South African President Jacob Zuma Friday called for global efforts to end racism in sports.
South Africa adds its voice to the billions of others throughout the world who are determined to do everything possible to say no and to put an end to racism in sports, Zuma said at the the Global Watch Summit Against Racism in Sports, taking place in Kempton Park, southeast of Johannesburg.
"The world cannot allow sports to be used to perpetuate ideas which divide humanity and limit the ability of people to work together for development regardless of race, skin colour, creed, religion, gender and sexual orientation," Xinhua quoted Zuma as saying.
There have been unfortunate and shocking incidents of blatant racism in sports being displayed around the world, in tennis, basketball and soccer, to name a few, said Zuma.
"We call upon the entire progressive humanity to frown upon racism in sports and to do everything humanly possible to put an end to it."
Zuma said racism in sports would not end unless actions to achieve its end are related to efforts to exorcise the demon of racism in society in general.
"I am saying this because what happens in sports is a true reflection in microcosm of what happens in society generally."
It is against this background that sports people must not just defend their sports against racism but must skillfully use sports to actively participate in the struggle to eradicate racism in society as pursued by the entire progressive humanity, Zuma noted.
To end racism in sports, Global Watch has established a Global Barometer on racism which is meant to check the adherence to the charter by sporting personalities and other stakeholders.
"We hope this barometer will not only punish perpetrators, but will also seek to educate those still caught up in primitive ways of seeing human beings," Zuma said.
Among the expected outcomes of the two-day summit is a road-map, based on a basic set of principles, on how the world can conquer racism, as well as a global charter to be adopted by the UN.
