AfriForum Youth acts against SASA discrimination
On 27 February 2019 AfriForum Youth instructed its legal team to direct a letter to South African Schools Athletics (SASA) after a letter was issued by SASA in which this body forces stricter transformation targets on its provincial bodies.
SASA’s letter mentions among other things that each school athletics team must include a minimum of 40% of athletes from a previously disadvantaged demographic. Certain opportunities on both secondary and primary school levels are reserved solely for previously disadvantaged learners and it is pertinently said that these athletes need to adhere to any other prerequisites.
AfriForum Youth intends to support athletes, parents and coaches who are disadvantaged by this discrimination.
In their legal letter AfriForum Youth addressed the directed questions to SASA:
- If a black child is in a private school or former model C school, was the child previously disadvantaged?
- How is ‘previously disadvantaged’ determined? If according to race, how is the race determined?
- What is SASA’s definition of previously disadvantaged persons?
“We are firmly convinced that the previously disadvantaged – to which SASA’s letter refers – will be used to exclude athletes who would otherwise have made the team on merit, based on race. We cannot allow children being exposed to racial discrimination,” says Henk Maree, Head of AfriForum Youth.
AfriForum Youth encourages parents and coaches to oppose this discrimination together. Send an email to henk.maree@afriforum.co.za or SMS your name to 32687 (R1).
