Wada halts SA flag ban amid anti-doping dispute

The South African flag will fly at the rugby and cricket World Cup tournaments for the time being, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) confirmed late on Tuesday night.

SA faced several forfeits, including not being allowed to have the national flag flown at international tournaments, for its anti-doping legislation being deemed non-compliant by WADA.

As a last-gasp measure to stave off the punitive action, the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (Saids) challenged Wada, which in turn referred the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland.

“As such, the allegation of noncompliance is put on hold and the consequences will not apply until such time as CAS makes its ruling,” Wada said.

Earlier on Tuesday, sport minister Zizi Kodwa said he had instructed Saids to challenge Wada’s noncompliance declaration, saying he believed the grounds for appeal were “strong and that the sanctions are not appropriate”.

Another sanction would prevent SA from bidding for and hosting international sports events, scuppering the attempt to bring the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup to the country.

Wada said the noncompliance was the result of SA’s anti-doping legislation not being in line with the World Anti-Doping Code from 2021.

“[Saids] had 21 days following the date of receipt of the formal notice of noncompliance to dispute Wada’s allegation of noncompliance, as well as the consequences and/or the reinstatement conditions proposed by [Wada].

“Today, Wada has received formal notification from [Saids] that it disputes the allegation of noncompliance against it, as well as the proposed consequences. Wada will shortly refer the matter [to CAS] for its consideration.”

Kodwa said government was acting quickly to have anti-doping legislation updated, with amendments to the Saids Act already presented to cabinet.

“Since the announcement, the department of sport, arts & culture and I have pulled out all the stops to resolve the noncompliance by getting the [Saids] Amendment Bill adopted expeditiously.

“I presented the bill to cabinet. Last week, the bill was approved by cabinet and will now be tabled to parliament. I am confident Wada will recognise these efforts as a commitment to pass the amended legislation and suspend the noncompliance declaration.”

While the punitive consequences of the noncompliance declaration were set to kick in on Friday — two days before the Springboks take on France — World Athletics prematurely denied South African teams at the World Road Running Championships in Riga the use of their flag at the water stations the previous weekend.

They instead used the RSA abbreviation, and with team officials decked out in official kit, the runners weren’t hampered at all, with the men taking the team bronze.

The Proteas, who play Australia on Thursday, would have played the Netherlands in the first match under the threatened noncompliance consequences on Tuesday next week.

IsaacsonD@arena.africa