GARETH VAN ONSELEN: Ashwin Willemse and the evil of racial quotas
One of the most cruel aspect of the ANC’s quota system is that the black, Indian and Coloured players to whom they are applied, don’t actually know if they apply to them
One of the more interesting responses to the hysteria that followed Ashwin Willemse’s very public fallout with his fellow Supersport panelists was this interview with with Vuyo Mhaga, spokesperson for minister of sport and recreation. Among other things, he said, "Maybe we need to move away from this discussion of quotas. Let’s talk about transformation generally. Because black people are starting to feel insulted — that they are unable to really come out as their own and actually, you know, as the capable athletes that they are." That is a fairly enlightened statement. Remarkable, too, given the ANC government’s absolute and unrelenting determination to impose racial quotas on South African sport. Certainly, the party has been brutal on anyone who has, in the past, suggested the idea to be problematic in any way. By way of illustration, in 2005, Desmond Tutu said the following: "I don’t want tokenism [in sport], it’s an insult to everybody. And there are so many occasions when it s...
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