Yunus Carrim | Ping Pong Diplomacy: SA’s Rich History of Table Tennis

When the World Table Tennis Championships are held in eThekwini, Dolphin Carrim reflects on the history of sport in the country and how it has and can continue to break down barriers.

Most sporting events, especially international ones, have social and political significance because they bring people together across class, racial, cultural, ideological and other divides.

The many international sporting events held in South Africa since 1994 have certainly had wider societal significance given our apartheid history and international isolation from global sport. With this in mind, the World Table Tennis Championships, which will be held in eThekwini from 20 to 28 May, are exceptional.

The history of table tennis in SA

Table tennis became the first sport to put the international isolation of white South African sports organizations on the global agenda. In the 1930s, the German Table Tennis Association banned Jews from representing Germany in international tournaments. The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) had to intervene in this matter. In 1936, its constitution was amended only to allow table tennis associations to “manage the field of sports in such a way that citizens may participate in it regardless of color, race or creed . . .”

It was the first international sports federation to have such a provision. The key figure behind this was Ivor Montagu, a communist, writer, film director and table tennis player who helped form the ITTF in 1926 and served as its president shortly thereafter – until 1967.

In 1948, when the whites-only South African Table Tennis Association (SATTU) applied to join the ITTF, its application was quickly rejected. Two years later it applied again, but so did the non-racial South African Table Board (SATTB), which was established in 1948. The SATTB was accepted. It was the only non-racial sports organization with an international connection. All other international sports federations in South Africa were whites only.

ANC President Albert Luthuli stated in 1956: “When people realize their plight and begin to fight together, there is certainly room for joy and optimism. The battle is fought equally on all fronts. The battle has been won by the internationally recognized SA Table Tennis Association (Board).

The government was represented at the 1955 ITTF Congress. And in 1957, a five-person team from SATTB represented the country at the World Table Tennis Championships in Sweden.

The apartheid government was outraged and banned SATTB from participating in international tournaments by refusing passports to its representatives. SATTU was extremely frustrated that its players could not participate in international tournaments without the consent of the SATTB and some attempts at dialogue went nowhere.

In the 1970s, the government joined the South African Sports Council (Sacos), which campaigned for the international isolation of the apartheid sports organization around the slogan “no normal sport in an abnormal society”. Anti-apartheid organizations inside and outside the country campaigned for isolation, and one whites-only sports federation after another was banned from international participation.

SA table tennis on the international stage

I happen to play table tennis (not that my friends and comrades would believe this) and later served on the board of SATTB, edited its newsletter “Tabten” and was often a board representative at Sacos.

Although Sacos was very effective, some of us expressed concern that its affiliates, not least the SATTB, were primarily made up of Indians and “Coloureds” and that most African sports clubs were outside its stakeholders. In 1985, a government representative developed the Sacos policy document, “Breaking Racial Boundaries.” The paper was widely accepted, and Sacos began approaching African sports federations.

But progress was slow, and in 1988 an alternative confederation of sports federations was formed – the National Sports Congress (NSC), which had more of a base in African villages. While the leadership of the NSC was oriented towards the ANC, the leadership of Sacos was oriented towards Trotskyite Unity of South Africa and the Workers’ Organization of Socialist Action.

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The differences between the two federations were based on how to approach sports organizations in African cities and ultimately political orientation. This was inevitable as the mass struggles of the 1980s intensified and politics permeated all areas of civil society. SATTB decided to join the NSC, like many other sports federations.

With the repeal of the ban on the ANC and other organizations, SATTB and SATTU began merger negotiations and in 1991-1993 the union merged with the government. That year, SATTB was represented at WTTC in Japan by its current president Joe Carrim (no relation) and Hajera Kajee, secretary.

“So there we were, two raw, inexperienced officials landing at Tokyo airport, and we hadn’t even gotten off the plane when a Japanese official rushed in and called my name and we were ushered into a big international press conference to talk about what it was like to be in international table tennis. We were totally unprepared…”

With the world’s attention on South Africa, they received a wonderful reception at the championships. “We were seen as royalty, serious royalty.”

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The number of members of the board has increased since 1991. Of its current approximately 8,000 members, approximately 60% are African. In the cities, Africans are in the minority because they are among the best players in the country. “Yes, we need to do more to represent more of the population. This World Cup will contribute to that. We chose Durban as the venue mainly because of its interesting racial mix. And the July 2021 unrest and flooding here will serve the social cohesion goals best.”

The management of the board includes three Africans, three “colored” and one white. Four are women. The vice president for change and inclusion, whose main goal is to make table tennis more popular in localities.

“But we old people now have to go through a phased transition and make room for younger people to take over.”

Carrim says they are pushing for the World Championships to be held in South Africa “to raise the profile of table tennis, to get more people, especially from municipalities, to get involved in the game”. Of course, there are big challenges in bringing sports to cities, not least the cost of equipment, but the government is determined to do more.

Carrimia is encouraged that the best players in the Juniors come from Sekhukhune, Tzaneen and Ezakheni and the women’s under-19 champion is Boipelo Mashwabi from Mangaung.

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Exhibition matches have recently been held in Umlazi, Inanda, Kwamashu, Chesterville, Tongaat and Phoenix. And the ITTF has signed an agreement with SuperSport to provide significantly more media coverage of table tennis until the end of 2024.

This is the first time the WTTC has been held in an African country since Egypt hosted it in 1939. With 227 member countries, the ITTF is the most representative sports federation worldwide. Although soccer is the world’s most popular sport, FIFA, with 211 countries, is less representative.

China, with over 80 million players, has dominated world table tennis for decades. Interestingly, more than 20 years of diplomatic and economic isolation between the United States and China were merged through table tennis – “ping-pong diplomacy” as it was called.

A table tennis exchange between the US and Chinese teams in Beijing in April 1971 broke the isolation and paved the way for US President Richard Nixon to visit China and meet with Mao Zedong.

Nixon later remarked:

Whatever the estrangement between the two countries today – the complete disintegration of the past is over, and table tennis played a role.

Both globally and in South Africa, table tennis has broken national, racial, cultural, ideological and other boundaries.

SATTB must continue this tradition and promote greater social cohesion, especially given the country’s growing economic and racial polarization. Of course, not an easy task – but it can and must be done. And that could be the permanent value of the 2023 WTTC.

– ANC MP Carrim is a former table tennis player, chaired SATTB and was active in Sacos in the sports change campaign before 1990.

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