Bryan Habana is rated as the best winger in the world

The government's sports committee met with rugby officials on Tuesday to voice its displeasure at the number of black players playing at the top level.

"Sport can't escape the broad picture," said chairman Butana Komphela.

Quotas have been a thorny issue in South African sport since the end of apartheid in 1994.

The South Africa Rugby Union (SARU) does not operate a formal quota system with regard to the national team, although there is an unwritten rule that the Springboks will not field an all-white team.

606: DEBATE You should choose the best 22 players for the squad and send them out to play the game CC

South Africa coach Jake White included several black players for the recent 2-0 series win over England, including Bryan Habana, Ricky Januarie, Gurthro Steenkamp and Ashwin Willemse.

Rugby bosses defended their commitment to change, insisting the problem was partly a consequence of the addition of a fifth South African team in Super 14, spreading the number of black players even thinner.

Komphela added: "Sport cannot be excluded from imperatives of empowerment and transformation."

ANC MP Tsietsi Louw said that black players were being held back from reaching their true potential.

I am not happy with the pace of transformation SARU president Oregon Hoskins

"There is a deliberate political agenda to keep these black players where they are," he said.

"Only three or four will (succeed)."

SARU president Oregan Hoskins agreed there were problems with the current system.

"I am not happy with the pace of transformation," he said.

"We will endeavour to do the best we can in what are sometimes difficult and trying circumstances."

But the committee complained that SARU had been saying similar things for many years.

Watson made his international debut against Samoa

The issue developed a bizarre twist last week, with Hoskins intervening to ensure the selection of white player Luke Watson in the team to face Samoa.

The Stormers flanker is the son of famous anti-apartheid activist Cheeky Watson, a white rugby player who refused to play for the Springboks during the apartheid years.

White has insisted that Luke Watson is too small for international rugby, but politicians have said that he should be considered a black player and given selection preference.

Recent reports in South Africa have suggested a radical change after the World Cup, with speculation that a team consisting of at least 10 black players will be named under a new coach.