Political correctness has reared its ugly head and is targeting the South African Paralympic team competing in Athens.
It is believed that a parliamentary committee has targeted the name of the team, Amakrokokroko, as being derogatory and wants to force Disabled Sport South Africa (Dissa) to drop it.
The name means "wrecks".
The team gave themselves the nickname during the successful campaign at the Paralympic Games in Atlanta, poking fun at themselves and celebrating their disabilities instead of trying to ignore them.
It was a reflection of the Amabokoboko chant that went up around the country after the Springboks won the Rugby World Cup in 1995.
The athletes and team managers felt that they needed a marketable name and Amakrokokroko took off, being used in Nike campaigns and entering the South African language as an accepted word.
In this Paralympics, the South African team has been given added motivation with bonuses of R1-million in cash and kit to be among the rewards for medals brought home.
Among the sponsors are major corporations including DaimlerChrysler, Dimension Data, Nedbank, Nike, Pick 'n Pay, South African Airways, SABC Sport, Sport and Recreation South Africa, Sun International, Telkom and Vodacom.
Funding has also come from the National Lottery Fund.
There have been some in the disabled community who have criticised the name.
In a letter to a Cape newspaper, one disabled person wrote that the name was "disgusting, humiliating and infuriating".
"Why must the disabled community have to hide behind a facade of jokes and the opinionated views of others, when they have so often proved that, despite losing a limb, their brains remain fully functional," the writer said.
Peter Goldhawk, the president of Disabled Sport South Africa, could not be reached for comment on Monday night, but a Dissa insider said that "disabled athletes around the country would be prepared to "fight to the death" to ensure that they keep the name.
It is understood that the athletes of the Amakrokokroko will show a similar resistance to any name change.
The parliamentarians apparently have raised objections because they feel the name puts too much focus on the "krokokroko" bit of the name and not enough on the "ama" bit - that there is too much focus on the disabled aspects of the disabled athletes and not their abilities.
On Tuesday Beeld newspaper reports that Butana Khompela, the African National Congress chairperson of parliament's portfolio committee on sport and recreation, said the committee would try to come up with a name that did not reflect the disabilities of people.
Khompela, himself disabled, said the name was disliked in senior government circles.
But many disabled people believe increasing awareness of disabilities is as important in educating the able-bodied about the difficulties in access experienced by the disabled as is any medal ceremony at the end of the day.
This is not the first time that such an attack has been launched on the Amakrokokroko name.
A few years ago the chairperson of a parliamentary sub-committee blamed the media for concocting the name.
However, one person closely involved with the South African Paralympic team said on Monday night: "The government are going to take on the Amakrokokroko? They haven't got a chance in hell."