The Springboks and the Proteas will be allowed to continue flying the national flag at their respective World Cups after the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport lodged an appeal to have the World Anti-Doping Agency’s non-compliance declaration lifted.
South African sports teams, including the Springboks rugby team and Proteas cricket side — which are currently participating in World Cups — may yet be allowed to continue flying the national flag and singing the national anthem after the minister of sport, arts and culture, Zizi Kodwa, “pulled out all the stops”.
As reported by Daily Maverick, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) issued a statement confirming that South Africa had not updated its anti-doping code and had fallen foul of Wada’s mandatory compliance requirements, for which it now faced consequences.
These consequences include not being able to participate in sporting events under the South African flag.
Wada’s revised anti-doping code came into effect on 1 January 2021 and all member countries were expected to update their anti-doping regulations to align with the new code. To date, more than 700 sporting bodies and federations have done so.
South Africa and Bermuda are the only two nations that failed to update their anti-doping codes before the deadline.
“The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and I have pulled out all the stops to resolve the non-compliance by getting the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (Saids) Amendment Bill adopted expeditiously,”…
