STATEMENT OF THE ANC CASTER SEMENYA SUPPORT TEAM

The ANC has established a task team to give concrete and practical support to Caster Semenya and her family.

The team lead by the ANC Secretary General comprises of the ANC Youth League and the ANC Women's League.  It is further constituted by amongst others senior ANC NEC members including Cde Winnie Madikizela Mandela and Doctor Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.

It is the ANC view that Caster Semenya has been victimised and subjected to unnecessary public scrutiny, thus denying her rights, thereby undermining her dignity.

The Caster Semenya Support Team will mobilise the South African civil society, our government, corporate South Africa, and the South Africa sporting fraternity in ensuring that;

• Caster and her family are afforded redress by all those who violated her rights during and in the aftermath of her gender testing;
• Caster and her family are given professional help so as to deal with the implications of her gender testing;
• Caster continues to advance her exceptional talent as a female athlete of international repute;
• South Africa, the continent and the world celebrate Caster's victory in Berlin. The saga around her gender testing has robbed us the celebration of her victory as well as the victories of Mulaudzi and Mokoena.

Tomorrow, Tuesday October 6th, the team lead by the ANC Secretary General, Gwede Mantashe will meet with Caster's family in Moletjie, Masehlong Village, outside Polokwane in Limpopo. This will enable the ANC to consult the family and get their views on the content of the support we intend giving. On the same day, the task team will meet Caster at the University of Pretoria.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the ANC YL for the sterling support to Caster and her family. In the same breath, we call upon all South Africans to take up the Caster support campaign. The ANC has established a contact facility in which members of the public can support the initiatives. The contacts are:

Tel: (011) 376 1052
Fax: 086 658 1053
E-mail: [email protected]

Statement issued by Jackson Mthembu, ANC National Spokesperson, October 5 2009

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