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 February 16 - Greyhound racing, which was banned by the National Party back in 1949, may soon enjoy a comeback, after the government announced a series of public hearings this week that will deal with the matter.
The hearings, to be held in Port Elizabeth this coming Friday, are part of a campaign initiated by the South African Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to gain a deeper understanding on the concept of greyhound racing.
The hearings are to be conducted on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry by the Free State University's law department, and collective findings will be presented to the DTI after the hearings.
The department will then make a final decision regarding the future of greyhound racing in South Africa, more specifically deciding on whether the current ban will remain, or whether a legal, regulated industry will be introduced instead.
Interest groups on both sides of the fence are already gearing up for battle on Friday. On the one hand, the company behind the drive to legalize the industry, Amatwini, claims that other Western companies, including Australia and the United Kingdom have successful industries and South Africa can and should follow suite.
On the other hand, however, animal welfare groups argue that the sport is cruel to the dogs.
Amatwini has reacted to these claims by saying that the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals intentionally misled the population by telling them that greyhound racing had been banned previously because of the cruelty element. "The banning was on the grounds that it was a social evil - not because of cruelty to animals," said Amatwini Sport Director, Andrew Callis. "The NSPCA is making a big issue of out of this unnecessarily. There are no reported cases of dog abuse or any conviction because of animal cruelty."
Read our Ladbrokes review where greyhound betting is available on UK racing.
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