Sports Minister and Solidarity prepare to square off in court over quotas

The Department of Sports and Recreation is preparing to square off against trade union Solidarity at the Labour Court over the transformation charter on Wednesday.

The Sports Ministry‚ Cricket South Africa (CSA)‚ Netball South Africa (NSA)‚ SA Rugby‚ Athletics South Africa (ASA) and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) are the six respondents in the case.

Wednesday's proceedings are about Solidarity asking the Labour Court to set aside the ministry's transformation charter.

The application has been opposed by the six respondents‚ who are represented by legal heavyweight Norman Arendse.

Solidarity and their sister organisation Afriforum announced their intention to take the sports governing bodies and their mother ministry to court two years ago.

As reported by TimesLIVE earlier‚ Solidarity said the application was part of the trade union's and Afriforum's joint campaign against the application of quotas in sport.

The organisations used the Promotion of Access to Information Act in May 2017 to obtain specific transformation target percentages for the various sports.

The information obtained by Solidarity and Afriforum revealed that the intentions of the sports authorities went beyond team selection‚ with the organisations saying the targets involved the racial composition of board members‚ coaches‚ committee members and support staff.

In a statement‚ the Sports Ministry said they viewed this approach by Solidarity and Afriforum as a desperate attempt to hold back the progress achieved by transforming sports.

“Sport and Recreation South Africa opposes this Solidarity action and regards it as an attempt to stall transformation and also is in violation of Section nine and 10 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa which enshrines and acknowledges the injustices of the past as well as recognising the need for redress of past discriminatory policies and practices through fair discrimination interventions such as affirmative actions‚” the statement said.