Gyms and fitness trainers will be answerable to a new body that will be set up by the minister of sport, under a new draft law – with the power to close down gyms and suspend the registration of fitness professionals if they break the rules.
The Fitness Industry Regulatory Authority is one proposal in the draft National Sport and Recreation Amendment Bill published for public comment in December. The law is intended to give the minister of sport more direct control of sporting codes and to create various new bodies, including one to regulate “combat sport” and a Sport Arbitration Tribunal.
But the change with the biggest impact would be the fitness regulator, which under the current draft has wide powers and responsibilities that seem to cover pretty much anything resembling a gym, and anyone who helps others get and stay fit in exchange for money.
If passed, the law would allow the minister of sport, currently Nathi Mthethwa, to e
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