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Johannesburg, Apr 30: Sports in South Africa is still divided by race and the target of black-white equality in cricket and rugby is still a long way off, even after 20 years after the end of apartheid, according to a study.
The report marking two decades of democracy found that the number of blacks in rugby and cricket teams still had to increase threefold to reach the target of 50 percent representation.
According to Sport24, a member of the sport ministry’s panel that oversees racial transformation said that the processes to change the face of sport over the past 20 years have been largely ineffective.
The report mentioned that a development plan for 2030 has the goal of making teams more representative of national demographics – over 80 percent of South Africans are black, while under 10 percent are white, adding that cricket and rugby remain pillars of the white South African identity.
Even though South Africa is currently ranked the world’s top Test side and has won two Rugby World Cups, however, a top official of the sport and recreation ministry admitted that discrimination is still at work
However, the report said that football has the reverse problem with white players virtually absent from major teams and no sign that hosting the 2010 World Cup helped popularise the sport among non-blacks.
Sport Minister Fikile Mbalula came under fire recently for threatening to up the quotas to 60 percent before May 7 polls although he later toned down talk of targets. (ANI)
