By IANS
Pretoria : South African President Thabo Mbeki has said his government is trying to do away with quotas in national sports and put in place a non-racial policy while allocating resources to communities for traditional sports as well.
“Away with quotas, in with non-racial teams,” Mbeki told the national assembly Thursday.
“Addressing these matters of unity, social cohesion, it is an important issue, as honourable Khompela says, indeed we should have a comprehensive policy that addresses the question of what is it that we want to do,” South African news agency BuaNews quoted Mbeki as saying.
He was replying to a question on the policies and blueprints for South African sport in the future, asked by Bhutana Khompela, the chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Sport.
“I would imagine that where he refers to a comprehensive policy on allocation of resources, …that this (a non-racial policy) is the comprehensive programme that we are putting in place,” he said.
He said the government was trying evolve a comprehensive non racial policy on funds allocation for both modern sports like rugby, cricket, athletics as well as traditional sports.
The president said South Africa does indeed need a comprehensive policy and targeted programmes regarding sport, to the extent that the nation can generate the funds to finance sports development.