Johannesburg — MOSS Mashishi, the outgoing president of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), yesterday cast his vote in favour of the continued presence of the Springbok emblem in South African sport.

Mashishi, who was the president of Sascoc, SA's macro sports body, for its first four years - before being voted out at the Sascoc quadrennial general meeting on Saturday - said that the Springbok was an important symbol from SA's past and needed to be retained.

"I think the current solution, with the Springbok on the right and the protea on the left, is absolutely the right solution to this problem.

"As a nation we have a very divided history. We are, in fact, in a unique position among the sporting nations of the world in that respect.

"We need to keep that in mind and, at the same time, we need to make sure that we keep what is good from our past and take what is good into the future. So keeping the Springbok and using the protea in conjunction with it is, to my mind, a very good solution."

Asked if he thought th e campaign to destroy the Springbok had been fair, Mashishi said the issue was now in the past and South African sport had to look at the future. "We must not dwell on the things that divide us. We must concentrate on the future."

Mashishi, who lost by just three votes to National Lotteries Board sports distribution fund chairman Gideon Sam, in the vote for the presidency, said he had absolutely no problem with the outcome.

"We had an electoral process, it was properly run and we have to respect that at all costs. I am not bitter in any way and I wish Gideon the best.

"We are meeting on Thursday to discuss issues I think he needs to know about going forward, and I will tell him that if he ever feels he needs to call me for help on any issue I will be only too pleased to be of assistance."

However, Mashishi said he did not believe four years in charge at Sascoc had been enough.

"I don't think four years is enough in any federation and we had especially difficult things to accomplish, like absorbing two other organisations into our structure.

"But we still did accomplish a number of things that I think we can be proud of.

"We presented 14 teams for international competition during my time -- Olympic, Commonwealth, All-Africa and other teams -- and I think we have laid the groundwork for Sascoc to go from strength to strength.

Mashishi said he needed to concentrate on other things now that he had been voted out at Sascoc, and that he would not be looking for any other involvement in sport.

"... I have been involved for 20 years. During that time I have perhaps not given as much time as I should have to my family and to my business.

"I intend to concentrate on these things now that I can."