Imagine having to prepare for a prestigious sports competition without a full-time coach like Khotso Mokoena did in preparation to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Or, having to quit your full-time job, and only source of income, in order to prepare for a major sporting event like Hilton Langenhoven did prior to the 2008 Paralympic Games. Imagine having to train day and night, in blazing heat or rainy days, in order to realize a lifetime dream - like many other members of both our Olympics and Paralympics teams did - only to be mistreated by the very people who are supposed to look after your interests.
The 2008 Beijing Olympics and Paralympics have come and gone but they gave the entire nation the opportunity to see our sports leaders for who they really are: a bunch of selfish fat cats with no interest in the welfare of our athletes.
I was sickened when I first read about how badly our athletes were treated by SASCOC during the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. First, members of our Paralympics Team flew to Beijing uncomfortably in economy class just a few days before the Games began.
These are people with special needs, some were on wheelchairs and others with amputated legs, and they defied all those obstacles resulting from fatigue to lead South Africa to 6th position in the medal rankings. Atop to that the Paralympics Team arrived in Beijing to find that their training gear will only arrive a few days later. This provoked some of our top athletes including Oscar Pretorius who summarized SASCOC chaotic organizing capacity as ‘...totally unacceptable and unprofessional'.
All the while the fats cats at SASCOC flew business class and stayed at five star hotels when our heroes and heroines were holding it down in the fields. What makes this experience more disgusting is the fact that it is not an isolated case in which SASCOC neglected our athletes.
SASCOC has policy which entitles its ‘...Board members and staff to travel business class. In addition, the chef de mission, assistant chef, chief medical officer and chief physiotherapist also fly business class to events at which SASCOC presents a team'.
I wonder if the SASCOC board understands the meaning of doing things for ‘the love of the game' as one SABC Sport advert preaches. Being a leader in sports, and any other sphere of life, is about serving the people. It is not about promoting narrow individual interests.
Instead of interpreting their positions in SASCOC as a ticket to experience luxury, our sports leaders must always put the interests of our athletes first. At the end of the day they find themselves in those positions because of the same athletes.
Helen Zille once wrote in her weekly letter that ‘good laws make a good economy'. The same can be said about organizations and their policies. A good policy can propel an organization to greater things. On the other hand, a bad policy tarnishes the image any organization, no matter how big or small it is. SASCOC's travelling policy is bad for many reasons but most importantly it gives the impression that our sports leaders care less about the welfare of our athletes than they do about their extravagant interests.
I sympathized with the former President of SASCOC Moss Mashishi every time he complained about the organization's lack of funding which in turn led to its limited or even lack of proper support to our athletes to enable them to compete at the highest sporting level hence the country's dismal performance at the 2008 Olympics.
However, Mashishi was foolish not to change that policy. How can an organization that continuously complains about limited funding squander its peanuts on luxurious flight tickets and five star hotels?
One hopes that Gideon Sam, Mashishi's successor, will not only help the organization to raise sufficient funds to support athletes but will also help it to spend its finances wisely. In doing so, he must ensure that SASCOC prioritizes the needs of our athletes at all times. By this I do not suggest that our Paralympians must all fly business class to international competitions even though I'm in favour of a provision to allow the most vulnerable to travel comfortably to eliminate chances of precipitating injuries prior to competitions.
There is no reason whatsoever that justifies SASCOC's unfair travelling policy. Its officials should not receive preferential treatment from our athletes just because they are officials. In fact SASCOC must have a uniform travelling policy which its officials fly the same class as our athletes.
The fat cat mentality of SASCOC officials is not an isolated case in which our sports leaders prioritize their narrows interests at the expense of the prosperity of South African sports. Not long ago Premier Soccer League bosses were up in arms over the R30 million bonus scandal. Instead of allocating the money towards improving the management of the neglected national first division league, the greedy soccer bosses rewarded themselves for doing what they are expected do to.
In 2007, the South African Football Association paid its entire national executive committee bonuses worth R2.5 million, a total of R125 000 per member, for their ‘sterling work' in bringing the 2010 FIFA World Cup to our country. At the time, the football body was only issuing grants worth R150 000 to its 52 regions to manage their affairs.
South African has an abundance of talent in sports. The Springboks are current champions of rugby. The Proteas are amongst the top two cricket teams in the world. Bafana Bafana is slowly recovering the form that made them the pride of the rainbow nation in 1996. The success of our Paralympics Teams epitomizes all that is great about South African sports. All that is needed to elevate South Africa to the league of the best sporting nations in the world is a change in the attitude of our sports leaders.
Solly Malatsi is a parliamentary researcher for the Democratic Alliance. This article is written in his personal capacity.
