Chairperson, hon Members of Parliament, the SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport Amendment Bill comes at a very important time, a time when there is a global fight against doping in sport, a fight aimed at promoting the values of fair play and honesty in sport.
About four months ago, this House passed a resolution for our country to ratify the International Convention Against Doping in Sport. This Unesco- driven initiative is based on the World Anti-Doping Code which was drafted by the World Anti-Doping Agency, whose acronym is Wada.
One of the principal functions of the Bill before the House is to align the existing Act with the provisions of the World Anti-Doping Code and its international standards. Let me point out that noncompliance would result in South Africa being refused participation in international sport, including the Olympics and the Paralympic Games. I, as I stand here, know of no South African who would like this to happen, yet we read and hear on a regular basis how some of the top sportspeople in the world, some of the world record holders test positive for using performance-enhancing substances.
Only yesterday, we heard of two top cricketers in Pakistan, Mr Akhtar and Mr Asif, who tested positive. Let me say that this is sad news, because doping undermines the spirit of fair play and it undermines discipline in sport. Our own country hasn't escaped the scourge of doping. We read of our own heroes like Hezekiel Sepeng who has fallen foul of doping offences.
A few weeks ago the leading article on the front page of the Rapport read "Skolesportskande", referring to doping amongst schoolboy rugby players. The article described how parents bought banned substances for their children so that they could be selected for the provincial schools teams, with the hope eventually of getting a contract with one of the senior provincial unions.
Carte Blanche did an expos on their programme on 24 September 2006, where young people, many of them still at school, admitted to using steroids and revealed that the practice was widespread in some of our schools. One does not need to be a rocket scientist to determine the reason why top sportspeople resort to doping, because doping is nothing else but cheating to achieve success and the driving force here is money.
What is shocking is that this greed for money leads people to totally disregard the long-term consequences of such behaviour. We all have a responsibility to ensure that the true values and virtues of sport are protected and preserved. I am sure that I do not have to stand here today to expound on the good of sport. Unfortunately there is also the ugly side of sport. This Bill aims to reinforce our commitment to clean up sport and ensure fair play.
Clause 5 of the Bill, which seeks to amend section 10 of the principal Act, compels the SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport to establish a doping control programme in compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code to ensure that national federations adopt and implement the antidoping policies and rules, which conform with the Code's, the policies and rules; ensure the ongoing presence and maintenance of a Wada-accredited laboratory in South Africa - and in our case, it is in the only "free state" in this country, in Bloemfontein; ensure that while the institute might co-operate with Sport and Recreation SA and Sascoc as needed, it shall operate independently as required by the World Anti-Doping Code.
The SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport, Saids, a public entity associated with Sport and Recreation SA, will have to be sufficiently funded to redouble its efforts aimed at counteracting this unwelcome tendency of doping. The testing programme of Saids, their antidoping advocacy and education campaign will have to be intensified to achieve the required successes.