Balfour keen on sporting restructure

Ngconde Balfour, South Africa's sports minister, will meet the leaders of the country's major sports federations at Johannesburg this week to discuss restructuring the way they operate.

Talking to the media today, Balfour said the meeting would also focus on weakness in the administration and management of sport, and the value of a code of ethics. "We will look at the weaknesses in the federations, especially in the administration and in the structure of sport."

He picked out cricket and rugby as having particular problems. "There are problems ... that are structural. I have met the administrators of both sports, and we are mapping the way forward."

Balfour also criticised the managements for not focusing on the performances on the field: "Some of them seem to have abandoned performances on the field of play in favour of boardroom squabbles, leaving the perception of structural weaknesses that impact specifically on team sport."

However, Balfour stressed that despite these problems, the country wasn't on the brink of collapse. He decreed, "We have what it takes to be a winning sports nation, but a few things need to be fixed."

On a better note, he also announced that by the end of this financial year, the government would have spent R500-million on basic sports facilities in disadvantaged communities.