The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) must apologise for its poor handling of the Caster Semenya gender testing matter, the ANC said on Friday.

"We are not apologetic for wanting an apology. This has negatively affected the entire country and the IAAF should be able to say sorry," spokesperson Jackson Mthembu told a media briefing in Johannesburg.

He said the African National Congress had requested a meeting with the IAAF to ask it to apologise.

Mthembu said Semenya deserved an unconditional apology for the humiliation she had endured.

He said the team would advise the IAAF to declare null and void the results of the gender verification tests conducted in South Africa and Berlin.

"These tests were not conducted in keeping with their own stated gender verification policy and rules," said Mthembu.

The IAAF ordered gender tests on 18-year-old Semenya after she won the 800m World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany in August.

The body had refused to comment on reports that the tests showed she was a hermaphrodite.