South Africa’s athletics chief must be fired over his handling of Caster Semenya’s gender test, the Ministry of Sport said.
Head of Athletics South Africa (ASA) Leonard Chuene on Saturday admitted that he ignored advice to withdraw Semenya from competing in the IAAF Championships in Berlin last month, and lied about knowledge of a sex test done on her before the games.
“We now request the membership of ASA to not only take disciplinary action against Chuene, but to fire him from his position as the president of ASA,” deputy minister of Sport Gert Oosthuizen said in a statement on Saturday night.
Chuene said he denied knowledge of the Aug. 7 test to “protect” Semenya.
“We are convinced that the perpetual denial of the knowledge of these tests have fuelled the continuous violation of Ms Semenya’s rights and dignity, by foreign and some local media,” Oosthuizen said.
A probe into Semenya’s sex was announced by athletics’s governing body, the IAAF, shortly before the athlete won a gold medal in the 800m race — thrusting her into the global spotlight.
The IAAF test result was leaked to the media this month, causing widespread anger from the South African public and government.
But on Saturday Chuene insisted that he won’t resign from his job, saying it would be “tantamount to running away.”
In the statement, Oosthuizen says Chuene had twice failed to submit a report to the department explaining the Semenya case, in the build up to Berlin and during the championships themselves.
He said if ASA does not take action against Chuene “they will be running the risk of being led by a liar.”
The ruling African National Congress yesterday said it was appalled by the manner in which both the IAAF and the ASA have handled the Semenya gender test issue.
“It is our view that she has been victimized and subjected to unnecessary public scrutiny, thus denying her dignity,” ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said.
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