(CNN) -- The Canadian government hopes to overturn a decision granting refugee status to a white South African who says he would face persecution at home, a spokesman for Canada's immigration minister said Friday.





The Immigration and Refugee Board recently granted refugee status to Brandon Huntley, 31, a South African native who has been living illegally in Canada.





The board decided to let him live and work legally in Canada after Huntley argued he had been the victim of racial violence and discrimination in South Africa. The board operates independently of the Canadian government.





The ruling African National Congress in South Africa blasted the decision as racist and said it would "only serve to perpetuate racism."  Watch how the South African government has condemned the ruling »





Now the Canadian government plans to ask federal courts to overturn the decision, said Alykhan Velshi, a spokesman for Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.





"It's important to stress that this isn't the minister's decision nor that of the government," Velshi said in a statement Friday. "It was a decision taken by the quasi-judicial, independent Immigration and Refugee Board. I will leave it to them to defend the quality of their decisions."





He declined further comment "because the matter is now before the courts."





A spokesman for the Immigration and Refugee Board earlier also had declined to comment on the grounds that refugee claims are confidential.





However, a member of the board's Refugee Protection Division, William Davis, has written in The Toronto Star that the board found that Huntley's case demonstrated "a picture of indifference and inability or unwillingness" by South Africa to protect "white South Africans from persecution by African South Africans."





About 79 percent of South Africans are black; 9.6 percent are white.





Huntley's attorney, Russell Kaplan, said his client had been attacked seven times by black South Africans who called him a "settler" and a "white dog."





"In each instance, there were racially motivated remarks that were made -- that's what distinguishes this case from ordinary criminality," Kaplan said.





The African National Congress has a different view.





"We find the claim by Huntley to have been attacked seven times by Africans due to his skin color -- without any police intervention -- sensational and alarming," the ANC said in a statement this week.





Kaplan is a human rights lawyer in Canada who left South Africa 20 years ago to escape the apartheid government's discrimination against black South Africans.





"Twenty years later, we have this case that involves the exact opposite," he said this week.





Newspaper clippings were presented as evidence of life in South Africa during the August 18 hearing, South Africa's The Times reported.





Kaplan's sister, who came to Canada last year, testified about "the torture and murder" of their brother, who was killed by robbers in 1997, the newspaper reported.





The ANC said the current government under President Jacob Zuma is committed to fighting crime "regardless of color or creed."





The South African government would have preferred Canada seek its view "before such a decision was made," South African Foreign Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa told The Times.





"Quite clearly, the allegations are as preposterous as they are laughable -- which they would be if they were not serious," he told the newspaper.
Who asked courts to overturn the decision? What has authorized the Canadian immigration? Who faced violence and discrimination in south africa? What Brandon Huntley says? Who blasted decision as racist? What did Brandon Huntley say? Who granted refugee status to Huntley?
Canadian government Immigration and Refugee Board Brandon Huntley, he had been the victim of racial violence and discrimination in South Africa. African National Congress in South Africa he had been the victim of racial violence and discrimination in South Africa. Immigration and
question: Who asked courts to overturn the decision?, answer: Canadian government | question: What has authorized the Canadian immigration?, answer: Immigration and Refugee Board | question: Who faced violence and discrimination in south africa?, answer: Brandon Huntley, | question: What Brandon Huntley says?, answer: he had been the victim of racial violence and discrimination in South Africa. | question: Who blasted decision as racist?, answer: African National Congress in South Africa | question: What did Brandon Huntley say?, answer: he had been the victim of racial violence and discrimination in South Africa. | question: Who granted refugee status to Huntley?, answer: Immigration and