Cape Town - In the light of endemic and systemic racism in South Africa, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation joined forces with 80 civil society organisations to form the Anti-Racism Network of South Africa (ARNSA), which was launched in November 2015.
ARNSA also recently announced anti-racism week from 14 to 21 March 2016 and launch their media campaign this week.
The campaign is a call to action to “Take on Racism”.
“In order to Take on Racism we’re asking all South Africans to make a really simple pledge, which is to learn about racism, talk about it, speak out against it and act to stop it. I have confidence in South Africans to stand together to fix this problem and build the country of Madiba’s dreams,” said Sello Hatang, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
The campaign is premised on the idea that colour defines us and it is part of who we are. It’s a beautiful gift. However, colour should never divide us. This is the key message of ARNSA’s media campaign.
Cricket South Africa has partnered with the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation to support the ARNSA campaign bringing with them the T20 series against Australia and West Indies where both the national men and women’s cricket teams will add their voices to the campaign.
Awareness to Take on Racism will be raised at all three T20 double-headers to be played in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town. Cricket South Africa will be calling on all their cricket fans to support this very important campaign.
“Cricket around the world has a strong tradition of fighting racism and there is simply no place for racism in our country or in our sport,” said Cricket South Africa’s Chief Executive, Haroon Lorgat.
“We are fortunate that cricket boasts the most diverse fan base of all the sporting codes in South Africa and thus we have a wonderful platform to support this campaign. Believing firmly in non-racialism, it was easy for us to join forces in this key campaign,” Lorgat concluded.
Both the men and women’s Proteas teams will wear grey armbands to highlight and support the Anti-Racism Week campaign.
In addition, Neesham Balton, CEO of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, said that sport has brought South Africans together in an amazing way and that the T-20 games is the ideal platform to launch the Anti-Racism Week campaign.
“We all recall how we came together to host the World Cup. If we can do it in our stadiums we can also do it in our homes and communities. Sport is a great platform to take on racism and to celebrate our diversity,” he says.
The ball is now in our court to make changes in our own lives, workplaces and communities. We can all make a difference.
Sean Moodley, ARNSA’s national co-ordinator said: “We call on all corporates, universities, students, schools, government, faith based organisations, civil society and sporting codes to be part of this initiative to take on racism.”