Mthethwa asks SA Rugby to take action after eight players refuse to bend the knee in support of BLM in England
Sports minister Nathi Mthethwa has asked SA Rugby to make a pronouncement on the actions of eight South African players who refused to kneel in support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement ahead of a match that was played in England at the weekend.
The eight South Africans were part of eleven players from the Manchester-based club who elected to remain standing during the pre-match activity ahead of an English Premiership match between Harlequins and Sale Sharks.
Those who did not kneel are Springbok World Cup winners Faf de Klerk and Lood de Jager‚ twins Jean-Luc and Daniel du Preez‚ their older brother Robert‚ Akker van der Merwe‚ Coenie Oosthuizen and club captain Jono Ross.
“We do not want to jump the gun on the specific matter of the South African players in England who didn’t kneel in support of the BLM movement but we did say we want to understand what’s happening‚ and what is the position of SA Rugby in this whole thing‚” said Mthethwa.
The minister said the whole country united behind the Springboks during the World Cup in Japan last year and the actions of those who are displaying “racist behaviour and showing racist attitude” will not be tolerated.
“The first thing we noted is that they were wearing the t-shirts which support [the] BLM movement but they did not kneel‚,” Mthethwa said.
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