South African national teams will for the time being still be allowed to fly the national flag in the rugby and cricket world cup tournaments until the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) makes a ruling.
The announcement was made by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) after fears of a ban. Wada has now taken the matter to CAS in Switzerland.
The South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (Saids) had challenged a move by Wada that would have resulted in the national flag not being allowed to be flown in international sporting events because SA’s anti-doping legislation did not comply with that of Wada.
Reads Wada’s statement on the matter: “Wada has received formal notification from the National Anti-Doping Organisation of South Africa that it disputes the allegation of non-compliance against it, as well as the proposed consequences.
“Wada will shortly refer the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for its consideration. As such, the allegation of non-compliance is put on hold and the consequences will not apply until such time as CAS makes its ruling.”
On Tuesday, Minister of Sport Zizi Kodwa told the media that he instructed Saids to challenge Wada’s non-compliance declaration, citing that he believed that the sanctions were not appropriate and the grounds for appeal were strong.
The SA men’s cricket team members, who are in India for the World Cup, would have played their match against the Netherlands on Tuesday under the ban.
Kodwa stressed that his department would get to the bottom of the matter once it has been finalised.
“The only appropriate thing for me is to investigate what happened. I don’t think it’s appropriate to make speculations,” Kodwa said.
“It’s not a blame game, the issue about who is responsible will need to come a bit later. What I’m looking for now is to ensure that South Africa remains compliant.
“There are many events that are coming and happening at the moment, which has created a bit of anxiety and hysteria. We want to find a permanent solution.”
The minister said the country’s commitment to anti-doping is unquestionable.
“Let’s make sure [that] we amend the provisions, so that we are compliant. It’s not about buying time. Off course we have to do certain things in certain allowed time frames in our law-making process.”
South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) president Barry Hendricks said the committee is worried over what this means for smaller federations.
However, he remains confident that the matter can be resolved.
“There’s a focus on the top four sports and Sascoc has 74 members and all of them are highly concerned,” Hendricks said.
“The process that we are following is to assist all of those federations to travel to the events, sing the anthem, wear the colours, so we’ll be doing all of these things while the process is taking place.”
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