Code of the University of
KwaZulu Natal and undergo ethics review and approval prior
to data collection.
• The study will take place with gate-keepers permission,
participant informed consent and incorporate the principles
of privacy, confidentiality and anonymity.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Novelty/Innovation
• The study is expected to produce suggestions for
policies that will lead to collective implementation of
transformation by all stakeholders in the country.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Working Bibliography
• Bhana, D. (2008). “Six packs and big muscles, and stuff
like that”. Primary school‐aged South African boys, black
1 and white, on sport. British Journal of Sociology of
Education, 29(1), 3–14.
doi:10.1080/01425690701728654.
• Burnett, C. (2002). Globalisation and inequalities in a
third world sport context. African Journal of Physical,
Health Education, Recreation and Dance, 8(1), 176-188.
• Davis, B., Roscoe, J., Roscoe, D., & Bull, R. (2005).
Physical education and the study of sport (5th ed.).
Arizona: Wolfe Publishing Ltd.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Working Bibliography
• Durrheim, K., & Dixon, J. A. (2004). Attitudes in the fiber
of everyday life: The discourse of racial evaluation and
the lived experience of desegregation. American
Psychologist, 59, 626 – 636.
• Durrheim, K., & Dixon, J. (2010). Racial Contact and
Change in South Africa. Journal of Social Issues, 66(2),
273-288.
• Goslin, A. (2002). Challenges for sport-for-all under the
socio-economic conditions of South Africa. African
Journal fro Physical, Health Education, Recreation and
Dance, 8(1), 161-175.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Working Bibliography
• Hoskins, O. (2014). The Glass ceiling in Rugby: Tackling
the advantage line. Unpublished MBA thesis. University
of Cape Town.
• National Sport and Recreation Plan (2012). Sport and
Recreation South Africa, Government Printers.
• Pilot Evaluation (Rugby, Cricket, Netball, Athletics and
Football) – A transformation status report (2013). Sport
and Recreation South Africa, Government Printers.
• Rajput, D. I. (2012). Achieving sporting excellence in a
transforming society. Unpublished PhD Dissertation,
University of KwaZulu Natal.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS
Working Bibliography
• The White Paper for Sport and Recreation for the
Republic of South Africa (2012). Sport and Recreation
South Africa, Government Printers.
• Toit, J., Durandt, J., Joshua, J., Masimla, H., & Lambert,
M. (2012). Playing time between senior rugby players of
different ethnic groups across all levels of South African
rugby , 2007- 2011, 24(3), 2007–2011.
doi:10.7196/SAJSM.327.
UKZN INSPIRING GREATNESS