The sports bill that would have given the minister the authority to veto any decision relating to any South African sports teams have been withdrawn by Makhenkesi Stofile, minister of sport and recreation.

According to reports the new laws – described as draconian and which were innocuously delivered by Stofile and his department in December when leadership of most sporting bodies were on annual leave – were withdrawn late on Tuesday.

As ridiculous as it sounds, the bill would enable the sports minister to decide on individual selections in specific positions for any representative South African team.

Apart from the questionable timing of delivery of the bill to sporting bodies and the equally ridiculous limited time for comment, it was only published as a supplement to the existing law on sport and recreation.

However, according to the Afrikaans daily newspaper Beeld, a highly-placed source revealed that the regulations were set to be withdrawn, as they are apparently illegal.

Some of their proposed rulings that would have been implemented are as follows:
* No selection process is valid unless national trials have been held where each athlete who qualifies is given a chance.
* Management cannot receive national colours, with the exception of coaches. Motivation needs to be given for assistant coaches.
* Only South African passport holders can receive national colours, so players like Tendai Mtawarira and Brian Mujati cannot represent SA.
* Teams need to be chosen at least 30 days before any international competition and need to be sent to the Minister for approval.
* The Minister has the sole right to award national colours and to take them away or refuse them.

The bill would also have included a contradictory clause that would prohibit government from interfering with team selection, but there would have to be motivation as to the selection of certain players.

South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins on Tuesday had already expressed his opposition to the proposed bill and took a stance that would have placed SARU on a collision course with the government over these draconian laws.

“SARU has instructed its attorneys to review the regulations and will discuss their findings with its stakeholders before deciding on a final position for the submission,” Hoskins said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We are concerned about some of the proposed regulations, but will discuss those internally before making our submission,” Hoskins added.

Deputy Minister of sport Gert Oosthuizen denied the aim was to interfere in sport however.

“We just want to prevent someone that runs onto a rugby field for a second from getting national colours. That is not interfering,” he said.

Source: rugby365.com

Tags: Rugby, selection, stofile