The South African government warned on Thursday that demands for an overhaul of the racial make-up of the Springboks would not be silenced, even if they win this weekend’s Rugby World Cup final.
Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba told Parliament that coach Jake White’s charges were still not representative of the nation, 13 years after the fall of the whites-only apartheid regime.
”After the Springboks win the World Cup on Saturday, as they will, they will come back to a nation that is unwavering in its demand for transformation,” said Gigaba.
”We cannot relent until the Springbok team is representative.”
Thirteen of the team picked to start against England at the Stade de France are white, even though white people account for barely 10% of South Africa’s 48-million population.
Gigaba said much work remained to be done to ensure ”black people have a right too … to participate in the Springboks and represent their country”.
The ruling African Mational Congress has long berated rugby chiefs over the rate of racial transformation.
A few MPs, mostly white, took their opportunity when called to speak to wish the team well in its bid to recapture the trophy a dozen years after South Africa’s first World Cup triumph. — AFP
