Rugby trumps politics and racial divisions in South Africa as quota system is dropped
South African rugby: a nation in union? Not any time soon.
Since the end of the apartheid era in South Africa, racial quotas (whereby a specified number of each team must be non-white) were instituted in South African sports in an attempt to increase participation by non-white players. As in America, this type of affirmative action has been controversial primarily since it has led to team selections not being based on merit.
Unlike the non-elite teams, the South African national rugby team has been immune from racial quotas, but the lead-up to the 2007 Rugby World Cup intensified calls for quotas to reach all levels of sport, including the elite/national level. Parliamentary Sports Committee chairman Butana Khompela even suggested that passports might be confiscated if the Springbok world cup squad was not representative of the country’s demographic which is 8% white.
In the aftermath of South Africa’s Rugby World Cup victory, it seems that the focus has started to shift away from quotas to support player development. In October when presented with the Webb Ellis Cup in Pretoria, President Thabo Mbeki indicated that development should be built from below.
In Cape Town today, Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile officially endorsed this notion:
Quotas are out. We are not going to decide who must be on the team. All we are saying is expose everybody, give them an opportunity. […] Let us put our resources into the development of talent.
