My son is in the Gauteng West athletics team for the U/10 high jump and will be competing at the Gauteng Championships in Germiston.
If all goes well, he’ll represent Gauteng at the SA finals during the weekend of 16 March. However, his trainer at school received a letter from South African Sports Athletics (Sasa) stating that only two Caucasian children per age group per sports item are allowed to go through to the championships. The third person has to be a previously disadvantaged child.
To me, that seems very unfair. It should be about the competition. By all means, if a previously disadvantaged child wins, let him receive the gold, if he is second, let him rightfully receive the silver medal and qualify, but if not one previously disadvantaged person qualifies, don’t take the rightful position that was earned by another athlete and hand it over to an unqualified athlete.
These children work very hard to get this far, and for a position that was earned to just be taken away from them because of skin colour is very wrong on many levels.
It should be about who is first, second and third. That is what sport is about after all.
It is heartbreaking for the kids who fall out at this level. I have seen many children cry their hearts out this season. I feel a huge injustice is being done to the children, no matter what race or colour, if their well-deserved qualifications are stolen by someone who doesn’t deserve the title.
* Sasa has in the interim withdrawn its quota system to transform participation in primary and high schools after AfriForum Youth stepped in and the trade union Solidariteit approached the Johannesburg Labour Court about the issue.
