Government should face scrutiny at SJN

THE Social Justice and Nation-building project heads into another week of testimony that could conclude with a perspective from the government, in the shape of Sports, Arts and Culture Minister, Nathi Mthethwa.

The SJN was still awaiting confirmation from Mthethwa’s office that he would be present on Friday, to provide testimony on what for now would be the last day of hearings.

Before Mthethwa arrives, the SJN will hear from, among others, Ashwell Prince, Geoffrey Toyana and the former Cricket SA chief executive Thabang Moroe. Cricket SA and the SA Cricketers Association are also due to testify, although that is still to be confirmed.

The last week focused on club and provincial problems, with two main themes emerging.

The first was that the turmoil that engulfed Cricket SA’s administration in the last few years, had seen the national mother body take its eye off issues in the provinces, with the likes of Loots Bosman (Northern Cape), Dr Oupa Nkagiseng (North West) and Nash Degambur (Easterns) outlining how CSA either ignored, or in the case of Easterns, sought to manipulate provincial problems to further the ambitions of some administrators.

The other theme to emerge was the creation and maintenance of facilities – highlighted by officials from clubs or those working within Cricket SA’s development pipeline.

Whether based in Gauteng, North West, the Eastern or Western Cape, it was repeated in many testimonies – facilities are poorly maintained, which is a major hindrance in development and transformation of cricket.

While many participants pointed to CSA having to take responsibility, particularly in the oversight of how the organisation’s money for development is spent, there was also criticism of government.

The SJN ombudsman Adv. Dumisa Ntsebeza, put on record the critical role local government must play in sports development.

“It starts right at where the government starts, the lowest level of government, the government of the municipalities.”

It’s not only local government; the departments of education along with the sports department all have critical roles to play in how sport in South Africa is supposed to be transformed.

Various participants at the SJN last week used the Tech Sports Grounds in Lenasia as an example of how government has abdicated its responsibility when it comes to transformation.

Speaking on behalf of the Abu Asvat Institute for Nation Building, a board member, Ali Osmany, told the SJN that conditions at the Tech Grounds are worse than during apartheid.

“In the apartheid days we were well able to use those fields to play inter-provincial matches. Why then under a new government do we suffer the kind of degradation that we currently suffer? There should never have been a need for it,” Osmany said.

“It proves we’ve been let down, it proves that there is no seriousness on the part of the authorities to take the plight of sports people seriously enough and that then impacts quite negatively on nation building and social cohesion.”

Mthethwa should face scrutiny for the government's failures, especially in the maintenance of facilities. For nearly a decade sports ministers have received reports by the Eminent Persons Group which provides statistics on participation and infrastructure across different sporting codes.

Publicly the report causes a lot of bluster, because it was easy for Mthethwa and his predecessors to point to how many codes weren’t fulfilling their quota mandates. Various sports have been placed under scrutiny with threats of being sanctioned.

What gets little scrutiny is how government, and the Sports Ministry in particular, has failed continuously to ensure genuine transformation occurs.