Zille: Put talent before quotas

Instead of trying to impose racial quotas on rugby, the government should be looking at ways of nurturing young black talent for the sport, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille said on Friday

For the rest of this M&G article click here.

NVDL: Zille is exactly right. Nice to see some cogent thinking from a politician.

To Boo Mbeki or Not? Will this be our last Hurrah?

This could conceivably be the last hurrah for the Boks for a while. The Times Planet Blog has raised this issue, and the one about whether or not to Boo Mbeki. It's a sideshow to the Rugby World Cup that makes me want to Boo Hoo.

Okay, for starters, our 'black' players are also - sometimes - our great stars. Think Ntini - er...I know he plays cricket, and Habana and Chester Williams in both of our most successful World Cups.

The issue is a quota as a blanket over 'merit'. We need some balance here, but we all know, we all fear that the powers that be on interested in credentials, or fairness. They're interested in getting what they want. Black faces in green jerseys. To the degree that this is FORCED, we should also have Helen insist on white faces in Bafana jerseys (I think at least 3 is a reasonably target).

If this [implenting this system] is the case in rugby we can expect the sort of performance from the Boks that we're getting from the cricket team. And if we implement this with Bafana we can expect them to consistly lose to the likes of Swaziland and Lesotho. I agree we must cherish this contest. I also think Mbeki possible deserves a 10 second boo, just to remind him of who put him in power, and who could - and should - take it away. All together now...