Trade union Solidarity and civil rights organisation AfriForum will announce this strategy at an anti-quota conference. At this conference court papers and its content will be discussed as well as the organisations’ legal strategy regarding quotas.
The conference is being organised – a date will be announce soon – after both organisations obtained information in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) from the sports ministry.
According to Solidarity Deputy Chief Executive Johan Kruger, the PAIA application was brought after the ministry had announced that certain sports federations would henceforth not be allowed to host international sporting events if they do not comply with targets set by the department. “The information obtained indicates that the ministry’s transformation targets are nothing but a quota system, a system based on the absolute pursuit of numerical targets in accordance with race, a practice which is both unconstitutional and unlawful,” Kruger explained.
According to AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel, merit has to be the only criterion when sports teams are selected. “The implementation of sport quotas in South Africa is in contravention of numerous international agreements South Africa has signed and ratified. It is also ironical that the ruling party is implementing sports quotas nowadays while it had made out a case to international sports bodies in 1970 that sportsmen should only be judged on merit,” Kriel said.
Solidarity and AfriForum say in a joint statement they will not only take action but put an end to quotas in sport.
