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Social Media Stands up against Racist Sports Transformation Post

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Not many people knew about Matthew Theunissen some time back. But the 26-year-old who allegedly lives in Cape Town and currently works in water resource management as per his CV is presently one of the hottest trend on social media platform Twitter following a racist comment he made about Sports Minister FikileMbalula's decision to revoke the privilege of Athletics South Africa (ASA), Cricket South Africa (CSA), Netball South Africa (NSA) and South African Rugby (SARU) to host and bid for major international tournaments in the Republic of South Africa due to lack of transformation.

In a Facebook post on his account, Theunissen wrote: "So no more sporting events for South Africa.. I've never been more proud than to say our government are a bunch of KAFFIRS..yes I said it so go fuck yourselves you black fucking cunts".

Matthew’s comments on his Facebook account which is deactivated now have sparked anger and disgust across social media platforms with some calling for government to take strong action against him. A facebook post by one ZibuMaSotobereads:

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“I demand a brave government, who don't take such lying down. I want such people to think more than twice BEFORE even thinking such, I want to tell my people that their dignity is protected.

“I demand a brave government, who don't take such lying down. I want such people to think more than twice BEFORE even thinking such, I want to tell my people that their dignity is protected.

I don't have individual preferences, I follow decisive, inspiring and relevant leadership. Sikhokhele ANC, we are tired of tissue abuse.”

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Fikile Mbalula had announced his decision last week based on the fact that the associations had not met their transformation targets. The minister said he was applying the measures due to the urgent task for the sport sector to “reconstruct the fragmented and deeply discriminatory sport and recreation landscape by establishing a unified sports system that is underpinned by the principles of democracy, equity, transparency, demographic representation, access and increased participation”.

At the time, Mbalula promised to review his decision when considering the results of the 2016/2017 Transformation Barometer.Citing moral and strategic imperatives, Mbalula said transformation was “the right thing to do” considering the grave injustices of the past, while the reality was that 84 percent of the country’s under 18-year-old population was Black African and only 16 percent was white, coloured and Indian.

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"It is not my intention to disrupt the momentum gained from the implementation of the Transformation Barometer and the global competitive edge of some federations and sports bodies. However, I am mindful of the urgent task for federations to move with speed in the direction of providing quality of opportunities and access to the youth of our country," he said at the time.

The minister also took to Twitter to express his belief that his decision was taken merely to level the playing field, which was not level due to the historical legacy apartheid had left.

"The playing field is not the same historically and that is the recognition that white people must understand...

"And we are seeking to level the playing field and to basically integrate our society because our strength is based on our diversity and that is what is important.But what you cannot undo is insist and believe that another race is superior than the other," Mbalula said.

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