Sport Minister Makhenkesi Stofile has put his weight behind Luke Watson's controversial inclusion in the Springbok training camp.
Stofile said in parliament on Wednesday that anybody watching rugby last year would have recognised that his invitation to the camp was based on merit.
"You talk about Luke Watson having to prove himself on the field. Where were you last year?" he asked African Christian Democratic Party MP Cheryllyn Dudley during a debate on the National Sport and Recreation Amendment Bill.
"At the end of the season last year, the Super 14 teammates of Luke Watson - not me, his teammates - nominated and subsequently elected him as the best Super 14 player for 2006," Stofile said after Dudley argued that Watson's last-minute inclusion in the squad was as a result of political interference.
The ACDP, along with the Democratic Alliance and Freedom Front Plus, opposed the adoption of the controversial bill. Primarily designed to fast-track transformation, it allows the minister of sport to intervene in disputes that might bring South African sport into disrepute.
Addressing the National Assembly, Stofile tried to reassure opposition MPs that this did not mean he would intervene in team selection, but he recognised that transformation could not be left to "chance and market forces" alone.
"Chairperson, we will not select South African teams, we shall not dictate who should be elected to lead the federations of our country, but we will adjudicate when this national asset of sport is being wasted and demeaned.
"Those who have always enjoyed privileges are not going to feel very comfortable with this bill."