Sport and Racism

In South Africa, racism and sports have been intertwined right from the end of World War II, largely due to apartheid, which crushed the hopes of so many sportsmen of color (for example, see "The First Great Indian Golfer" below this post). But even though apartheid is long gone, racism is very much still a big factor in South African sport. Post the Springboks first World Cup triumph in 1995, many legislators voiced to the country's rugby federation to take the opportunity to showcase South Africa's racial mix. The debate of racial quotas has been raging ever since.
Sports is undoubtedly an ambassador for a country in its own way, basically because more people tune into watch a mega sporting event than any news program presenting the the visit of an "official" ambassador from another nation. The South African government certainly tried to take advantage of this to show that they were well and truly over apartheid and that blacks from the country had as much scope in sports as the whites. But, in following a selection process that includes race as an important attribute, are they running the risk of fielding teams consisting of players that don't deserve to be a part of it based on their abilities?
This topic first hit the Indian sporting circles back in 2005, when South African-born English cricketer Kevin Pietersen hit three centuries in their tour ODI series on their of South Africa, and in turn picked up the Man of the Series award. Whenever the Barmy Army would give Pietersen a standing ovation for his heroics as he would walk back to the dressing room on being dismissed, the home fans would stand up and show their backs to him, calling him traitor for having left his home country. But Pietersen didn't bother about his reception, and never said he made a wrong decision to change in nationality. He hailed that, despite some amazing performances, including a warm-up match against Naseer Hussain's England side in 1999, when he took four wickets and scored 61runs batting at No.9, he was dropped from his state's first team. He was never shy to say that he believed this was because of the racial quota system. He moved to Britain searching the opportunities he believed he deserved.
Now back to rugby. Unlike cricket, which adhered to the government's desire to field a team of diverse races, the rugby federation never let the officials interfere with the team's composition. Due to their stand, the Government has always been at odds with the federation. At one stage, the head of the parliament's sports ministry even suggested to impound the Springbok's passports till they take a more favorable stand to their desires. Although the team won the recently held World Cup, it wouldn't have gone unnoticed to the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, that when he congratulated both the English and his country's team, that Engalnd had as many black players as the Springbok's had. Whether that would result in a push by the South African administration to bring in more black players into the team, or accept that the the best crop are the ones wearing the country's colours at the moment, remains to be seen.