Willemse’s TV rugby walkout ‘not racial’

SuperSport rugby analyst Ashwin Willemse’s walkout during a live broadcast on Saturday was not racially motivated, according to company chief executive Gideon Khobane.

He was speaking last night after a meeting between Willemse and co-presenters Nick Mallett and Naas Botha‚ who were the subject of Willemse’s anger on Saturday.

Willemse‚ a former Springbok wing who played 19 tests and was a member of the 2007 World Cupwinning squad‚ claimed he “can’t work with people who undermine other people”.

In a stunning monologue following a commercial break after the Lions versus Brumbies Super Rugby match‚ Willemse let fly at Mallett and Botha.

“I’ve been in the game for a long time like most of us here‚” Willemse said.

“As a player‚ I’ve been called a quota for a long time and I’ve worked very hard to earn the respect I have now. “I’m not going to sit here and be patronised by these two individuals [Mallett and Botha] who played their rugby during the apartheid era‚ a segregated era.”

Willemse’s comments hinted at racial bias, but that was denied yesterday.

“We are positive that this was not a racially motivated issue because all parties were very courteous during our discussions that started this morning‚” Khobane said. “But we are in a process of discussing it further because this is now a national issue.

“We still have more time to investigate deeper on what actually happened because nobody just leaves a live production.

“We will continue our discussions tomorrow but I wanted to update everyone that Naas‚ Ashwin and Nick are all in good communication with each other.”

Last night, Willemse said the issue was “very profound”.

In a terse statement‚ he made it clear the issues ran deep.

“We had robust discussions in which I aired my views‚” Willemse said.

“I’m very appreciative of the process undertaken by SuperSport. The complexity of the issues is very profound.”

Mallett said: “I appreciated the opportunity to air my views. Clearly there are issues that must be grappled with. I am more than happy to collaborate and contribute to resolving this matter.”

The “issues” referred to appear to be a personality clash between Mallett and Willemse in particular. That is not uncommon among an expert panel of former players.
Khobane said: “What we’ve always encouraged on our platforms is for panellists to engage in robust debate. We don’t think it’s a racially motivated issue‚ because if it were‚ it would be easier to come to a solution.

“They have requested a bit of time. We don’t want to force anybody to divulge how they are feeling deep inside‚ as it is a very emotional issue.

“All three need a bit of time to reflect on what happened. You can imagine that the past 48 hours has been a crazy whirlwind. They haven’t been able to sleep‚ eat or engage with their families.”

Botha said: “This was a first meeting and we all had our say‚ which was helpful. We’ve invested in a process to resolve matters and I’m confident that we will get a satisfactory resolution.”

SuperSport launched a full investigation into the incident and interviewed all three men‚ as well as presenter Motshidisi Mohono‚ yesterday.

Meetings were also conducted with Anthony Banks‚ the director‚ and Mandla Ntsibande‚ the producer‚ who worked on the night.

Calvo Mawela‚ chief executive of Multichoice SA‚ the parent company of SuperSport, said: “We are at a stage where we are still gathering information. However, we will not reach any conclusions today.

“We have all agreed‚ together with the three parties‚ that we will continue to engage.

“As to when this will be concluded‚ we cannot say right now.”

The chief executives also noted concern expressed by the Sports Ministry in the wake of the incident, after Minister Thokozile Xasa made a statement in support of Willemse.

It was issued on Sunday before the company had a chance to investigate the incident.

“We are in communication with the Department of Sport and we have a healthy relationship with them‚” Khobane said.

SA Rugby also weighed in on the issue with a short statement.

“We were as surprised and concerned as the rest of the rugby community by Saturday evening’s incident on SuperSport,” it said.

“It would not be fair to make snap judgments. “However‚ something was clearly amiss and it reflected poorly on rugby.

“This is a SuperSport matter and we have asked to be kept informed on the progress of the investigation.”

Parliament’s portfolio committee on sport chairwoman Beauty Dlulane described the incident as unfortunate and called for a speedy resolution. “The incident is concerning and should be addressed speedily as it has invoked much emotion.

“South Africans should be circumspect in commenting on this matter‚ and should allow the investigation to proceed and reach a conclusion.

“As things are‚ everyone is venturing an opinion about a matter on which we lack details,” she said.

Dlulane said South Africans needed to accept that differences of opinion during sports analysis were inevitable.

She called for restraint‚ saying that discussions should not be adversarial or be reduced to myopic‚ racial narratives. – TimesLIVE