Ringing endorsement from AfriForum for Afcon

Bafana Bafana have received a rousing vote of confidence from AfriForum ahead of the national team’s participation in the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Egypt later this month.

AfriForum chief executive Kallie Kriel said they are 100% behind coach Stuart Baxter’s charges as they prepare to make an appearance in the continental showpiece for the first time since 2015.

“We support them 100% and we wish them all the best at the tournament‚” said Kriel.

Goalkeeper Darren Keet and midfielder Dean Furnam are almost certainties to make the final squad to be announced this weekend but there is a possibility of Bafana starting with a team made up of 11 black players in one of the matches.

“There are some people who have advanced the argument that why should rugby have black players in their teams but Bafana Bafana do not have to bring in white players‚” said Kriel.

“As a matter of principle‚ we don’t use that argument and we will support Bafana Bafana even if there is not a single white player in the team.”

Kriel said the important thing for them is to ensure that all players who are chosen to represent the country at all sporting codes are chosen on merit.

“I see there is an Afrikaans girl [Janine van Wyk] who is the captain of Banyana Banyana‚” he said.

“We advocate for players to be chosen on merit and all of us should support the national teams whenever they play irrespective of which players have been chosen.

“In fact‚ I will support a Springboks team with 15 black players. What we want is merit in sport and we don’t want to stand cold towards inequalities in our society.

“We need to address inequalities‚ we believe that the quota system is not the way to go and there must be proper development at grassroots level.”

Baxter and his team will play Ghana in a friendly next week.