RESHAPING THE CONVERSATION ON CHANGE
Sports transformation is still a long way off in South Africa, say panellists at the UWC Sport Webinar By Lynne Rippenaar-Moses & Riaan Salie Photography: Peter Herring
W
hile South African sporting codes have been slow to transform, the University of the Western Cape (UWC) has led transformation through sport for years. However, even with UWC’s contribution to developing and producing top sports men and women for South Africa, the playing fields are still not level. This was the consensus at the 2020 UWC Sport Webinar, hosted by eNCA sport journalist Ronald Masinda, who said that 10 years after the government introduced the Transformation Charter for South African Sport in 2011, transformation in sport is nowhere near where it should be. The charter compels national teams and sports associations and federations to become intentional about transforming their teams, management and support staff or face the consequences of non-compliance. Masinda opened the webinar by reminding attendees of the late former President Nelson Mandela’s strong belief in the ability of sport to unify South Africans. It was this belief that led to Mandela publicly supporting and encouraging South Africans of all races to embrace and rally behind a yet untransformed
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UWC Head Rugby Coach Paul Treu was amongst the panellists who joined the webinar
South African Springbok team competing in the 1995 Rugby World Cup. The team went on to beat the All Blacks, raising the Webb Ellis Cup with Mandela by their side. Today, other equality issues also hinder transformation. For panellist Babalwa Latsha, the first black female professional
rugby player in South Africa, forging a career in a maledominated sport has been no easy feat. “To be the first in anything is quite daunting because now the responsibility lies on me to set the standard for anyone who comes after me and does the same,” said Latsha. Having taken rugby at UWC as a first-year student, she
