SA demand apology over Semenya

  1. Posted on Monday 19 October 2009 - 12:30
    Mernat
    Image of Mernat
    Mernat Mafirakurewa, AfricaNews in Johannesburg, South Africa
    The task team put together to look into the Caster Semenya debacle has called upon the IAAF to apologise and declare gender tests null and void. ANC said the IAAF should apologise not only to Semenya and her family, but also to President Jacob Zuma and all South Africans for the way in which it handled the saga.
    Semenya of South Africa
    Addressing journalist, ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said Semenya's gender test had been handled badly purely because South Africa was a developing country.

    "The country is being undermined. Our view is that if Caster was an athlete from a developed country, we would not be where we are.”

    He said ANC as a ruling party was quite aggrieved and was doing all this on behalf of people who feel the same way.

    He said Semenya's gender verification tests were not conducted in accordance with the IAAF's "stated gender verification policies and rules".

    According to these rules and policies, an IAAF panel should have conducted a medical evaluation and details about the test should be kept confidential.

    One of the South Africa’s prominent personalities, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, appealed for sensitivity, saying the matter had hurt Semenya and her parents.

    “We should protect this child. She has gone through terrible emotional strain," she said.

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