Discriminatory racial quotas violate rights and performance opportunities at u/16 Grant Khomo Week

29 June 2023

AfriForum is aware of a decision that was made to disqualify the Western Province u/16 team from the finals of the Grant Khomo Week due to the team failing to meet the racial quotas of the tournament. The civil rights organisation sent a letter to the South African Rugby Union (SARU) to request that they intervene and address this discriminatory decision.

Information obtained indicates that the Western Province u/16 team obliged with the racial quotas at the start of the tournament, but due to injuries had no other choice but to field the best team available to them. Ronald Peters, manager of AfriForum Sport, explains that the fact that a decision was made to deprive this team from the opportunity to participate in the tournament’s final, purely based on racial quotas, is discriminatory and unfair on many levels.

“AfriForum is strongly opposed to any racial discrimination as it deprives individuals of the opportunity to compete purely based on the colour of their skin. SARU launched its Rugby Against Discrimination And Racism (RADAR) campaign in 2019, highlighting SARU’s zero tolerance to discrimination and racism in rugby. Therefore, we believe that this act of discrimination against a team of minor rugby players, violates the core values of this campaign and should be addressed urgently,” says Peters.

AfriForum requests that SARU’s management provide feedback on the steps that they will be taking to ensure that such decisions will not be repeated in the future.

Issued by Ronald Peters, Manager: Sport, AfriForum, 29 June 2023