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SARU stand firm on Bok ban

They will team up to take on a virtually unknown and recently reformed political party in a theatrical court case.

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The Agency for a New Agenda made an urgent court bid to try and block the Springboks from flying to England for the World Cup – starting on September 18.

ANA, which broke away from the ruling ANC party in 2013 and till recently was known as South Africa First, lodged the application last Friday – just hours before coach Heyneke Meyer named his World Cup squad.

The case, which cites Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula and SARU as respondents, is due to be heard in the High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday.

"We have received the notification and will contest the application," a SARU spokesman told rugby365 on Monday.

SARU stand firm on Bok banEdward Mokhoanatse, the ANA President, also wrote to the International Rugby Union (sic) to ask that SARU's membership be suspended.

And in another strange twist in the escalating saga surrounding the Bok selection process the Freedom Front Plus handed a petition to the British High Commission in Pretoria to protest against "political interference in sport in South Africa".

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The circus surrounding the Springboks would have been comical, had it not been such a serious matter.

However, it is the decision of ANA and its President, Mokhoanatse, that raised most eyebrows.

Mokhoanatse, speaking to rugby365, confirmed that the party's new name – Agency for a New Agenda – was only changed from South Africa First on August 24, just four days before the application.

However, that won't deter them from pushing ahead with their campaign of getting the Boks banned from the World Cup.

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"We are a legitimate political party," he said of an organisation not being taken seriously in the local political landscape – having no representative in parliament and having never contested an election.

He also would not confirm the number of members belonging to his political party.

Mokhoanatse claimed in papers before the court that the team was "built on racially-exclusionary and racially-biased criteria", which was unconstitutional.

"We are asking the court to stop them from going to the World Cup [in England] and order them to surrender their passports," Mokhoanatse said.

SARU stand firm on Bok banIn contrast the Freedom Front Plus handed a petition to the British High Commission in Pretoria to protest against "political interference in sport in South Africa".

They claim that many of the black players in the squad are depriving more deserving players an opportunity to compete.

"The South African government is forcing a quota system based on race for the selection of the South African national and provincial teams onto the unions – including the South African Rugby Union," the party said in a statement on its website.

"It is unacceptable that South Africa is denied the opportunity to send its best team to the World Cup.

"This type of interference on a racial basis led to an international sport boycott against South Africa under the previous regime.

"It is in breach of the golden international sporting code of no political interference in sport."

"The Minister of Sport and Recreation is further proposing that in future the national and all provincial rugby teams must reflect the national demographics of young men. This means that 84 percent of each team must be black and only 16 percent of every team will consist of coloured, Indian and white players.

"This in means in practice that less than three positions in every team will be available for minorities."

By Jan de Koning

@King365ed

@rugby365com

SARU stand firm on Bok ban

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