Cape Town - Plans to introduce a formal doping testing programme at schools have hit a snag after legal challenges were revealed this month.
But the SA Institute for Drug-free Sport (Saids), which is spearheading the initiative, says the new hurdle is not insurmountable.
At the beginning of the year, in an attempt to eradicate a growing trend of steroid and drug use in schools, the institute announced that a new anti-doping programme would be rolled out at schools across South Africa.
The programme would allow schools to initiate unscheduled drug tests, conducted by Saids, on pupils suspected of doping to gain an edge in sport.
Pupils found guilty of using banned chemicals could be suspended or even expelled.
Dave Mallett, Bishops’ rugby coach, said in January: “The time is right. The use of performance-enhancing drugs in school rugby is a modern phenomenon. As school rugby becomes more popular, as more games are given live coverage, players begin to feel this enormous pressure to perform.”
However, Gustaf Pienaar, head of rugby at Rondebosch Boys’ High, expressed concern over the legality of the initiative.
The programme was set to be introduced by the end of this month, but the institute’s chief executive, Khalid Galant, said it had run into a legal barrier.
“We found out that, by law, the tool (lab) used for testing the learners has to be at the school.”
Saids makes use of a laboratory based in Bloemfontein that is just one of 32 in the world equipped to properly test suspected dopers.
“It has the most sensitive screening system and will never turn up a false positive… In an issue as sensitive as doping among learners, this is very important.”
He said the institute’s lawyers were working towards a solution and he expected the matter to be resolved soon.
Galant said many schools were getting agitated by the long wait, which was a positive sign, because it showed that there was a large amount of interest in cleaning up sport.
The programme is set to be introduced later this year.
Cape Argus