Cosatu say they have scored “a great victory for South Africans” in the ongoing campaign to have Springbok matches broadcast live on SABC, although they have now decided to call off their protest at Saturday's game at Newlands.
But Saturday's Test match between the Boks and the All Blacks at Newlands won't be going out live on the national broadcaster, with SuperSport holding the rights.
Therefore, the game will be broadcast delayed live on SABC2 at 7pm, with the actual match kicking off at 5.05pm.
“Government and Saru agreed with Cosatu on making sport accessible to all South Africans. The only party who did not agree to people getting to see rugby live was SuperSport,” Cosatu said in a statement on Friday after they concluded their meeting with SA Rugby and the Ministry of Sport and Recreation.
“This means tomorrow’s game will not be shown live on SABC. SuperSport in the meeting decided to put profit and greed before the interest and well-being of ordinary South Africans.
“Cosatu will be in the forefront in taking National Sport away from SuperSport. The protest planned for tomorrow at Newlands is therefore suspended and will not take place. Cosatu and its entire membership hereby wishes our National Rugby team well in their game tomorrow against New Zealand.”
SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux said in a statement earlier: “The meetings were held in a very good spirit, and we definitely made progress in terms of our dialogue on the topic of broadcast rights.
“We have existing agreements in place regarding the broadcasting of rugby in South Africa, which are within the regulatory framework which governs this.
“If it was not for the revenue generated from these deals, rugby as a sport in our country would not be able to survive. It allows us to stay in the game.
“We agreed to meet again with all the relevant stakeholders and to engage with them in terms of the mechanics of the broadcasting of local rugby matches in future, as well as the funding of sport.
“As SA Rugby, we are always supportive of and open to dialogue on important issues regarding our sport here in South Africa.”