A kid in a sand pit screaming...

Have you ever watch two young kids in a sand pit fighting over a toy? Well they will both kick and scream convinced that its theirs, when an adult has to come in and make a clear authoritative judgment on who the toy actually belongs to.

I would like to now introduce our beloved Sports Minister, Mr. Makhenkesi Stofile.... the child in question.

Recently, after the Springbok emblem saga began he claimed "that SA Rugby is using the Springbok emblem illegally, as it has failed to renew its licence to use it (the emblem). Stofile has told Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Sport that his department is the rightful owner and manager of the Springbok trademark, the King Protea. Stofile told the committee during the presentation of his department's annual report that legal action to recover royalties owed by SA Rugby for the alleged unauthorised use of the emblem is at an advanced stage".

Ok fine, its yours, take it.

But wait!

"The Springbok emblem belongs to SA Rugby and it will be their property until 2016 at least. One of South Africa's leading intellectual property legal firms, Spoor and Fisher, checked the Register of Trademarks (which is something I would have thought stofile and co would have thought to do before reaching an ADVANCED stage in their movement against SA rugby). Doctor Owen Dean from the firm agrees with former South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) President, Louis Luyt, that the union registered the trademark in 1996. Sarfu is now defunct but, one of the two bodies it spawned, SA Rugby Union and SA Rugby, now owns the trademark."

I’m sorry, I just can’t help it. Minister, either you are a complete IDIOT!

Presently because you did not go to appropriate lawyers to confirm your FACTS before launching into a public forum claiming you are owed money blah blah etc etc. Who ever told you that you owned it, fire them! While you are at it RESIGN! Surely at your level, with your connections, this many years in the “game”, you seriously should have the competency enough to find out details of a theory before claiming them as fact.

My concern ironically is less about the bok emblem, and even less about your need to fight, its more about how stupid you make your government position, your ministry and our country look. You are, after all, a representative of this great country and you are not doing a very good job of it. If you have a conviction, I can't hold it against you, but if you go about following that conviction to the point of stupidity, then you are just a kid in a sand pit screaming "ITS MINE!!!".