South Africans love calling this beloved Rainbow Nation a sporting nation, it is definitely in the top 10 things we’re known for globally. But we reckon it’s important sometimes to put these identities to a litmus test and check if truly, as lovers of our various sporting codes, do we support all our teams and athletes, men and women, as best as we can.
With this being Freedom Week, it is the perfect time to chat about how women in sport are benefitting from a democratic South Africa. As a country, we are a year away from celebrating 30 years of Freedom but can women in sport say that they have enjoyed the freedoms that have come with our liberation as a country?
Transformation; a bone of contention in South Africa since the dawn of democracy, this is due to our history. Time and again we see the buzz word “quota” pop up in twars on Twitter. So, let’s take a deep dive into some of the local federations and analyse how they have done to ensure that our women’s national teams display our diversity as a country.
The Senior Women’s Cricket team, the Momentum Proteas, in the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, on home soil had the likes of Ayabonga Khaka, Chloe Tryon, Lara Goodall, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Sinalo Jafta just to name a few. Probably one of the most transformed national sides, comparing both men and women’s teams.
In that regard, it’s amazing for South Africa to have been represented by this squad, on home turf. For everyone that sold out Newlands stadium to have witnessed a squad that reflects who we are as a nation deserves for us to take note and congratulate Cricket South Africa for opening opportunities for young black girls, young coloured girls, to represent their country at the highest level and in turn for the youngsters of today to witness these legends. But not just that, for all the girls that were at Newlands and watching the final on TV to see that it’s possible to one day don the green and gold if you are from eLanga or Alex.
This observation is not exclusive to the Momentum Proteas only, if you look at the Women’s Indoor Hockey team that represented South Africa in the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup earlier this year, the SPAR Proteas that will likely take to court in July, in Cape Town in the 2023 Vitality Netball World Cup, these teams clearly say “we are from a diverse nation”. That’s what we need. With everything that we’ve gone through as a country it’s comforting and heart warming and reassuring for me to see people that look like me playing for the country, I call home. To know that our ancestors fought and died for this to be our reality and here I am seeing it as they sing the national anthem ahead of a major tournament or game.
While there’s been a lot of progress in the sporting code I’ve mentioned above, our young democracy still has some complications. Golf, a massive majority of Golf RSA players are white. That speaks to the deep inequality of South Africa, where the average black girl, in any township can barely afford sanitary pads let alone golf clubs. Golf still is an extremely elite sport.
Kudos to young and black Tokollo Dlamini from Tembisa, who is clearly one of a small number, that is attempting to break the status quo at a very junior level. Three black women pro golfers come to mind: Siviwe Duma, Zethu Myeki and Yolanda Duma who come from Mdantsane in East London. But three in a country of approximately 30 million women speaks volumes. There are efforts to take “golf to the people” as seen in the website of the South African Golf Development Board:
Our Goals
“Take the game to the people”, including underprivileged communities by providing free coaching and practice equipment Nurture elite players by sponsoring equipment, club fees and competition participation Make facilities more accessible
Secondary Goals
Develop players to meaningfully participate at all levels of golf. Create heroes, stable role models and mentors in all communities.
The above efforts are appreciated and acknowledged, however it goes to show that with the complex nature of our democracy and correcting the wrongs of the apartheid administration, it’s going to take a while for us to see many more Nobuhle Dlamini’s. Dlamini is an Eswatini professional golfer playing on the Ladies European Tour.
Another sporting code we take look at is Tennis. We’ve seen Tennis South Africa go into schools, particularly township schools, under the BNP Paribas RCS Rising Star tennis programme. The aim? To have 1 200 schools taking part, 5 000 learners playing tennis and 24 schools from previously disadvantaged areas receiving kit and equipment. That is a great contribution to narrowing the inequality gap and getting facilities to schools and kids that lack greatly. It is a sad state that the only prominent black women in Tennis is only wheelchair tennis star, Kgothatso Montjane.
The same applies to Swimming South Africa who have done extremely well for South Africa in the pools sometimes even better than male swimmers in major competitions like the Commonwealth Games, though sadly not transformed much. It was such a relief to see youngsters Keratile Manaka and Zalika Methula from Gauteng who represented Team South Africa at the FINA World Junior Diving Championships.
With South Africa being the most unequal country in the world, it’s a tall ask to expect federations only to solve all these issues. Our government needs to make a consistent effort with massive investment for us to see changes. Even though we know it will take time it won’t happen over night, but the push for change needs to be strong.
These laws are great on paper, such as the National Sport and Recreation Amendment Act, South African White Paper on Sport and Recreation, Transformation Charter for South African Sport but practically, they lack direction and have done little to get us where we should be as a nation.
While we enjoy watching Springbok Women’s captain Nolusindiso Booi play rugby, a once heavily white, male dominated sport, how great it would be to see a woman of colour take to the swimming podium at the Commonwealth Games and another Kgothatso Montjane win a Grand Slam in Tennis. We are a sporting nation, we are resilient, passionate, dedicated and talented, if we make a concerted effort and invest time, money and skills to under privileged communities, we will see more women of colour enjoy the fruits of a democratic South Africa.
(0 rating, 0 votes, rated)
Loading...
