AfriForum: Away with racial quotas; focus on access to facilities and coaching   

3 August 2021  

Cricket SA succumbed to government pressure and political interference by making racism structurally part of South African cricket. This is the opinion of AfriForum at a verbal submission before CSA’s Social Justice and Nation Building (SJN) panel. AfriForum was invited to appear before the panel after the organisation had made a written submission before the committee earlier this year. 

According to Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, his organisation strongly opposes any form of racism and racial quotas in sport. He believes that the focus should rather be on attempts to ensure that every young athlete has access to facilities and coaching. “This is the only way to fully develop the country’s talent and to prevent the violation of the dignity of players already at school level through race-based team selection,” Kriel says. 

AfriForum presented a six-point plan for sport development as alternative to quotas to the SJN panel. “When AfriForum’s six-point plan for sport development is applied and political agendas are avoided, the true empowering of communities and people can commence. Sport has the ability to join communities, but political interference in sport runs the risk of separating communities,” says Ronald Peters, Manager of AfriForum Sport. 

“Racial quotas are immoral, violates players’ dignity and exacerbates inequality. Moreover, it violates the regulations of international sport bodies. It is detrimental to sport in its entirety,” says Ernst van Zyl, Campaigns Officer for strategy and content at AfriForum. 

AfriForum’s submission attached,

Issued by Chanté Kelder, Media Relations Officer, AfriForum, 3 August 2021