The Need for Radical Transformation in University Sport

It has been over two decades into democracy and the end of the apartheid era in 1994 when the country held its first ever democratic elections. The past era characterised by numerous discriminatory laws and practices based on race whose effect continues to burden our society today creating the ever standing need for debates like this.

Among other sectors in the South African society, sport and recreation was not excluded from the scourge of legalised, Institutionalised and non-institutionalised racial practices. The vast majority of Blacks (i.e. African, Indian and Coloured people) did not have equal access to competitive or recreational sports opportunities at school or community levels hence the inadequate sport and recreational facilities. There was little or no investment into sports infrastructure, equipment, attire, development, talent identification and/or activities for previously disadvantaged population groups.

At the same time, and as a result of campaigns led by many progressive sports activists inspired by the wider struggles against the regime, apartheid South Africa was subject to international sporting sanctions which isolated the country and its White athletic establishment from international competition. Irrespective of these racial practices various sports organisations tirelessly fought for establishing a sports system free of discrimination and that would provide equal participation opportunities for all South Africans. In order for this to be achieved it became important for the struggles that athletes were pursuing within the athletic realm to be linked with those of the rest of society.

This was done through the dedicated leadership and work of organisations such as the South African Council on Sport (SACOS), the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SANROC), National Olympic Committee of South Africa (NOCSA) and the National Sports Council (NSC). This meant that the development of sports in general and sports administration in particular was a parallel one and one characterised by contradiction; a reflection of the South African society. On the one end there existed a sporting community whose environment was engineered to bolster the capabilities and competitiveness of talent, nurture and develop talent all of which takes place with no inhibitions of resources. The resources referred to here are not merely financial resources; these include the totality of support systems including coaching to create well rounded athletes.

In 1993, the NSC convened a “Vision for Sport” national sports conference. The NSC had been established to unify sports structures; develop a national sports policy and facilitate equitable development of sport in a democratic South Africa. The sports development pyramid or continuum of foundation, participation, performance and excellence phases was mooted at this conference. This approach as well as the outcomes of the conference was included in the democratic government’s first discussion paper on sport entitled “Getting the Nation to Play”. In this era the progressive forces were charged with the duty to craft a policy framework that was to facilitate inclusion and fight against oppression. The advent of democracy in 1994 ushered in significant changes to policies and legislation that impacted on all sectors of society and that addressed all aspects of political, socio-economic and human rights of people.

All the changes were driven by the democratic government’s goal of transforming South Africa into a free, just and equitable society that meets the needs of its people by creating a better life for all. The new democratic government of South Africa, under the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) as the ruling party, consolidated the efforts of the SACOS, SANROC and the NSC by building a democratic sports system that addressed the imbalances of the past. The process of consolidating and unifying the institutional make up of administrative structures South Africa was underway.

Given government’s understanding of the important socio-economic and developmental role of sport, this sector was identified as needing to be transformed to, amongst others, increase and ensure equitable access to all sporting opportunities; develop and build the sports economy; increase the social development impact of sport; harness and further develop the competitive abilities of South African sports persons to participate in international sports competitions and for the sector to reflect the demographics of the country.

In 1996 under the leadership of, Mr S.V. Tshwete a White Paper on sport and recreation was realised as the first official policy on sport and recreation since the establishment of this Ministry on 1 July 1994. Under the leadership of Mr B.M.N. Balfour Five years after the first White Paper on sport and recreation was released, it was revised and updated to take into account new Developments in the sport and recreation sector.

Later a Ministerial Task Team (MTT) was to investigate factors that negatively impact on South Africa’s performance in high performance sport at an international level. This initiative was partly motivated by the perception that South Africa had performed poorly at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Although the MTT was tasked with focusing on high performance or elite sport; its report and recommendations addressed improving the overall sports system in South Africa.

The Cabinet approval of the MTT findings towards the end of 2003 paved the way for the rationalisation of South African sport with a reduction of seven umbrella bodies to only two, namely a fully-fledged Department of Sport and Recreation to deal with mass participation and a non-governmental sports organisation to assume the coordinating responsibility for high performance sport. The former entities at a macro-level comprised the following:

Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA)
South African Sports Commission (SASC)
National Olympic Committee of South Africa (NOCSA)
Disability Sport South Africa (DISSA)
South African Commonwealth Games Association (SACGA)
South African Students Sports Union (SASSU)
United School Sports Association of South Africa (USSASA).

In 2004, the South African Sports Commission Act was repealed and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) was established.

In establishing a unified sport system by the establishment of the department of sport and recreation and the SASCOC, A sector in sport had also undergone a process of having one umbrella body, this sector in its nature had and still have majority of young people that participate in sport in institutions of higher learning.

The establishment of the South African Student Sports Union (SASSU) introduced an exciting new era in student sport at tertiary education institutions. The significance was that it unified two historical separate groupings within our society, i.e. students from historical Black and historical White institutions. It did so in a way that sought to harness the experience and expertise of both groupings in order to establish a new tradition, one that reflected the aspirations of all student sports persons guided by the historical mission of tertiary education institutions, being centres for the acquisition of life skills and the imparting of knowledge and research. SASSU was founded within this sector to promote sporting values and encourage sporting practice in harmony with, and complementary to, the academic character of tertiary education institutions.

