The effect of sport boycott and social change in South Africa : a historical perspective, 1955-2005 / P. Nongogo

Nongogo, Philani

Edited by [s.n.] - 2011

This study examines the effect of sport boycott in South Africa; a country with a long history of racial discrimination. The struggle for political freedoms and all-inclusive-and-non-racial sport was intertwined. The former colonial power and major investor, Britain was strategic to-and-targeted for black people’s diplomatic efforts after the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910. By 1940s, however, a comprehensive campaign against apartheid was undertaken by the Africa National Congress and Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM). The oppressed majority’s hope for-and-focus on British support had shifted to the United Nations and newly-independent African states. Non-racial sport movement approached the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Federations. South Africa’s official participation in the Olympic Games between 1908 and 1960; racially discriminated against blacks sportspersons and resistance to this was observed in the mid-1940s. Radical struggle was, however, started in the 1950s; illustrated by the emergence of AAM and sport boycott campaigns. These campaigns were continued until controversially abandoned in the early 1990s, paving way for South Africa’s re-admission into the Olympic family in 1992. This literature study utilized the IOC Archives. It sought to analyse the effect of sport boycott in South Africa and social change thereof, in relation to the IOC’s attitude, response and actions towards apartheid sport in contrast to that of the non-racial sport proponents. This study is grounded in a qualitative, historical descriptive research design, with the aim of generating a body of literature and contextualising sport boycott campaigns in the period under investigation.

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