The 15-year-old dogma went in just a phonecall

I turned on the television news the other day and heard former South African president Thabo Mbeki deliver a speech wherein he maintained that sport could unite the world. He was addressing a summit on racism.
I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment, which might or might not have been misplaced.
For the first time I met Mbeki, sport was the subject we talked about. It was in Lusaka, Zambia, in 1990. I had gone to the ANC headquarters in the city and was chatting to Tom Sabina, the Press officer, when a short man with a beard and pipe walked in.
He said he was Thabo Mbeki. I introduced myself and mentioned that I had reported on the treason trial of his father, Govan Mbeki, 26 years before.
Without much ado, Mbeki asked me what I thought of the ANC’s edict that there could be “no normal sport in an abnormal South African society”. This was in line with a slogan coined in the Seventies by the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (Sanroc).
I said I believed the stipulation was counter-productive and obstructive because it suggested that nothing in South African society should change until everything changed. I said it ignored the reality of the situation because there had been normalisation in certain sports like athletics and some football leagues.
Thabo Mbeki suggested I come back after lunch. When I did, he announced that the ANC was prepared to waive the “no normal sport in an abnormal society” stipulation.
Tom Sabina later told me that Mbeki had been in touch during the lunch period with Olive Tambo, the ANC president, in London.
Thus 15 years of dogma went in a single telephone call. Just like that.