Mbeki targets sport after setbacks

South African President Thabo Mbeki pledged on Friday to promote sport, saying disappointing performances by his country's teams had hurt the nation's morale.

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In his weekly letter to the ruling African National Congress, and as the world's top golfers battled it out in a South African tournament, Mbeki said sport had lost out since the country emerged from decades of apartheid rule in 1994.

"It would seem clear that in the period since our liberation we have not paid as much attention to the development of sport in our country as we should have," he said.

"This surely has to be one of the challenges to which we must dedicate our Second Decade of Liberation," added Mbeki, due to stand next year for a second five-year term.

Mbeki attended the opening of the prestigious Presidents Cup on Thursday along with former U.S. President George Bush. Mbeki took up golf this year and has in the past said he hopes to play against George W. Bush.

"The Presidents Cup takes place not long after we did not do as well in recent international sports meetings as we thought we would and should," he said.

"These include the cricket World Cup, the rugby World Cup and the African Games. When we do not perform as well as we think we should have, this affects the national morale in ways that many of us can neither hide nor deny."

In just under a decade since democratic elections ended years in the international sporting wilderness, South Africa has hosted the rugby and cricket World Cups and the All-Africa Games.

The newborn "Rainbow nation" watched enthralled as its rugby side stormed to victory on home turf in 1995, with new President Nelson Mandela becoming the players' hero after donning the green jersey with an easy style Mbeki has struggled to emulate.

But the performance of cricket and rugby sides in this year's World Cups have been below par. Both sports have been tarnished by race disputes and other scandals such as match-fixing by late cricket captain Hansie Cronje.

The rugby side returned from their quarter-final exit in the World Cup in Australia to face a probe into allegations of racism among players and photos of naked players at a boot camp of the type more often used to train elite soldiers than professional sportsmen.

In soccer, South Africa is campaigning to host the 2010 World Cup.