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- Netball South Africa (NSA) president Cecilia Molokwane has dismissed the notion that there were racial quotas in sport.
- Netball was caught up in another racial storm last month during the Telkom Netball League.
- Molokwane said the NSA was following the EPG’s self-established career goal model.
Netball South Africa (NSA) President Cecilia Molokwane has discarded the notion that there were racial quotas in sport.
Instead, he said they had adopted the “self-set goals” methodology used by the Eminent Persons Group (EPG), which is the sports department’s dedicated committee that reviews and addresses transformation in sport on an annual basis.
Netball was hit by another racial storm during the Telkom Netball League (TNL) last month when tournament directors ruled against the Mpumalanga Sunbirds for placing “too few white players” in the Division 2 final against Kingdom Queens.
The Sunbirds lost the match, which they had originally won 43-42, for the rule infraction and were given zero points for a final score of 42-0 in favor of the Queens.
“Why are we talking about quotas?” Molokwane said at Monday’s virtual press conference.
“At Netball we don’t have quotas. We have self-set goals. Those are the goals that the provinces and districts set for themselves to reach our championships.
“We follow the EPG barometers that we have in the country. When a person talks about quotas, I recoil and wonder.
“We, as Netball South Africa, do not set goals for anyone. Districts set goals for themselves, based on the demographics of where they are.
“The provinces follow what the districts do. Then the provinces call the districts when they need players, be it Gauteng Jaguars or Fireballs, then they will follow the Gauteng demographics, according to the districts’ self-set goals.”
The NSA’s TNL tournament rules, which Molokwane said were communicated to the affiliated provinces in March this year, stated that there must be a 5-2 demographic split at all times during each quarter of a match.
A majority of the five would favor black or white players, depending on what the demographics of that particular province’s netball population indicate.
The minority run, he said, was “protected” in the sense that there must be at least two players at all times, hence the 5-2 logic.
“Why do we say 5-2 on the court? It’s to protect both of us,” Molokwane said.
“We want to protect those that demographics say are the majority race. We are saying [also], you can’t leave this [minority] leave the race because they are not in the majority.
“It’s not about protecting a black player or a white player, just protecting a player who can get on the court and get the job done.
“However, by doing that, we also protect the demographics of the province. It is so that when we go to the EPG we are not penalized.
“And if you have your own goals, you have to follow them and not just put them on paper.
“However, we want the best of the best players, adhering to the demographics of this country.”
