NATIONAL HORSERACING AUTHORITY REJECTS ALL NSPCA WELFARE PROPOSALS WITHOUT EXPLANATION
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The NSPCA says the National Horseracing Authority has rejected every welfare proposal it submitted for the 2025-26 rules cycle and refused to provide any reasoning for the rejections. The announcement came two days before the R10 million Hollywoodbets Durban July.
The National Horseracing Authority’s response to the NSPCA’s welfare proposals amounts to a blanket rejection without explanation. More significantly, it broke an undertaking to genuinely consider the proposals and claimed legal exemption from having to provide reasons. The sequence reveals a governance failure that raises questions about racing’s accountability for animal welfare.
What the NSPCA proposed and what the NHA undertook
The NSPCA submitted four categories of welfare amendment proposals for the 2025-26 rules cycle: riding crop limitations, a tongue-tie ban, formalised data collection on young horses entering racing, and stronger alignment with the Animals Protection Act 71 of 1962. These proposals followed the NSPCA’s 2025 ‘Rein in the Pain’ campaign, which drew public attention to the NHA’s failure to engage on racehorse welfare.
In response to that campaign, the NHA requested two meetings with the NSPCA, attended by successive NHA chairpersons. The authority undertook to genuinely consider the NSPCA’s submissions, but not one proposal was accepted. When the NSPCA requested written reasons for the rejections, the NHA responded by claiming it had placed the submissions before its Rules Committee and National Board and that this discharged its undertaking. The NHA further stated it does not consider itself an administrator under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000 and therefore bears no legal obligation to furnish reasons.
The gap between racing and other equestrian disciplines
All FEI equestrian disciplines have banned tongue ties since 2004 on welfare grounds. Scientific evidence shows the devices restrict natural airway function and cause stress responses. Yet in South African racing, tongue ties continue to be used routinely.
Riding crop use tells a similar story. International jurisdictions have progressively restricted or eliminated crop use: Norway has banned it, France limits jockeys to four strikes, Germany has banned it on welfare grounds. The NHA has moved from 12 permitted strikes to 10, with no phase-out commitment and no scientific basis provided for where the limit should ultimately land. Scientific evidence confirms that the nerve endings in horse skin are comparable in concentration to those in human skin, making crop strikes measurable sources of pain and stress.
The NSPCA argues this gap is not simply a regulatory technicality. Dr Bryce Marock, the NSPCA’s Consulting Veterinarian, said the NHA’s refusal to account for its decisions makes it impossible to understand how proposals were assessed or why they were rejected. Without reasoning, an undertaking to consider welfare views carries no weight.
The legal question
The NSPCA holds enforcement powers over animal protection in South Africa as a matter of law, a mandate affirmed by the Constitutional Court. The organisation characterises the NHA’s refusal to account for decisions affecting animal welfare not as a governance technicality but as a question of whether racing provides the animal protection the law requires.
The NSPCA has warned the NHA that its proposals are submitted in the NSPCA’s law enforcement capacity to prevent suffering and contraventions under the Animals Protection Act. With that warning issued, the NSPCA has signalled it may pursue other recourse, including referral for criminal prosecution where contraventions of the act are identified in racing conduct.
What happens now
The proposals were rejected for the 2025-26 rules cycle and cannot be revisited until the next cycle. With the NHA having declined to provide reasons, the NSPCA has flagged potential criminal prosecution referrals as an available recourse.
Source
NSPCA statement: No Reasons Given: Horseracing Authority Rejects All NSPCA Horse Welfare Proposals. 2 July 2026. https://nspca.co.za/no-reasons-given-horseracing-authority-rejects-all-nspca-horse-welfare-proposals/