Open letter to the minister of sport by Gream Joffie

GRAEME Joffe Open letter to the Sports Minister – do you really have a good story to tell? Dear Mr Mbalula I notice you’ve had your busiest work month since you took office as Minister of Sports back in 2010. You’ve been on the run this April, opening new sports facilities in De Doorns and Limpopo, handing over cheques to winning athletes and re-igniting the good old debate about quotas and transformation in SA sport. How timely with the national elections just around the corner. I guess this tweet says it all about your electioneering campaign. ANC @ANCwcape Apr 25 Handover of sports facilities in De Doorns by Minister Mbalula at 11h00.. ANC Government working for you.. #VoteANC Did you also have time to hand out food parcels and mattresses to the people of De Doorns? The fact of the matter is SA sport is in dire straits and you can’t fool the sporting public with all your media spin and PR. From the last six Olympic Games, SA has brought home a total of just 25 medals. Few can argue we are one of the perennial under achievers on the Olympic stage for what we have in talent, facilities and finance. The reason why we are under achieving is quite simple: Cronyism, failed administration and abuse of funds. Between the Department of Sport and Recreation, SASCOC, the Sports Trust and the Lotto, you have found a way to manipulate the system. There is no accountability and SA sport is being milked dry. The Lotto is your “go to bank” and it’s no surprise that there are major contradictions in grants between the Lotto distribution agency and the sporting federations. Who is really benefitting? Even the Lotto has now gone the ostrich route (head buried in the sand) as the questions become too tough to answer. In 2011, you debated quotas and transformation – why then in 2012, did you not make a stand for Simon Magakwe to be included in the SA Olympic team and in 2014 for Sive Speelman to go to the Winter Olympics? Magakwe could have lined up against Usain Bolt and Speelman would have been our first black Olympic skier. How big would that have been for SA sport and for youngsters to look up to? You don’t need quotas – these guys are good enough on merit. But instead, you piggy backed onto Oscar Pistorius for the London Olympics, saying quote: It’s not really about the athlete; it is a political decision that has been taken.” So, why are you preaching transformation and quotas again in 2014? Electioneering perhaps? I see you were also very quick to jump on the ‘Magakwe bandwagon’ when he broke the SA 100m record earlier this month. “We are going to take care of him so that he does not have to worry about other things except to run great times. We will put him on the Opex programme.” I guess better late than never but why wasn’t Magakwe already on the Opex programme? Perhaps, we can have another dinner to debate it. Ernst van Dyk is also now one of your ‘favourite’ SA athletes after he won his 10th Boston Marathon title. But what about his nine previous wins and did you know that van Dyk almost lost his Opex funding in 2013 for legitimately being critical of the SASCOC elections? Our athletes are being silenced and the majority of the federations just go with the flow in fear of losing their funding. It’s a web that is destroying SA sport. If you really want a good story to tell, then please make sure that after these elections that SA has a Sports Minister who knows about sport and not one who says: “If Ntini wasn’t brought to the fore & fast-tracked by Steve Tshwete, he wouldn't be the best spin bowler that we have." Your over is up Mr Mbalula. You’ve “spun” us a yarn since 2010 and spent more on awards, dinners, parties and travel than your two predecessors combined. The “razzmatazz” needs to go and SA sport needs to be cleaned up once and for all.