The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) said this week that they would not meet with the parliamentary portfolio committee on sport until such time as the climate between the two organisations became more conducive for a meeting. This came after the head of the parliamentary committee, Mr Butana Komphela, told the Mail & Guardian that SASCOC was run by whites and Indians who did not take transformation seriously. There are doubtless a number of South Africans who have a great deal of sympathy for SASCOC's decision.

Mr Komphela is well known for his outbursts. Perhaps most famously his attempt to have the passports of white rugby players withdrawn before the recent World Cup demonstrated just how far he was willing to go to enforce the doctrine of representivity.  Perhaps too, many South Africans are so fed up with the attitude of senior government leaders that when someone stands up against the system they receive unanimous support.

But SASCOC is wrong on this one. They were established in part by a political initiative in the form of a ministerial task team. They also receive a significant proportion of their funding from the state and therefore from taxpayers. They therefore have an obligation to account to Parliament regardless of what they may think of individual MPs. Not doing so sets a very poor precedent concerning respect for parliamentary oversight. 

But this spat between SASCOC and Parliament is important for another reason in that it suggests that politicians have far too great a say and influence over sporting policy matters in South Africa. SASCOC itself may even be seen as part of the problem in that it is partly established by, funded by, and therefore accountable to politicians. It must therefore be expected that politicians will interfere in its affairs.

SASCOC is, however, not the only example of political interference in sport. To a lesser or greater degree all the major sports codes have had clashes with politicians in recent years.

Would it not be more satisfactory to maintain a greater degree of separation between sports administrators and politicians in South Africa? Administration of sports codes, selection of teams, and participation in international competition would be solely at the discretion of independent sports bodies. These could source their income through sponsorship and other deals and would not therefore be financially dependent on the state. To some extent this already exists in certain sporting codes - although even they remain victims of political interference.

The government would have no say over quotas or selection procedures either directly or indirectly by threatening to confiscate passports. In a number of cases such an arrangement is even mandated by major international sporting bodies that expressly prohibit government and political interference in sport. To what extent the government respects that separation is currently a grey area in South Africa.

The government would however maintain a role in sports in as far as the provision of public facilities, training, and opportunities exist; particularly in disadvantaged areas. The government could partner sporting bodies and support them in various development initiatives but on the terms and conditions agreed by those bodies. The government could further partner those bodies in assisting them to develop their sport domestically, or in attracting international competition to South Africa.

The rationale for this proposal is not just to limit the powers of the state but also that this may be the most effective way to boost and develop sporting codes in South Africa. It is surely in the best interests of all South Africans to ensure an environment of open sporting opportunity specifically for disadvantaged groups.

However, despite ten years of government led policy the government has failed in this. Dusty soccer fields are the only sporting facility available to most poor and black South Africans. The facilities and funding to provide opportunities to young sportsmen have not been provided despite a decade of rhetoric about sports transformation.

Better sports policy therefore requires keeping politicians out of sports policy. This is not just to avoid the international embarrassment of continued bickering, or to limit the power of the state, but also to ensure that real sports development takes place led by those groups that a have a real interest in sports -  not in politics or posturing.  

Frans Cronje is Deputy CEO of the South African Institute of Race Relations. This article first appeared in the Institute's weekly online newsletter SAIRR Today, July 25 2008