HOME Affairs Minister Nkosa-zana Dlamini-Zuma has joined a long list of South Africans to congratulate Caster Semenya for winning gold at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Berlin.

HOME Affairs Minister Nkosa-zana Dlamini-Zuma has joined a long list of South Africans to congratulate Caster Semenya for winning gold at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Berlin.

Dlamini-Zuma also added her voice yesterday to expressions of outrage after the questions that had arisen over Semenya's gender before she won the 800m race .

She said she was proud that Semenya had brought honour and glory to the country through her sterling performance.

"We are proud that despite these distractions, Semenya still went on to win the gold medal - both for her own pride in particular and the pride of the nation in general," Dlamini-Zuma said.

"Accordingly, all of us as South Africans, especially women, must rally around Semenya and reject with the contempt it deserves the insinuations being made about her gender," she said.

"In this regard Semenya deserves our support as a nation against the onslaught being waged against her."

Dlamini-Zuma also appealed to South Africans to give Semenya a heroine's welcome upon her return to South Africa tomorrow.