South African sports federations are only concerned about quick fixes.
Stellenbosch University sports professor Francois Cleophas says that this kind of mentality has lead to corruption, racism, and nepotism within several of South Africa’s sporting codes.
His comments come as the Social Justice and Nation Building (SJN) hearings found that director of cricket, Graeme Smith had appointed Mark Boucher as head coach without being interviewed.
The report also found racism at various levels within Cricket SA.
Cleophas says sports federations have failed to look at the societal and systemic problems in the country, which play out on and off the field.
He says that the allure of international titles and money is distracting South Africa’s sporting codes from developing grassroots talent, which will prove more sustainable.
Cleophas contends that revelations about Smith, Boucher, and AB de Villiers are not an individual problem.
Meanwhile, Smith has disputed the accusations of racism contained in the report.
Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza headed up the hearings and found that Smith had “failed to rebut the presumption of unfair discrimination” in appointing former Test wicket keeper and long-time team-mate Boucher as head coach of the national team.
He was appointed ahead of Enoch Nkwe, a black coach who served briefly as national team director.
[Header image: NCR]
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