OPINION: Sport federations must learn to stand up against parliament

The Citizen

26-04-2025

Some of the questions directed at the Netball SA leadership this week were valid, but others were ridiculous.
If parliament is a circus, its portfolio committee on sport, arts and culture is a modern day Colosseum.
One difference, however, between battles held in ancient Rome and those being held in Cape Town is that the people who were forced to fight in the Colosseum made an effort to hit back.
Watching Netball South Africa being grilled by the parliamentary committee this week was like watching school kids being scolded by teachers.
Some of the issues raised by the portfolio committee were valid, most notably the delays in releasing audited financial statements (which government deservedly wanted to see after providing R90 million in funding for the 2023 Netball World Cup) and the recent suspension of Netball SA president Cecilia Molokwane by World Netball.
However, some of the questions asked were completely ridiculous, and the NSA leadership seemed terrified to stand up for themselves, which they had every right to do.
Proteas coach
They were dragged over the coals for appointing Jenny van Dyk as the Proteas head coach last year ahead of black coaches who applied for the post.
Anyone who understands netball in this country will be aware that Van Dyk was the best person for the job, having proved herself across multiple levels of the sport for the last decade.
When they were interrupted in their responses, the NSA leadership shut down and looked ready to accept the criticism, rather than hitting back at the politicians on the other side of the room who clearly know next to nothing about the sport.
When answering questions about financial statements, NSA should have been able to provide more details about expenditure, but even when they did, they got shot down, and they buckled too quickly.
It is of course important that the people running sports federations are able to account for expenditure, but aside from the World Cup, netball relies far more on corporate sponsors for its funding than it does on the government.
Showboating and grandstanding
It is good that the committee exposed some problems with NSA's corporate governance, but let's be honest, politicians of all people have very little right to be criticising others for wasteful expenditure. An independent panel of individuals who understand both administration and operations in sport would be far better suited to do the grilling.
The arrogance and showboating of some of the members of the portfolio committee indicates that they're more interested in grandstanding for the public watching the live stream than they are in actually getting to the bottom of real issues.
And that's fine. It's parliament. What else can we expect?
But when sports federations appear in front of members of parliament and they're asked ridiculous questions that don't even make sense, it would at least be more entertaining if they fought back.
Even in ancient Rome, prisoners forced into battle made an attempt to defend themselves. Sports administrators need to do the same.