The ANC task team on the mishandling on the gender verification
process of 800 metre gold medalist Caster Semenya will hand the
matter over to the sports ministry for further investigation, the
ANC said on Thursday.
"We think they are better placed as government... to pursue the
matter," said ANC national spokesperson Jackson Mthembu at a press
briefing in Johannesburg.
The task team had conducted interviews with various members of
Athletics South Africa (ASA), South African Sports Confederation
and Olympic Committee, and the ministry of sport and recreation.
"Throughout these consultations the ANC's position about
Athletics South Africa has not changed, in fact we are more
convinced that ASA and their doctor have a case to answer.
"In this instance, in relation to the Caster issue, they
performed dismally."
When asked whether the ASA board should be dissolved, Mthembu
responded: "You can't be targeting an individual on the sins of the
entire board."
Task team member Winnie Madikizela-Mandela said of Semenya's
emotional state that the 18-year-old seemed to be in a position to
"deal with the situation".
"When we met her... she was extremely relaxed and very happy and
seems to have found her own way of dealing with this quagmire," she
said.
When it all started
Semenya won the 800 metres in a time of 1:55.45 in Berlin on
19 August.
However, the significant improvement in her time, her masculine
physique and deep voice, threw her gender into question.
In September, the International Association of Athletics
Federation (IAAF) ordered gender tests on Semenya.
Australian media reports quoting leaked documents later
suggested that it had been found that the athlete had no ovaries or
uterus, but internal testes which produced testosterone.
The IAAF said it was reviewing the results and would decide next
month whether Semenya could continue competing in women's events.
IAAF president Lamine Diack recently cancelled a meeting with
Sport Minister Makhenkhesi Stofile to find a resolution to the
matter, Mthembu said this meeting had been rescheduled.
The ANC has called on the IAAF to declare null and void the
gender verification results conducted both in South Africa and in
Berlin.