Swimming and hockey face losing government funding if they fail to adequately explain to sport minister Nathi Mthethwa by the end of the week why they missed their transformation targets.

The ministry said in a statement the minister was taking action after the Eminent Persons Group scorecard showed that both federations had scored less than 50% on their self-set transformation targets.

“They now have an obligation of making a representation as to why the minister should not impose on of more of the enforcement measures.”

Punitive measures‚ according to the ministry‚ included the withdrawal or suspension of government funding.

Others are revoking their right to host international tournaments; withdrawing their right to award national colours; and‚ withdrawing their recognition as national federations.

The ministry said Mthethwa was meeting with individual federations to engage on the EPG report findings.

Nine of the 18 sports bodies audited by the EPG failed their transformation tests. Like swimming and hockey‚ athletics‚ rowing‚ amateur boxing‚ bowls‚ chess‚ volleyball and jukskei all scored less than 50%.

The big three sports — soccer‚ cricket and rugby — beat the 50% yardstick‚ but Mthethwa pointed out cricket had only received “conditional approval” because they had fared “poorly on African representation”.

“However they did achieve 70% of their self-set barometer targets‚ which is higher than the 50% required to avoid penalty imposition‚” read the statement.

“By the end of the week‚ these three federations are required to give a convincing motivation as to why the minister should not consider enforcing transformation‚ as per the above penalties.”

The statement didn’t say when Mthethwa would meet officials from the other federations.