The need to establish a unified tertiary sports structure that would eventually be responsible for the co-ordination of all tertiary sport in South Africa. It was envisaged that this body would act as a consultative and representative body for South African student sport, liaise with national and international bodies, and be responsible for the organisation of national tertiary tournaments and the selection of teams for participation in the activities of the International University Sports Federation (FISU). This body would also have the responsibility to address the needs and imbalances of students in tertiary sport through national and international development projects and activities.

A Tertiary Sports Conference Commission (TSCC) consisting of two representatives each from the following student sport structures paved a way forward in establishing SASSU:

It was then later that SASSU and the SASCOC reached consensus on the way forward for university sport in South Africa. SASCOC agreed that, due to the unique nature of student sport universally, that university sport should continue to exist independently in its current format and that the name of SASSU is changed to University Sport South Africa (USSA).

It was agreed that USSA will proceed as the official national co-ordinating umbrella sports structure for the regulation and organisation of all university sports activities in South Africa, while SASCOC will take responsibility for the preparation and delivery of teams to all high performance multi-coded international events, i.e. FISU World Student Games better known as the “Universiades”, Federation of African University Sport (FASU) and Confederation of University and Collages Sport Association (CUCSA) Games.

USSA in association with National Federations will however still remain responsible for the preparation and delivery of teams that will participate in individual FISU World University Championship events. The selection of national university sports teams shall be in accordance with FISU Regulations as well as the USSA and SASCOC selection policies.

Over 20 years into Democracy it’s clear that sport transformation in Universities is still a major factor. National teams under university sport participating in international Tournaments are transforming at a very slow pace. Traditionally Universities participate in World Student games. The Universiade is an international sporting and cultural festival which is staged every two years in a different city. It is the second biggest multisport event to the Olympic Games. The highest number of participants was registered at the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan, Russia, i.e. 11,759 participants representing 159 countries.

Embracing FISU’s motto of ‘Excellence in Mind and Body’, the Summer Universiade incorporates educational and cultural aspects into 12 days of sports competitions, allowing university student-athletes from all over the world to celebrate with the host city in a true spirit of friendship and sportsmanship. This is the only summer multi-sport event in the world that connects students at both academic and athletic levels, and it is broadcasted by more than 100 TV channels worldwide.

As things stand one can correctly argue that It has been over 20 years of tireless policy formulation and paperwork but the question stands: are we also going to wait for another 20 years to realise the objectives and targets we set out for ourselves in the loads of paperwork in the field of play? This is the most important question in our continuing effort to transform South African sports, South African university sports and South Africa itself. This paper seeks to lay a basis for an all-encompassing discussion on the challenges of transformation of sports in higher education in relation to sport in particular.

On the other hand transformation of sport in universities should not be isolated from the broader transformation agenda of higher education. Differentiated funding of the higher education sector is a major factor and stumbling block on transformation. By this I simply mean that you are a student before you become a university athlete therefore access with a full cost of study is central to participation and transformation. Can we conclude and say our universities are totally transformed as envisaged in the freedom charter? No. Even though much as work is being done but a conclusion cannot be made that the work done thus far changes the position if the previously disadvantaged student in any fundamental way. Particularly that the funding system of our universities is still based on the same formula by which the current were created. This reality is replicated in the area of sports. To make this point we rely on the recent report of the NSFAS review which reflects the disparities of funding between white and black institutions.

The NSFAS Review Report was commissioned in 2012 and its purpose was to assess the strengths and shortcomings of the current scheme and to advise the Minister on the short-, medium- and long-term needs for student financial aid to promote the twin goals of equity of access and providing free undergraduate education to students from working class and poor communities who cannot afford further or higher education.

Although the report focused on problematic funding of Universities by the institution, it further focused on other funding systems outside NASFAS. As the formula focuses on Funding of research, Post graduate studies and other areas. Unfortunately if such funding systems are not inclusive of the real definition of full cost of study we will continue to have underfunded Football black dominated and resourced rugby white dominated due to the fact that majority of the sporting codes that black people had no access to are expansive to continue participating in.

It is my view that the recommendations of the NSFAS report paved a way forward clearly on what needs to be done and the has been no significant change in as far as what that report recommended of which we cannot conclude that the progressive recommendation in that report have been effected.

Currently in the university sport system an elite high-performance platform has been introduces by the name of Varsity Sport under the University Sport Company. Participating codes are athletics from, hockey, cricket, football, beach volleyball, 7s rugby and netball.

It’s my considered view that this league future derails sport transformation in our universities while widening pockets of capital. It is a similar system to the Varsity Rugby league that has categorised Universities with two different platforms that clearly state that Varsity Cup is for developed and previously advantaged universities and Varsity Shield is for the historically disadvantaged universities. It is the most arrogant platform that says we must remain separated and isolated.

I say this due to the fact that for instance the Varsity Cup participants are: University of Pretoria, University of Free State, University of Cape Town, North West University, Stellenbosch University, University of Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela metropolitan University, and Central University of Technology. On the other hand Varsity Shield participants are: Wits, University of Kwazulu Natal, University of Western Cape, University of Fort Hare, Tswane University of Technology. Can we then conclude that this is inclusive participation let alone the thorny subject of transformation?

In conclusion, the 20 years of paperwork has unfortunately come and gone, all progressive forces of our movement must not be apologetic on implementing radical transformation. Our universities must be transformed holistically without fear or favour.

References:

1996 White Paper on Sport and recreation
National Sport and Recreation Act 110 of 1998
The national Sport and Recreation Plan of 2011
Transformation Chatter 2012
EPG Report on Transformations
Ministerial Report on NASFAS

By Andile Majeke