Willemse saluted as hero

Published May 21, 2018

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Former Springbok players have joined the chorus of voices pushing SuperSport to suspend rugby analysts Naas Botha and Nick Mallett amid a groundswell of strong support for Ashwin Willemse after his dramatic exit from a live TV broadcast on Saturday night.

Former Bok and Stormers player Gio Aplon said yesterday he “saluted” Willemse.

Aplon tweeted: “I believe all Ashwin Willemse wanted was to be treated fairly and equally by his counterparts, nothing more and nothing less, and for standing up for that I salute him."

Thando Manana, the third black African player to don a Springbok jersey after unification in 1992, said he was “so glad” Willemse had “finally put Mallett and Botha in their place".

Former Springbok wing Willemse angrily walked out of the SuperSport studios after saying he was “not going to be patronised by two individuals (Mallett and Botha) who played their rugby during the apartheid era”.

The backing of the Bok players for Willemse came against the backdrop of Sports Minister Toko Xasa's call for SuperSport to suspend Malletl and Botha.

Xasa condemned what she termed “the continued behaviour of white entitlement in the sport of rugby".

The minister said: “This behaviour of entitlement by some white South Africans who continue to think that their whiteness represent better must come to an end. If it was not for a barbaric and nonsensical apartheid system that privileged them we could not have implemented a quota system to normalise an otherwise abnormal system.

“Willemse is not just a former Springbok player but in 2003 he was named SA Rugby Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year and the Player’s Player of the Year. Players like Willemse, (Bryan) Habana and (Siya) Kolisi continue to make us proud as a nation and affirm that they are not token players or quota players,” Xasa said.

She said the incident followed another racial incident where the k-word was used in an under-21 match between the Roodepoort and Wanderers rugby clubs.

“It is clear that Ashwin Willemse was referred to as a quota player by his fellow panellist despite his many successes in the field of play.

“I call upon SuperSport to suspend the two panellists while they are busy with a full investigation. The continued appearance of Mallett and Botha will be seen as an endorsement of their alleged racist behaviour,” Xasa said.

There have been previous reports of alleged tension between Willemse and Mallett, with Willemse at one stage last year saying the former Bok coach was always contradicting him.

Before he walked off the set, Willemse said: “I think it's important for me, because I've been in the game for a long time like most of us here. As a player, I was labelled a quota player for a long time and I've earned and worked hard to earn my own respect in this game.

"So I'm not going to be patronised by two individuals (Mallett and Botha) who played their rugby during the apartheid era, a segregated era, and come and undermine. So for me, I've had my fair share and I can't work with people who undermine other people.”

SuperSport spokesperson Clinton van der Berg said the sports broadcaster would issue a full statement today.

“SuperSport is conducting an investigation to ascertain all the facts. Suffice to say we regard the situation in a serious light. We have had preliminary discussions with Ashwin, which must remain private,” Van der Berg said.

He added that the broadcaster had noted Xasa's call for the suspension of Mallett and Botha.

Despite repeated attempts, Willemse, Botha and Mallett were not available for comment yesterday.

The ANC Western Cape secretary Faiez Jacobs yesterday slammed what he called the lack of transformation in rugby.

“If SA Rugby does not transform, not just in black numbers, but in the management and culture of the game, with a provision of quality facilities and coaching in every community, then we should consider putting rugby in quarantine until they are ready to play international rugby again,” he said.

Jacobs said the ANC believed that Willemse’s public walkout was a result of what many black people experienced in offices and boardrooms across the country.

“This incident brings to the surface so much hurt and humiliation suffered by the black rugby community, especially after unification, and we expected so much more,” he said.

Kallie Kriel, the chief executive of AfriForum, however, said it was premature for Botha and Mallett to be blamed before an investigation.

“AfriForum regrets that anti-white sentiments in the country are already so rife that white people are automatically blamed for whatever goes wrong,” Kriel said.

Support for the former Springbok wing also came from the DA, with Mmusi Maimane taking to Twitter saying: “What @Ashwinwillemse experienced yesterday is still sadly an experience for too many South Africans. We must build an equal society, where we confine to history a system of racial superiority and inferiority. We must continue to pursue a diverse SA, however difficult it is.”

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