Netball South Africa (NSA) president Cecilia Molokwane wants the Netball Proteas to fully reflect the demographics of the country when they host the 2023 World Cup in Cape Town.

The senior team is captained by Bongiwe Msomi but is dominated by white players and the trend of expected to continue when coach Dorette Badenhorst announces the squad to face Uganda in Cape Town next month.

Molokwane‚ in a wide ranging interview with TimesLive during the Spar National Championships currently underway in Bela-Bela‚ said it is possible to assemble a national team that is fully inclusive.

“I will be a happy president if the team that will be representing us at the 2023 World Cup in Cape Town will be reflecting the demographics of the country‚” she said.

“It is 100 percent possible if you want it badly. We see how hungry all these players are here at the National Championships and it was the same during the Telkom Netball League (TNL) in Mangaung.”

Molokwane went on to say that she expects resistance from certain sectors of society but they must follow what government prescribes.

“To me race cannot play a major role in sport‚ what we should do now is to follow what government is saying and government is saying that we should reflect the demographics of the country. We shouldn’t reflect the demographics of the country by mouth‚ we must go and work to make sure it happens in reality.

“We owe it to the volunteers that are down there at grassroots level and to the country to make it happen. Let’s tell the truth‚ in every province there are black‚ white‚ coloures‚ Indians everywhere‚ whose responsibility is it to go and find those players that love the sport. When you look at schools‚ how many are playing netball. There are a lot of them‚ even in rural areas because the only sport they know is football and netball.

“Those who doesn’t play netball sometimes is because they don’t have facilities. How we reach those people is key‚ hence when we came into office we said we are taking netball back to the people. There was a reason for saying that because netball is where people are and you cannot wait for the mountain to come to you‚ you have to go to the mountain.

“When you work people will see mistakes and when you don’t work nobody will see mistakes. AfriForum and everybody are pushing us to work hard because the more we work the more we make mistakes.”

“I don’t take everything that is thrown at us as negative‚ I think and reflect on it and see whether this person is doing it with a good intention or he is doing it with a malicious intention. Your taste and my taste is not the same‚ we might eat the same bread but how it tastes is not the same.”