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Home / Sport

Rugby: Racism row escalates with call for South African rugby to be placed in "quarantine"

NZ Herald
20 May, 2018 10:06 PM4 mins to read

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SuperSport rugby analyst and former Springbok wing Ashwin Willemse walked off set on live TV. Photo / Twitter.

SuperSport rugby analyst and former Springbok wing Ashwin Willemse walked off set on live TV. Photo / Twitter.

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A row over covert racism on the set of a South African sports show has further escalated with a major wing of the ruling African National Congress calling for South African rugby to be "placed in quarantine" if it could not implement transformation.

Minister of Sport and Recreation Tokozile Xasa has already called for rugby television presenters Nick Mallett and Naas Botha to be stood down after fellow presenter and former Springboks winger Ashwin Willemse walked off set.

Willemse castigated former Bok coach Mallet and former Bok great Naas Botha for undermining him before leaving the set live on air.

The comments that upset Willemse weren't seen or heard before Willemse voiced his frustrations at Mallett and Botha, who he called "two individuals who played in an apartheid/ segregated era."

To illustrate Ashwin Willemse's pedigree as a player, in 2003 he scooped the top three awards at the annual SA Rugby function – Player of the Year, Most Promising Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year. He was part of World Cup-winning 2007 RWC squad.

— Mark Keohane (@mark_keohane) May 19, 2018
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Minister of Sport and Recreation Tokozile Xasa said in a statement she was "shocked by the alleged behaviour of rugby analysts at the SuperSport studios".

"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 nonsensical apartheid system that privileged them, we could not have implemented (a) quota system to normalise an otherwise abnormal system," Xasa said.

"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, Habana, Kolisi continue to make us proud as a nation, and affirm that they are not token players or quota players."

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.

— Mmusi Maimane (@MmusiMaimane) May 20, 2018

Willemse continued by saying that he couldn't work with people who undermined him before walking off the set.

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Willemse, who made 19 appearances for South Africa between 2003 and 2007, said he was happy to have confronted Mallett and Botha on live television so "that people can see."

And so Ashwin Willemse takes his ball and goes home. Good riddence, as great as he was as a player so very bad is he as a pundit. Hopefully Supersport can get us Bobs or Breyten in future and may that be that of AW. Ridiculous comments on air. So unprofessional! #LIOvBRU #SSRugby

— ChristoDuPlessis (@ChristoDuPless2) May 19, 2018

SuperSport host Motshidisi Mohono called the incident "unfortunate" after Willemse unhooked his microphone and walked off the set.

The ANC's Western Cape division, one of the biggest in South Africa, described Willemse's public outburst as the consequence of something black people experienced throughout the country in offices and meeting rooms.

It’s 2014. Here we see a wild Nic Mallet in his natural habitat - disagreeing with a 2nd language Ashwin Willemse & then correcting his English to try & assert his intellectual dominance.

And then white people wonder what Ashwin’s problem was. pic.twitter.com/3nc9z3XRqx

— David Scott (@TheKiffness) May 20, 2018

"To be black is an ongoing source of being undermined, not taken seriously and spoken down to … and made to feel that they are outsiders to social circles in their workplace," said provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs.

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Jacobs said the ANC in the Western Cape had seen how Willemse used his stature and hard-won position in society to ensure that previously underprivileged youth got a better chance than he did.

Meanwhile, civil rights organisation AfriForum criticised what it calls the premature "conviction" of Mallet and Botha, blaming it on "anti-white" sentiment.

Tweets in response to Ashwin Willemse walking off set really show how so many white people really believe rugby is their sport. Like they have ownership of it 🤦 fok.

— ItsNotReallyShelby (@iiiitsShelby) May 19, 2018

South African opposition leader Mmusi Maimane said on social media that Willemse's experience was "sadly still and experience for too many South Africans. "We must build an equal society, where we confine to history a system of racial superiority and inferiority".

SuperSport, the South African equivalent of Sky Sport, said it could not confirm whether Nick Mallett and Naas Botha would be suspended. The channel said it will conduct a full investigation, and interview all relevant individuals.​

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